Three of the nation’s top school superintendents will speak in Boise this evening as part of a panel discussion sponsored by the Albertson Foundation and broadcast live online. The event is dubbed “Super Supers: An evening with the nation’s best school leaders,” and will feature former Massachusetts Commissioner of Education David Driscoll, former Maryland state schools superintendent Nancy Grasmick, and former Florida Education Commissioner Eric Smith. It starts at 7 p.m. at the Linen Building, and is free, though seating will be limited.

Roger Quarles, Albertson Foundation executive director, said, “If ever there was a time for Idaho to stop and learn from our country’s best education leaders, this is it.” Idaho’s school system has been hit hard by budget cuts in recent years; it’s also in a time of transition, with current state Superintendent Tom Luna stepping down at the end of the year, and two candidates, Democrat Jana Jones and Republican Sherri Ybarra, vying to replace him.

Driscoll, Grasmick and Smith all transformed their school systems into some of the highest-performing in the country, Quarles said. The event is part of the Albertson Foundation-sponsored “ED Sessions” series. It will be broadcast online at theEDsessions.org, and online viewers can participate in the discussion via Twitter and Facebook.