After months of negotiations, the Iowa legislature agreed on 2.25 percent supplemental state aid for the upcoming school year.

District 47 Representative Chip Baltimore says the increase in k-12 spending is a significant amount of the projected total new revenue from the Revenue Estimating Conference.

“We are anticipated to receive about $180 million of additional money next year in total. Out of $180 million, $154 million is going to be spent on education, so that’s 87%. That leaves us with $24 million roughly to fund any increases in all of the rest of state government.”

However, Baltimore says other legislators knew the increase was going to be around two percent, so it shouldn’t have been a shock to anyone. In fact, the House offered 2.6 percent and the Senate rejected that offer, but couldn’t agree on legislation for a counteroffer.

Even though lawmakers agreed on funding for the upcoming school year ahead of the April 15th deadline for school districts to submit their budgets, legislators were suppose to set the 2016-17 supplemental state aid percentage last year.