A conference committee working on House Bill 1214 approved an amendment that adds a temporary hold‑harmless provision to a newly developed per‑pupil school transportation funding formula and instructed staff to return with a precise dollar amount to place in the Department of Public Instruction (DPI) budget line.

The committee adopted amendment 2002 as further amended to include a sunset for the next biennium, clearing the way for a transition to the new formula while aiming to avoid a large immediate funding disruption for some school districts.

Committee members said the Senate conferees developed a transportation formula during the interim that bases per‑pupil transportation payments on measurable factors such as bus type, route length and miles students ride, rather than relying on the prior ad‑hoc approach. A Senate conferee said the conference intends the formula to be “revenue neutral” for the initial transition year so the change would not drive a large one‑time increase in costs that could derail adoption. The conferee said the Senate adjusted a factor in the formula so the committee could implement the formula without a large immediate budget increase.

Under the amendment adopted by the committee, the transportation payment for school districts "whose eligible bus models and eligible bus runs remain the same or increase from the prior year" may not be less than the payment received in the preceding year. Committee members said that hold‑harmless language, as discussed, would affect roughly 17–20 school districts. The conference agreed the hold‑harmless protection will sunset at the end of the next biennium so the state moves fully to the formula thereafter.

Committee members also discussed where to place the funding for the hold‑harmless protection. The conferees said the committee plans to put the necessary dollars into the DPI line item in the budget (referred to in committee as line 02/2013). A member estimated the incremental amount for the hold‑harmless protection would likely be in the low hundreds of thousands of dollars for the biennium (committee discussion centered on an estimate of about $250,000–$300,000), but they directed legislative staff to produce a precise dollar amount and return to the committee with the drafted amendment language and the final line‑item figure.

The committee took a recorded roll‑call on the motion to adopt amendment 2002 as further amended. The vote record in the transcript shows the motion passed (see “Actions” for the roll‑call transcript list). After the vote conferees set a follow‑up meeting to finalize the written amendment and the exact budget dollar figure before the amendment is finalized for the conference report.

Background: Committee members described recent biennial transportation expenditures and said the new formula would produce automatic adjustments tied to measurable inputs rather than ad‑hoc numbers inserted at each session. Committee discussion referenced a factor change discussed in the Senate (discussed in committee as moving the formula factor from 1.0 toward about 0.9091) and a $2,000,000 figure used in the Senate’s funding assumptions to bridge to the new formula; committee members emphasized the purpose was to transition to a data‑driven formula while avoiding a large immediate cost spike.

The committee adjourned after arranging to reconvene when legislative counsel has drafted the amendment language and the dollar amount to place in the DPI budget line.