Summary of 2007 School Finance Bill, SB07-199

The model developed by the Pacey Economics Group in February 2001 was updated to reflect actual data for the current budget year and Legislative Council Staff's December 2006 revenue forecast. The result in the short term is projected state aid costs that are higher than revenue changes, increasing the estimated annual growth rate for General Fund appropriations for school finance to 6.95 percent in order to avoid more significant increases in the near future. Mathematically, the minimum appropriation increase required by Amendment 23 of 5 percent is possible in FY 2007-08, but will drive considerably higher General Fund increases in the future.