Here is WEA's state budget analysis
Read the Final 2015-17 State Budget Analysis prepared by WEA lobbyists.
The overall adopted budget for the 2015-17 biennium is $38.2 billion. That represents a $4.4 billion increase in resources overall– or 13.1 percent above the 2013-15 enacted budget. The K-12 portion of the budget increased by $2.9 billion (up 19 percent) – and higher education is up $427 million (up 13.8 percent) in state funding.
In summary – a significant amount of money is being invested in public education for the next two years.
Unfortunately, it falls short in many ways:
- The investments aren’t always the right ones (investments in supplies instead of people),
- Some of the investments are temporary (a part of the K-12 salary increase and the ability to use local funding for increments at the community colleges), and
- Some very important investments are not made at all (K-12 staffing beyond grades K-3).
We have work to do at the local level this summer and fall to ensure the investments made by school districts are the right ones for our staff and students.
Regarding I-1351, Monday night the House reaffirmed they were not funding anything beyond K-3 class sizes by delaying any further implementation until 2019. We expect the Senate to decide whether to follow suit Tuesday, but we continue to expect legislators to follow the current law.
