COEUR d'ALENE - Idaho public schools superintendent Tom Luna said Thursday that the now controversial contract for Wi-Fi service in the state's high schools was developed according to the specific directives of the Idaho Legislature.

Luna defended the process his department used in structuring the contract and awarding it to Education Networks of America, a Nashville firm.

He claims there was no political influence in the selection of ENA. Critics have said the company was chosen because it made financial contributions to election campaigns for Luna and several state lawmakers.

Luna pointed to the language of the legislation calling for the wireless technology, part of the state's public schools budget for this fiscal year.

"When the Legislature writes law, 'expended' means 'spend it at the state level,'" Luna said.

The legislation calls for a $2.25 million appropriation to be "expended for the installation, repair, replacement and support of a wireless technology infrastructure, in each public school serving high school grades."

That means the funds were not to be distributed to the districts, he said.

Because the language of the legislation also calls for "installation, repair, replacement and support," it requires ongoing service beyond a year, Luna said.

"A multi-year contract is the only way to meet that," he said.

If the state had entered into a one-year contract, Luna said it would have created an unfunded mandate for the districts, requiring them to pay for the annual cost of repairing and replacing the wireless infrastructure.

The legislation also directs the state to provide service to all high schools, he pointed out.

Districts with an existing wireless infrastructure are not required to opt in to the state contract.

Luna said he fully expects districts that don't sign on to the state contract now will migrate to the statewide wireless infrastructure in the future. The Coeur d'Alene School District is one of the districts that is not opting in to the state contract at this time. The district is moving forward with plans to provide its own wireless service and equipment, using funds from a $32.7 million construction bond passed last year.

More than 100 school districts and charter schools have already opted in to the state plan, Luna said.

He pointed out that like all contracts the state enters into, the Wi-Fi contract includes a non-appropriations clause, which means the Legislature has to approve the appropriation each year. If they don't, the contract becomes null and void.

"In my mind, it is always a year-to-year contract," Luna said.

The contract is a five-year contract for $2.1 million per year, with options to renew two more times at five-year intervals.

Luna said ENA agreed to hold the state harmless if the Legislature fails to appropriate the funds again, but the company said they wanted the option of removing their equipment.

"The other people who bid, they wouldn't agree to the hold harmless if the contract wasn't appropriated," he said.

Luna responded to rumors that he plans to go work for ENA after his current term as superintendent ends.

"I don't know what I'm going to do when I'm done with this, but I've got my own business that I can go back to if I want to, so I'm not looking for a job," Luna said. "I think that is something that people just claim that every politician is going to do, feathering their own nest."

Luna said he didn't look at the bids, and he didn't weigh in on them. They were evaluated by an independent committee that selected ENA unanimously.

He said he hasn't made a formal decision whether he will seek re-election.