Superintendent of Public Instruction Sherri Ybarra will push for a 6.4 percent increase in public school funding for next year, slightly less than the 7.4 percent boost sought by Gov. Butch Otter, Idaho Education News reports. Reporter Clark Corbin reports that Otter’s budget team and State Department of Education staffers built their respective budgets in different ways, so comparing the two side by side is difficult. But he highlighted a few differences: Ybarra wants to boost operational money for school districts, for example, while Otter wants to put more money into professional development.

Corbin’s full report is online here. He notes that Ybarra is proposing full funding for the first year of the teacher career ladder, as is Otter, though she’s also calling for holding off and starting it as a pilot program the first year in three school districts.

On Tuesday afternoon, Ybarra told Idaho EdNews that any unused money from the career ladder proposal could be put aside for future budget years “until you work out all of the bugs with a pilot program.” Otter says he considers the career ladder and tiered licensure plans inseparable, and he wants both to move ahead this year.