Getting Out the Message about Funding Needs
On Tuesday, April 28 we distributed how the Governor’s proposed Budget would impact school funding, by school
district, next fiscal year. We are anticipating that the House members will soon begin work (hopefully next week) on
their proposed Budget. We wanted to remind each of you of the importance of talking with your elected officials
related to the funding that is imperative for your schools.
As a reminder, we wanted to highlight some of the Expansion items recommended by the Governor and the Expansion
items recommended by the State Board of Education. To the extent that you support these initiatives, please include
them in your discussions with your elected officials. If you have additional items that you would like for us to include in
our discussions with House and Senate members, please send me an e-mail with your list.
Governor’s Expansion Recommendations for Public Schools (go to this link for a complete list):
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Fully fund the amount needed to cover what historically was built into the Continuation (Base) Budget for
student enrollment growth ($100,236,542 for FY 2015-16 and $207,195,864 for FY 2016-17). Please remember
that if this is not fully-funded, the impact will not just be to school districts with a growing student population;
all school districts will be impacted. Examples of allotments impacted for FY 2015-16:
o 678.5 additional classroom teachers
o $13 million for transportation
o $9.5 million for CTE
o $8 million for Children with Disabilities
o Additional instructional support positions, teacher assistants, at-risk funding, etc.
Increase the beginning salary of classroom teachers and fund the salary change for eligible teachers moving up
a tier on the salary schedule
$64 million for teacher assistants to cover what was funded with one-time lottery money in FY 2014-15
Funds to reward high performing teachers
$35 million for textbooks and instructional supplies (and combining into a new allotment titled Instructional
Resources)
$7.4 million to expand school connectivity to the classroom
Additional State Board of Education Recommended Expansion Items (go here for complete list)
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Additional: $61.8 million for textbooks and instructional supplies and materials (total request was $96.8
million)
Fund Home Base: $6 million to manage delivery of instructional tools and resources for teachers to use to
differentiate instruction for their students
$25 million for classroom technology: School tech facilitators and students support/devices
$8.6 million for Turning around the Lowest Performing Schools: to place coaches for teachers and principals in
the lowest achieving schools
$4.4 million: to continue year-round regionally-based professional development
Additional: $4.6 million for school connectivity (total need $12 million)
It is important that you outline clearly to your elected officials the current status of State funding in your local school
district and ways that additional funding might be needed to support your students. If you are interested in additional
information on any item we have listed, please give me a call or send me an e-mail.
Philip