Today, State Rep. Greg Smith (R-Heppner) made a motion to send the school budget bill (SB 5514) back to the Joint Committee on Ways and Means from the floor to increase the amount from $9.3 billion to $9.6 billion before it passed.
Smith and his fellow House Republicans have supported school districts’ calls for a fully funded school budget, which education leaders say amounts to $9.6 billion to avoid layoffs and budget cuts. The current proposal is $300,000,000 less than what schools need to operate at full capacity.
“After a year-long pandemic, if ever there was a time to fully fund our schools, it would be now” said Smith. “SB 5514 truly is a good budget at $9.3 billion, but we need to take a good budget and make it great by fully funding our K-12 schools at $9.6 billion.”
