The centerpiece of Idaho's controversial school reform plan may be dead for this year, senators indicated, even as separate bills on teacher contracts and pay move through hearings in the House. The main bill, SB 1113, was pulled back to the Senate Education Committee last week after earlier squeaking through it on a 5-4 vote; late this afternoon, committee members said it's not coming back.

The measure sought to raise Idaho's class sizes in grades 4-12 and eliminate 770 teaching jobs in the next two years, to generate millions in savings that would be funneled into technology boosts, including laptop computers for every high school student, and a teacher performance pay plan. “I don't see any effort to move 1113 forward at this point,” said Senate Education Chairman John Goedde, R-Coeur d'Alene. Instead, the committee may work on legislation to establish a task force to work on issues raised by the bill and report back next year.

Sen. Chuck Winder, R-Meridian, who had voted in favor of the measure, said, "Hopefully the process can be established so that when the task force is done, the stakeholders feel like they did have some significant impact on the outcome.” You can read my full story here at spokesman.com.