Lawmakers take next steps toward education funding reform

Lawmakers from both parties said they could always do more but feel like the Legislature is making progress toward meeting the court's 2018 deadline to fully fund basic education and end the state's overreliance on local school levies.

The Supreme Court has held the state in contempt over the Legislature's failure to make a plan for resolving the remaining issues over paying the full costs of basic education, while ending its overreliance on local tax levies.

The data will help lawmakers figure out how much teacher pay and other school salaries are paid for with local levy dollars, an issue the Supreme Court raised in its 2012 McCleary decision.

The Education Funding Task Force learned in a presentation from the Office of Program Research that about 20 percent or $13,500 of the average state teacher salary is paid by money that is not directly allocated by the state for teacher salaries.