Minor changes coming to ed reform bill

By JESSIE L. BONNER

Associated Press

BOISE — Lawmakers sent public schools chief Tom Luna and his plan to overhaul the K-12 education system back to the drawing board for a small rewrite today, after three days of listening to testimony from teachers, administrators, parents, and students.

Supporters and foes of the plan remain deeply divided and the public hearings were, at times, heated over the proposal to restructure how Idaho's scarce education dollars are spent.

Luna unveiled the plan to lawmakers in January calling for the state to beef up technology in the classroom and arm high school students with laptops, requiring them to take online courses. Class sizes would increase slightly to help pay for the reforms and the state would shed an estimated 770 teaching jobs.

The biggest rewrite to Idaho's public education system in recent memory came first to the Senate Education Committee in the form of two pieces of legislation, Senate Bill 1068 and Senate Bill 1069. The committee, chaired by Sen. John Goedde of Coeur d’Alene, was scheduled to vote on the bills after a final day of public testimony today.

"There are enough small corrections needed in S1068 and S1068 that they should not be held for a vote in committee as they are currently written," Goedde said in a letter Thursday, hours before the public hearing was expected to begin.

Luna will bring two revised drafts of the legislation to the committee on Monday, Goedde said.

The Idaho Education Association has condemned parts of the plan that would reduce teaching jobs, increase class sizes and require educators to forgo coveted job security. After it was introduced, the union criticized Luna for "hijacking" an important debate over funding for Idaho public schools with a plan to "radically alter the way Idaho schools do business."

Public schools in Idaho have lost roughly $200 million in funding during the past two years amid the economic downturn.

Luna argues that the current system is not sustainable and contends no other education stakeholders have presented a plan to reform education in Idaho. He has chastised the teachers union for spreading "misinformation" about the Republican-backed proposal that was introduced with Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter's support.

Some 300 parents and their children rallied on the south steps of the Capitol building as lawmakers started public hearings on Luna's plan earlier this week.

They held signs aloft that read "Raise my taxes for education" and "What a Luna-tic," while listening to speakers suggest how to address education reforms. One woman told her son: "If you're in a class of 45 kids, nobody will know your name."