2002 Senate Bill 1107 ↩

Senate Roll Call 214: Passed

The Senate version of the FY 2002-2003 K-12 school aid budget, with $12.677 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, Intermediate School District funding, and adult education. The Senate version adds $1.4 million in FY 2002 and $3.7 million in FY 2003 from the state General Fund for in-school health clinics, and cuts $800,000 from the Golden Apple incentive program. 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.