Christine Donnell, the retired superintendent of the Meridian School District and current executive director of the Idaho Business Coalition for Education Excellence, said she had 36 first-graders when she first started teaching in the 1970s - but she also had probably 30 very involved, stay-at-home moms. Donnell said she believes the state can't afford not to try new innovations like the Luna plan. Idaho's school funding system is "pretty well messed up" due to changes over the years, she said - noting that she was speaking for herself, not for IBCEE. "I think you made a terrible mess of it," she told senators. "The school system in this state has taken some real steps backward because of that." But she said the IBCEE didn't discuss funding; it focused on where all its members could agree. Donnell said the state has to try to do something to improve schools.

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