Legislators withhold $4.6 million from school endowment

BOISE – Faced with a shortfall in this year’s public school budget, legislative budget writers took an unusual step Thursday and yanked an extra $4.6 million from the endowment fund for next year’s public school’s budget – bypassing the state Land Board in the process.

The move came with little comment and on a unanimous vote of the Joint Finance-Appropriations committee.

State officials had been scrambling to avoid an $11 million hit to taxpayers in the new budget year that starts July 1. The problem stems from the fact that the state’s public schools have enrolled about 3,800 more students than were expected. But last year, the state Land Board voted to reduce the amount of money that gets distributed to public schools from the endowment fund in order to keep the fund in good financial standing.

The committee’s vote will put $23 million in endowment money into the public schools budget, instead of the $18.4 million that would have been distributed by the endowment fund under the Land Board’s decision of last year.

Legislative budget writers say the fund remains in good condition, despite pulling more money out than Land Board officials – the governor, secretary of state, attorney general and superintendent of public instruction – were willing to do. As yet unresolved is how the budget committee will make up the remaining $6.4 million needed to accommodate higher-than-expected student enrollment.