The latest campaign ad in Idaho's school reform fight features Gov. Butch Otter endorsing Propositions 1, 2 and 3 in a positive, feel-good message. "Education in Idaho is at a crossroads," the casually dressed governor says in the commercial, which is running statewide, including in the Spokane-Coeur d'Alene market. "This election year we're being asked whether we will keep meaningful education reforms on the books or go back to the old way of doing things."

The "old way of doing things" refers to Idaho's laws prior to 2011, when lawmakers enacted the reforms that restricted teachers' collective bargaining rights, imposed a new merit-pay bonus system, and required big technology boosts including laptop computers for high school students and a new focus on online learning. "It paints the opposition as being reactionaries, going back to the old ways, which is kind of funny," said Jim Weatherby, emeritus professor of public policy at Boise State University. "It's a pretty positive message."

The ad is sponsored by "Yes for Idaho Education," the official campaign group backing the three measures. Opponents of the laws collected thousands of signatures to force a voter referendum on the laws; a yes vote would keep them, while a no vote would repeal them. Ken Burgess, spokesman for the Yes campaign, said the idea behind the ad was partly to defuse ire aimed against state Superintendent Tom Luna, the author of the laws. "All this issue about these things being called the 'Luna laws' - we just want to remind everybody from a leadership, statesman standpoint that the governor was as much responsible for this stuff certainly as Tom Luna," Burgess said.  You can read my full story here at spokesman.com, examining the claims in the ad.