Last week Governor Kim Reynolds signed the transportation equity bill for public education.

District 24 Senator Jerry Behn says Senate File 2164 gives additional funding to school districts to equalize smaller districts that can have higher transportation costs compared to larger districts.

“In this particular situation there is a huge discrepancy in that the per pupil cost in rural schools is way higher for transportation. And what that translates to is less available (funding) for the classroom. We recognize that and we set up a bill that is supposed to help cover the cost of transportation. And that will make it so your zip code doesn’t determine how much funding actually ends up in the classroom.” 

According to the bill, about $7.2 million of state funding will be placed into the transportation equity fund for those school districts facing higher transportation costs. Most recently, the House and Senate have also agreed on the State Supplemental Aid for next fiscal year, with a 2.3-percent increase.