DES MOINES, Iowa — In a normal year, a drop in student enrollment would mean a district would get less money from the state. But in the middle of a pandemic, that might not be the case.
Public school enrollment in Iowa dropped by 5,935 students from Fall 2020 to Fall 2021, according to the Iowa Department of Education.
Gov. Kim Reynolds' office said they anticipate many of those kids will be back once the pandemic ends, so the state is factoring that into the budget.
Lawmakers said they're also taking this into account.
"When we're putting together our school funding budget for the year, it's going to be more difficult but it's something that we will take into account and hopefully give some options to schools," Senate Majority Leader Jack Whitver, R-Ankeny, said.
Rep. Jennifer Konfrst, Assistant Minority Leader in the Iowa House, would like her colleagues in the Legislature to consider allowing schools to pick if they use last year's enrollment numbers or this year's.
"We need to hold districts harmless," Konfrst said. "They shouldn't be punished because families chose to pull their kids out, keep their kindergarteners home for another year or do something else for this year and then next year have to face growing enrollment without the adequate funding."
Reynolds released her Fiscal Year 2022 and 2023 budget proposal Tuesday.
She asked lawmakers to increase state funding to PreK-12 schools by $27 million next year and $143 million the year after to make up for predicted enrollment fluctuations.
Reynolds also proposed $20 million in state supplemental aid for some schools to offset pandemic costs.
Her staff said only schools open 100% of the time during the pandemic would be eligible to get the money.
They said there will be exceptions made for districts with waivers from the Iowa Department of Education allowing them to temporarily move online when case counts were high.
WATCH: Gov. Kim Reynolds gives Condition of the State address (Jan. 12, 2021)