Here's a link to my full story at spokesman.com on the controversial school reform plan clearing the Senate Education Committee today, after two weeks of intense hearings that saw strong public opposition to the move. The key piece of the package barely squeaked through the…
After today's intense, three-hour Senate Education Committee hearing - at the end of which all three bills in the Luna school reform plan passed, though one just squeaked through on a 5-4 vote - committee Chairman John Goedde, R-Coeur d'Alene, said, "It was a couple…
SB 1108, the one on labor relations and teacher contracts, has now cleared the Senate Education Committee on a 6-3 vote, with Sen. John Andreason, R-Boise, joining Democratic Sens. Edgar Malepeai and Nicole LeFavour in opposing it. Sen. Dean Mortimer, R-Idaho Falls, who made the…
The Senate Education Committee has voted 5-4 in favor of SB 1113, the biggest piece of the Luna school reform plan, with class size increases, laptop computers for high-school students and required online courses. Sen. Chuck Winder, R-Meridian, said there's still time for amendments or…
Sen. Mitch Toryanski, R-Boise, said SB 1113, the reform bill, with its class-size changes, technology upgrades and online course requirements, unlike the performance pay plan, "was brought to the Legislature after the session began, just last month." Since then, with all the public input, he…
SB 1113, the reform bill that includes class-size changes and technology upgrades, is up next. Sen. Russ Fulcher, R-Meridian, moved to send it to the full Senate with a recommendation that it pass. "These probably aren't perfect bills, but you know what, on a bill…
SB 1110 has now passed on a 6-3 vote. Sen. John Andreason, R-Boise, said, "I represent the two largest school districts in the state. ... These two districts have problems with these bills that they think we can work out in a few days. ....…
Sen. Monty Pearce, R-New Plymouth, shared some statistics showing kids falling short in test scores. "I think we need to do something, and I think pay for performance will begin to give us that chance to cause our students' scores to go up," he said.…
Sen. Malepeai's motion to kill all three bills has died on a 2-7, straight party-line vote, with only Malepeai and Sen. Nicole LeFavour, D-Boise, supporting it. Now, Sen. Monty Pearce, R-New Plymouth, has moved to send SB 1110, the pay for performance bill, to the…
The committee now has the bills before it. Sen. Edgar Malepeai, D-Pocatello, began by commending the committee chairman, Sen. John Goedde, for the unprecedented public hearings and input the panel has received. He said he's received 1,500 emails against the bills. "It seems clear to…
Sen. Chuck Winder, R-Meridian, asked state schools Supt. Tom Luna, "If none of these bills pass, what happens, in your opinion?" Luna said, "This legislature is obligated by law to set a schools budget, and the only things left to cut in the current budget…
Sen. Nicole LeFavour, D-Boise, said the state is at the bottom of a huge economic downturn, and she questions why state schools Supt. Tom Luna says this is the "new normal." "Is your pessimism that deep, that we are not going to recover like the…
Sen. John Andreason, R-Boise, asked state schools Supt. Tom Luna, "Is it your opinion that we now have a finished product?" Or, he said, with all the changes, is there a need to go back and work over the plan with all the stakeholders? Luna…
State Superintendent of Schools Tom Luna told the Senate Education Committee, "This historic piece of legislation is necessary, it's timely, it's urgent." He said, "Let's remember why we're here." He reviewed the deep cuts schools have suffered in recent years, including a historic $128.5 million…
Roger Brown of Gov. Butch Otter's office, the final "stakeholder" to address the Senate Education Committee before its expected vote on a three-bill school reform plan, told the committee, "The world changed on us." He said, "There's nothing radical about the three bills that are…
Sen. Nicole LeFavour, D-Boise, asked former Meridian School District Superintendent Christine Donnell, who is representing the Idaho Coalition for Education Excellence, a business group, whether the school reform bills, which her group is supporting, might have serious impacts on the Meridian school district, such as…
The Senate Education Committee has begun "stakeholder" closing comments on state schools Supt. Tom Luna's school reform plan, which now consists of three bills: SB 1113 on technology upgrades, increased class sizes and other reforms; SB 1110, a teacher pay-for-performance plan; and SB 1108 on…
The Idaho State Board of Education has voted to suspend the Faculty Senate at Idaho State University, after the senate voted "no confidence" in ISU President Art Vailas, in whom the state board had just voted its full confidence. In a news release, the board…
There are now three bills seeking to amend Idaho's "conscience law" to protect patients' living wills and advance care directives as they're dying, and one House committee chairman has buried all three in his desk drawer and refused to hold hearings on them, the AARP…
Here's a link to my full story at spokesman.com on the House's 34-35 rejection today of HB 111, the Coeur d'Alene Tribe's policing legislation. A disappointed Rep. Julie Ellsworth, R-Boise, said afterward, "I think there's merit to the bill - you can't just close your…
Here's the vote breakdown on HB 111, the tribal policing bill, which failed on a 34-35 vote in the House today: Voting in favor: Reps. Anderson, Bateman, Bayer, Bilbao, Buckner-Webb, Burgoyne, Chadderdon, Chew, Crane, Cronin, DeMordaunt, Ellsworth, Guthrie, Henderson, Higgins, Jaquet, Killen, King, Lacey, McGeachin,…
After debate finally was cut off by a two-thirds vote to move the previous question, a parliamentary maneuver designed to cut off debate, the House has voted 34-35 against HB 111, the tribal policing bill; it fails by one vote. The debate stretched through the…
When Rep. Judy Boyle, R-Midvale, tried to suggest that the Coeur d'Alene Tribe will take people's guns if they come onto the reservation with concealed weapons permits, Rep. Bob Nonini, R-Coeur d'Alene, gave a blistering rebuttal. When the NRA brought up an "11th hour" concern,…
House GOP Caucus Chair Ken Roberts, R-Donnelly, has withdrawn his motion to shift HB 111, the tribal policing bill, to general orders for amendments.
Rep. Ken Roberts, R-Donnelly, has moved to send HB 111, the tribal policing bill, to general orders for amendments - drawing vehement debate against his motion from members of the House Judiciary Committee, who voted down such a motion after a six-hour hearing last week,…
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