Carole McWilliam is filling in for Sen. Edgar Malepeai, D-Pocatello, this week, as he's gone for a family funeral. She just asked whether the state Department of Education has "baseline data" on how many teachers are not already trained on using technology, how many teachers don't have computers, and how many classrooms don't already have high-tech smartboards. Luci Willits, chief of staff for  state schools Supt. Tom Luna, said she can get that information, but didn't have it with her.

Sen. Monty Pearce, R-New Plymouth, asked Otter aide Roger Brown about timing on the pay-for-performance plan already signed into law. Brown said the new bill provides the funding in subsequent years, through its required shifts within the public school budget; it's not scheduled to start until 2013. "This piece of legislation will fully fund pay for performance," Brown said. "This bill finds ways to invest in vital new programs by seeking efficiencies in the current public schools budget." He said the bill "invests in all the right places."