Gov. Butch Otter answered questions from reporters today after a bill-signing ceremony for SB 1074, the bill to allow 16-year-olds to donate blood with their parents' permission. He acknowledged that he was hit with lots of questions from citizens during his recent trip to North Idaho about this year's school-reform legislation. "The bill that we've now got in process and working its way through the Senate is result of a lot of the concerns that we heard during the hearings," Otter said. "Obviously it did find considerable favor in the education committee; we hope it finds the same degree of favor on the Senate floor."

Otter said with the state short of funds, "We can do a better job with the money" in the public school budget; the new bill, SB 1184, shifts funds from teacher salaries to technology.

Asked about the guns-on-campus bill, Otter said he wasn't ready to give his opinion yet, saying, "It's in process." He said he's met with the bill's sponsors, and said he still has the same concerns he had about a similar measure three years ago.