It was Idaho Superintendent of Schools Tom Luna himself who made the motion at the state Board of Education this morning to repeal the rule requiring that every Idaho high school student take at least two online classes to graduate from high school. "Proposition 3 was overturned by the voters," Luna said. "Overturning Proposition 3 in and of itself did not remove the two." But, he said, "Because of the actions of the voters on Nov. 6th ... the perception in the public definitely was that the language on the ballot itself made a reference to the online graduation requirement, and so I think it's proper that we remove that as part of the pending rule."

His motion to repeal the rule passed on a 7-1 vote, with just board member Emma Atchley objecting.

"My biggest concern is that if we do not go forward with the online requirement, and we spend a year deciding whether we're going to have it or how we're going to have it, and we all end up wanting it in the end anyway, we've just lost another year," she said. "I understand the political reality, but I think it's very important that we do not in the end say that we shouldn't have at least some online learning."

Board member Rod Lewis said, "I hope that we do have the opportunity to talk further about this issue. If you really look at what's happening in post-secondary institutions and the change that is occurring there, I think it is going to be increasingly important that we have students at the end of the day know how to take classes online effectively. That will be an increasing component of their post-secondary education and our goal is to prepare students for that time."

Board member Richard Westerberg said, "All that being said, and I agree with all of that, the vote was not equivocal. It was a pretty strong vote from the populace, and it was very specific the way it was listed on the ballot. ... I think ... we need to reaffirm what the voters told us."

Board member Don Soltman agreed; he chaired the board's subcommittee that set the two-courses rule. "The committee of the board that looked at this looked solely at coming up with a number of online requirements," he said. "Without exception, every hearing that we had across the state, the issue always came up of ... opposition to the law itself. And as we addressed those publics when we met, we explained to them that the law was in place, that the charge of the committee was only to identify the number of courses required under the law. But I can say without hesitation, at every hearing there was opposition to the law expressed."

Luna said a "different process" is needed on the issue. "I do believe we made the right decision today," he said.