Lawmakers on the House and Senate education committees are now asking questions of Supt. Tom Luna about his plan. Among the questions: Sen. Monty Pearce, R-New Plymouth, asked, "Student-teacher ratio - how do we compare now, with the rest of the nation?" Luna responded, "There are some states that have higher student-teacher ratios than us, like Utah for example; there are other states that have lower student-teacher ratios. There's no correlation between student achievement, when you compare (across states by) ... student-teacher ratios." He said, "Over five years we're going to increase student-teacher ratio by 1.6 students, but in return we're going to provide a tremendous amount of additional technology," and restore other budget cuts. "That additional technology is going to give the teachers the tools they need to manage the classroom even with an additional student or two."

Idaho's current average student-teacher ratio is 18.2, Luna said in response to a question from Sen. Nicole LeFavour, D-Boise. "It will increase to 19.8," he said.

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