On February 19th, Senator Corey Simon introduced Senate Bill 110, titled Rural Renaissance. The bill includes several key initiatives aimed at enhancing education, such as:
- A new $25 million grant program, to be distributed through three consortia to their member districts.
- An increase in the funding allocation for regional educational consortia members, raising it from $50,000 to $150,000 per district.
- The removal of the requirement for districts receiving Special Facilities funding to repay any of their local property taxes to the state.
The grant program will offer a broad range of services that districts and consortia governing boards can choose to implement to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of student services. These services include student transportation, district finance personnel, property insurance, cybersecurity support, school safety, career and workforce development, academic support, and behavioral services for exceptional student education.
It is expected that the first committee will hear this bill during the first week of Session. A staff analysis will be published at that time. There is currently no House companion bill, but since this is a priority of the Senate President, it is highly likely that the items in the bill will be addressed by the House in some fashion during the Session.