The Senate has adjourned for the day, and Senate Republicans have headed into a closed-door caucus. The Senate will convene at 9 a.m. tomorrow, as will the House. Senate Majority Leader Bart Davis, R-Idaho Falls, said the Senate will work through the morning and finish its calendar by noon, after which focus will turn to the three remaining big issues that are hampering the close of the legislative session: tax cuts, teacher pay, and state savings. Davis said the Legislature will "hopefully be out of here a few days thereafter." Amid murmuring, he added, "Think positive, folks."

Tomorrow morning, the House Education Committee has scheduled an 8:30 a.m. meeting on both HB 656, House Education Chairman Bob Nonini's version of the teacher pay bill, and a proposed new bill on the same topic; the Senate earlier unanimously passed legislation to cancel the future years' teacher pay cuts mandated by last year's "Students Come First" school reform laws to pay for technology boosts and merit-pay bonuses, but Nonini has declined to hold a hearing on the bill.