Public encouraged to take funding survey

PRIEST RIVER — Officials from school districts across North Idaho attended a forum on June 19 in Coeur d'Alene regarding the states public school funding formula.

West Bonner County School District trustee Margaret Hall is among those who attended the meeting, which was hosted by the Denver-based nonprofit Education Commission of the States.

While Hall did not detail go into detail about the forum during last week's WBCSD meeting, she encouraged the public to participate in an online survey on the state funding formula at bit.ly/2xrPBaq.

The Coeur d'Alene Press reported that audience members of the forum said the state’s funding formula for public education has to be scrapped. The Press reported that ECS school finance specialist Michael Griffith told audience members he was confident that the state’s funding formula would change from attendance-based to enrollment-based. The "big building blocks" of Idaho’s public school funding formula will get worked out during a five-hour meeting of the Idaho Legislature's public school funding formula committee on July 18, with details to be worked out at subsequent committee meetings later in the fall.

North Idaho’s lone representative on the legislative committee is Rep. Sage Dixon from Ponderay.

Read the full report at bit.ly/2IvxAbf.