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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Eye On Boise

School data system working better now, lawmakers told

Idaho's longitudinal data system for public schools is working better now, JFAC members were informed today. After the big data upload in November to calculate school enrollment, legislative budget analyst Paul Headlee said the state Department of Education is reporting that 141 school districts or charter schools submitted error-free data, out of 159; that's up from just nine the previous year. "So it appears that there's been quite an improvement in the quality of the data that's being submitted from the school districts to the department," Headlee said.

Sen. Bert Brackett, R-Rogerson, noted, "The state spent millions on this longitudinal data system." He asked how much school districts have spent. Tom Taggart, president of the Idaho Association of School Business Officials, said, "It's going to be an ongoing burden on the districts. It'll become less so after we've worked it out and accommodated it. I know in our district we've had five people directly involved and put hundreds of hours into it."



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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