COEUR d'ALENE - The campaign to keep Idaho's new education reform laws in place is on, and another initiative to recall the state's top education official continues.

Since Monday, when the Idaho Secretary of State certified that three referendums to repeal the recently enacted eduction laws will be on the November 2012 election ballot, Gov. Butch Otter and Idaho schools chief Tom Luna have been out defending the education changes. Luna was in Coeur d'Alene Thursday. He spoke to a capacity crowd of about 70 at a Kootenai County Reagan Republicans meeting held at Fedora Pub and Grille.

He thanked the group for their support, and lauded the people of North Idaho for their political activism. "I've been coming here for 10 years, and it just continues to grow," Luna said.

Otter was in Castleford Monday, holding one of his "Capital for a Day" sessions. According to the Associated Press, the governor said proponents of the education overhaul will be calling on all legislators and organizations who supported the measures.

On Tuesday in Twin Falls, Otter attended the annual conference of the Idaho Association of Commerce and Industry, and commended members of that group for their support of the comprehensive education reforms.

"The results were the three bills that we finally got through with your help, with your assistance, with your faith, and now they're under attack," Otter said. "So I need that same energy that you helped us with in the Legislature this last session."

The reforms, also known as "Students Come First," were passed by lawmakers and became effective earlier this year amid weeks of contentious House and Senate committee hearings, and protests by students and teachers throughout the state.

The new laws restrict the bargaining powers of local teachers unions, and eliminate indefinite continuing contracts for all new teachers. They also call for advances in classroom technology and merit pay increases for teachers, funding those items by shifting money from the amounts previously allocated to districts for salaries.

Last week, members of Idahoans for Responsible Education Reform, a group of parents and teachers opposed to the legislation, delivered to the Idaho Secretary of State's office the number of signatures required to have each of the three Students Come First bills placed on the November 2012 election ballot.

The total number of signatures verified on each ballot was between 74,000 and 75,000. Each of the petitions required at least 47,432 valid signatures for a referendum.

Julie Fanselow, spokeswoman for the Idaho Education Association, the state teachers union, said in a telephone interview that each of the petitions was signed by between 5,100 and 5,200 Kootenai County residents. Bonner County residents account for between 2,000 and 3,000 votes on each of the petitions.

"They did this in 45 days, less than two months. There are signatures from every county and they're from Democrats and Republicans," Fanselow said. "Some who signed may support the laws, but believe it should be put to a vote."

Melissa McGrath, spokesperson for the Idaho Department of Education, said members of her agency, which Luna heads, haven't spent a lot of time dwelling on the referendum campaign.

"We've been focusing so much on the implementation of the new laws and the task force," McGrath said. "We always knew that the referendum was a possibility, and that the recall was a much higher bar."

The recall petition initiative, led by the Boise-based Committee to Recall Tom Luna, needs 158,107 valid signatures, and they must be collected by June 27.

Chelsea Lincoln, the committee's campaign manager, said that as of last week the group had nearly 80,000 signatures. The group doesn't have an updated signature count at this time, Lincoln said, because they've been focusing solely on collecting signatures.

Erin Matson, the recall committee's manager for Idaho's northern region, said they just heard that a Coeur d'Alene volunteer placed 1,000 petitions in the mail to the group in Boise.

Matson estimates the recall committee has about 60 volunteers in Coeur d'Alene. She said the volunteers in Kootenai County are generally unwilling to go public about their support for the recall measure because they fear repercussions in the community.

The committee is not connected with the state teachers union, Matson said, and does not receive any funding from the IEA.

In response to recent allegations that the recall committee is backed solely by teachers and special interest groups, Matson said the group plans to release its funding documents next week, making all donors' names public.

Matson said she has never been politically involved before, and just moved to Idaho from Minnesota in August. She got involved because the Students Come First legislation and the way it was handled upset her.

"I'm a nurse and I have a 4-year-old daughter, and I found myself going to bed with a stomach-ache every night," she said.

There are 12 volunteer committee members, and just three are teachers. The rest are parents, grandparents and other concerned citizens, Matson said. There are two Democrats, two Republicans and the rest are independents.

"If we get all the signatures, Luna can choose to step down, or we can have a special election, probably Aug. 30. That would be determined by the Secretary of State," Matson said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.