The House version of the FY 2002-2003 K-12 school aid budget, with $12.693 billion in gross spending. The budget includes $494 million from a proposed change to July for the collection date for all of the six-mill state school tax, and approximately $1 billion in new and ongoing federal grants which would previously have been contained in the Department of Education budget. The budget increases the minimum per-pupil foundation grant from $6,500 to $6,700, and restores some previously programmed spending on “categorical” line items such as school “readiness” programs, school health clinics, and adult education. The House version adds another $1 million in FY 2002 for in-school health clinics but cuts the funding in FY 2003, and decreases current-year "at risk student" funding but increases it in the next year. The budget eliminates previously authorized funding of $45 million for a “Parental Involvement in Education” (PIE) program, in which social workers and other government employees attempt to educate new parents about the importance for young children of proper parenting techniques, and another $45 million for a summer remedial reading program for certain grammar school students.
| 97 Yeas / 12 Nays | |
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