Legislators Review Education Funding Bill

education funding has proven a hot topic in the legislature this session Lawmakers are currently reviewing a bill to provide equal and adequate funding to schools across the state As you may remember about a year ago nine schools brought a law suit against the state to force the government to better equalize the dollars distributed to districts large and small rich and poor The group which included DLB and Surrey agreed to a stay in the lawsuit provided the legislature take-up the issue this session Lawmakers are now discussing a bill to provide several millions of dollars in state funding for K through 12 education Williston Public Schools Superintendent Warren Larson has spearheaded the effort to equalize funding and he says he s pleased with the progress he s seeing in Bismarck Warren Larson Williston Superintendent It s looking better for school districtssmall school districts One of the school districts seeing the largest increases in percentage-wise is a very small school district under a hundred so it s creating everybody equity The House approved a version of the bill yesterday and the Senate already passed a different draft of the bill A conference committee will discuss the two versions of the legislation in the next few weeks