Senate approves public schools budget

BOISE (AP) — The Idaho Senate approved a public schools budget for 2013 that bumps up the minimum teacher salary and funds new education reforms, including merit pay bonuses and laptops.

State senators voted 31-to-4 for the plan, which accounts for roughly half of state spending next year. The public schools budget includes $1.27 billion in state general funding, for an increase of about $56 million over the current fiscal year.

That's a 4.6 percent jump in state support.

But overall, the increase is much smaller at 0.4 percent when including both state and federal funds.

Democratic Sen. Nicole LeFavour voted against the plan, saying she thought lawmakers could do better. Republican Sen. Dean Cameron countered that the budget was a dramatic improvement over last year, when schools took a $47 million hit.