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Eye On Boise

Glum debate in House on school funding

Rep. Shirley Ringo, D-Moscow, debates against the public school budget in the House on Thursday. The budget contains historic cuts in school funding. (Betsy Russell)
Rep. Shirley Ringo, D-Moscow, debates against the public school budget in the House on Thursday. The budget contains historic cuts in school funding. (Betsy Russell)

The tone has been mostly glum as the House debates the public school budget bill, SB 1418. Rep. George Sayler, D-Coeur d'Alene, a retired high school teacher, said, "This is a budget that is all about choices. ... We are not forced into this course of action. It is a course of our own choosing if we choose to take it." Rep. Fred Wood, R-Burley, said, "We weren't sent here to make easy votes. ... This is one of the difficult votes that we must make." Said Rep. Donna Boe, D-Pocatello, "I don't think that we are supplying the resources that our students are going to need as they face their future." Rep. JoAn Wood, R-Rigby, said, "I do believe this budget is probably the best we can do." Here, Rep. Shirley Ringo, D-Moscow, debates against the bill.



Betsy Z. Russell
Betsy Z. Russell joined The Spokesman-Review in 1991. She currently is a reporter in the Boise Bureau covering Idaho state government and politics, and other news from Idaho's state capital.

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