So how does the public school budget crafted by members of the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee manage to hit the governor’s recommended figure of $1.47578 billion in state general funds, a 7.4 percent increase, despite a big, unexpected jump in the number of students in the form of “support units” that are calculated into the school funding formula? In part, it’s because the budget slows down the implementation of some of the proposals from the governor’s education improvement task force, recommending significantly smaller increases for professional development and classroom technology, though those areas still would see substantial increases.

Rep. Wendy Horman, R-Idaho Falls, complimented all who worked on the budget, including staff at the state Department of Education, who she said helped her examine details in every corner of the budget to identify funding options. As a result, she said, “We have been able to increase per-support-unit funding by $208 over the governor’s recommendation."

After the debate over the operations division of the budget, remaining divisions have been drawing unanimous support from the joint committee.