I am sending this email quickly before I go back to the House Floor where HB 287 is being debated. I am so excited to cosponsor this bill with several of my colleagues. This is a very important education bill that will allow early funding for education. That means we will be able to fund schools separately from the operating budget, which really helps our students.
The bill will fund schools at the same level the Governor recommended in his FY 2019 budget. Getting that money to schools early in the session will allow school districts to build their budgets early in the year, rather than having to wait until the entire operating budget is finished. This means we won't be ending the school year by handing out pink slips to teachers.
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The money will need to come from somewhere, and next year's projections predict another huge fiscal gap. We are very fortunate to have some savings accounts we can draw from as we continue to work on the fiscal plan. We can pull from the Constitutional Budget Reserve, which is earning just under 2% interest, or we can pull from the Permanent Fund Earnings Reserve account, which earned almost 13% interest last year. I want to keep our money working for us, and pulling from the CBR is the best way to do that and fund our schools.
