The Iowa legislature has passed State Supplemental Aid for K-12 public education.

District 24 Senator Jerry Behn says last Wednesday, the Senate passed a one-percent increase for State Supplemental Aid for about $32 million. He points out that with tough budget times the state is facing, he believes public education is lucky to get an increase in funding for the next fiscal year.

“What we didn’t want to do is overpromise and underdeliver. We don’t know what the Revenue Estimating Conference is going to be, so we’re going out on a limb to promise additional revenue at all. So we felt that this was a responsible step we could take, it was something we felt we could meet.”

Behn talks about an important item for rural school districts, when it comes to state funding for public education.

“The school aid formula is based on a per pupil basis. So if you have increasing enrollment, you’re going to get a lot more money anyway. If you have decreasing enrollment, or declining enrollment, you’re going to get less money regardless of how much we add to the funding formula.”

The House passed a similar one-percent State Supplemental Aid bill last month. To hear more from Behn, listen to today’s Community State Bank in Paton Let’s Talk Greene County program.