With the Iowa House passing its bill for the next school year’s State Supplemental Aid (SSA) of two-percent, or over $89-million in additional funding for K-12 public education, school districts are getting closer to finding out their final funding figure to base their budgets on.

The Senate is also working on a bill that’s basically the same as what the House passed with a little over $89-million. Republican State Senator Jerry Behn of Boone says not only is the legislature going to give around two-percent of additional funding to K-12 public education, but total investment is about $7 billion.

“Between Iowa income and sales tax, Iowa property tax, and then the federal match money, all of that together, you end up at $7.1 billion. You divide that by the number of pupils we have in the state that means that Iowans are now paying a little over $14,600 per pupil.”

Behn goes further to say that since 2011, the state legislature has given an increase of $845 million in public education funding.

“There never were any cuts to education, and I think that’s an important distinction to make, since 2011.”

The legislature is supposed to set the SSA percentage each year within 30-days of when the legislative session starts so school districts can work on their budgets accordingly ahead of the next school year.