Gov. Cecil Andrus on Tuesday signed into law major increases in state aid to education, key components of his 1991 budget blueprint, as the Senate moved quickly to keep alive a statewide expansion of services to help the elderly and disabled remain in their homes.
The Senate also put together a $12.5 million pork-barrel package for local road and bridge repairs that could become a veto target for Andrus, who has pledged to do whatever is necessary to balance the legislative budget that has been leaking nearly $10 million in red ink.In signing almost three dozen bills through the day, Andrus approved a $450.1 million state aid package for public schools, $133.3 million in state support for the four-year colleges and $8 million for the two junior colleges.
All three bills, representing double-digit percentage increases over current-year allocations, exceeded the governor's recommendations as Republican legislative leaders wanted to do in the election-year session.
Andrus called the budget "a further commitment to educational excellence" that amounts "to another record level of support for education.
"It sends the signal that education remains Idaho's top priority," Andrus said.
The public school package, reflecting the largest ever single-year increase in state aid, assures 9.4 percent pay raises for teachers to help close the gap with national average salaries and $15 million in one-time cash to meet critical needs in instructional and other materials and equipment.
It also provides millions of dollars to continue the campaign begun last year to reduce classroom sizes.
"If we can continue this commitment, and I believe we can and will, then Idaho schools will be competitive with any school in any state in America," Andrus said.
The higher education budgets also include cash to bring Idaho faculty salaries closer to the averages for comparable institutions and money to meet critical one-time needs. In addition, the Legislature added $2 million to the university aid package to deal with accreditation problems and boosted the research commitment for the schools from $2 million to $2.5 million a year.