Lawmakers Kill Latest Capital Outlay Option
Air Date:02/01/2011
By Kealey Bultena
Senators killed a measure that lets school districts pay health care costs with capital outlay dollars.
Several lawmakers opposed the bill, saying the purpose of the money is to fund facilities, but state legislators had more reasons to resist this measure.
Democrat James Bradford says opening capital outlay funds to purchase group health care gives school districts more control over their own dollars.
“Do you think all our local people are not capable of making a decision? I think they are,” Bradford says. “And perhaps some of you have been in those positions when you’ve said, ‘How do they know up there in Pierre what happens in my county, how we deal with making sure our kids get a good education?’”
But Republican Senator Jeffrey Haverly says schools will become dependent on capital outlay money for general expenses.
“How many of you have been here the last couple of years for one-time money? It worked really well! No, it didn’t,” Haverly says. “You’re fueling ongoing expenses with one-time money.”
Another Senator, Democrat Angie Buhl, opposes the bill for a different reason. She says it is a way lawmakers can avoid adequately funding education.
The bill died on the Senate floor 14 to 20.
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