Bonner County Daily Bee

The Idaho Senate on Tuesday narrowly killed a bill that would have provided $3 million to fund services for high-needs students. The bill came the same year an independent evaluations office released a report that found the state’s K-12 public school funding was not covering the costs to serve students with special needs with a total gap of $82.2 million. Sen. Tammy Nichols, R-Middleton, said she appreciated the “intent” of the bill, but opposed it because it created another fund when there were existing pots of money for special education. “The real concern here that I have is how this bill contributes to the broader issue of government growth,” Nichols said. “The Office of Performance Evaluation has suggested that special needs could absorb $82.2 million in funding, and this is exactly how government grows.” Nichols said new programs are “well meaning,” but “they expand year after year without results or accountability, ultimately leading to more government and more taxpayer dollars being spent with little to no return on investment.”