IEA Hotline

Sine Die!

Fri, 30 Mar 2012 02:43 GMT

As the saying goes, “It ain’t over ‘til the fat lady sings.” If that’s true, then one should have been able to hear her voice echoing off the marble walls of the Capitol rotunda in the early evening hours. The House adjourned sine die at 3 PM and the Senate followed their lead more than three hours later.

Legislators Craft “Going Home” Compromise

Fri, 30 Mar 2012 02:41 GMT

The waning hours of the 2012 session were absorbed with debates about stockpiling cash, tax cuts, and teacher salaries. As we reported in last night’s hotline, the end of the session hinged on a compromise that provided $35 million for teacher salaries, $35 million for the Public Education Stabilization Fund, and $35 million for tax cuts.

The winding and weaving of proposals began late last evening with a JFAC decision to print HB 702, which, among other things, set aside enough money to assure a $35 million balance in the Public Education Stabilization Fund. Bill writers delivered the document late this afternoon, and the House and Senate quickly approved the measure.

Following nearly 90 minutes of testimony (mostly in opposition) early this morning, the Senate Local Government & Taxation Committee sent HB 563, the House-passed income tax cut bill for the wealthiest Idahoans, to the full Senate without recommendation.

Bill sponsor, Sen. Chuck Winder (R-Eagle) told committee members that HB 563 represented one of the legs of the “three-legged stool” needed to wrap up the session. He intimated that its fate would determine whether the legislature would sine die this week, or extended. The tax cut was among the final pieces of legislation to be considered by the 2012 Senate, and passed following brief debate.

The final portion of the trio of bills that made up the compromise—teacher salaries—came in the form of HB 698, the measure that reverses over five years about $35 million in teacher pay slashed in last year's ‘Students Come First’ education reforms. But sponsor Rep. Bob Nonini's (R-Post Falls) plan also prioritizes last year's reform programs, which include a merit pay program and new laptops, for any new funding.

HB 670 Hits a Wall

Fri, 30 Mar 2012 02:37 GMT

One of the few remaining bills on the House calendar this morning was HB 670a, Rep. Bob Nonini's bill to give $10 million a year in tax credits to individuals and corporations who donated money to be used as scholarships for K-12 private schools.

When the House attempted to take up consideration of the measure, House Tax Chairman Dennis Lake, (R-Blackfoot) objected arguing that because the bill incorporates a tax credit, it should have been vetted by the House Revenue & Taxation Committee.

Shortly thereafter, the House recessed for a closed-door majority caucus. In a final act before the House adjourned sine die, the bill was returned to the House Education Committee, at Nonini’s request, effectively killing the bill for this session. In his final comments regarding the legislation, the sponsor told House members that he will continue to work on this and may bring it back again next year.

End game uncertain

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 00:10 GMT

After yesterday’s busy day in the House for education bills, today’s public action was concentrated into a House Education Committee meeting that ran just over 30 minutes first thing in the morning. H698, brought by Chairman Bob Nonini at the behest of bureaucrats who are fearful of the three referendums on the 2012 ballot, was explained in this Hotline message yesterday. Debate focused mainly on how this bill will create an increasingly flat salary schedule for Idaho teachers, who will then have to rely more on pay-for-performance bonuses for pay raises, rather than the current blend of experience and education. Though this latest, last-minute attempt to fix last year’s bad legislation is flawed and won’t work, it nevertheless passed on a voice vote along party lines, and it now goes to the full House.

Wednesday morning, Senate Republicans met for 90 minutes to hash over a plan that lawmakers are calling 35-35-35 because it would give roughly $35 million to restore teacher pay over five years (as outlined in H698); $35 million in tax cuts; and $35 million to refill depleted rainy-day accounts. Following the lengthy caucus, John Miller of the Associated Press reported that although the Senate Local Government & Taxation Committee will hold an 8 a.m. meeting Thursday on Gov. Butch Otter’s tax-cut request, its members are divided over whether to use the money for a tax cut to benefit relatively few or put additional money into rainy-day funds. If the House-passed tax cut clears the Senate panel, Sine Die will be nigh. And if not? “I'm guessing we're going to be here another couple of weeks.” Sen. John Goedde, R-Coeur d'Alene, told the AP.

In other news today:

The Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee made a $21.4 million transfer to the Public Education Stabilization Fund, the savings fund for public education.

The House passed H662, which would provide $600,000 next year and $1.2 million in years after for that to fund a National Guard-sponsored Youth Challenge alternative school in Pierce, Idaho. However, in a protracted debate that was reopened even after the vote failed, JFAC decided not to fund the program.

Busy day for education bills

Tue, 27 Mar 2012 22:54 GMT

The Idaho Legislature appears on track toward adjournment later this week, and no fewer than five education-related bills were considered today.

The day began with a brand-new bill, H698. It’s the 16th bill that the Legislature has considered this year in an attempt to clean up the mess of education policy that it made last year. As the Associated Press reported, “Coeur d'Alene Rep. Bob Nonini introduced the bill Tuesday, which is similar to a unanimously passed Senate measure that reverses over five years about $35 million in teacher pay slashed in last year's ‘Students Come First’ education reforms. But Nonini's plan also prioritizes last year's reform programs, which include a merit pay program and new laptops, for any new funding.” Read more here. The bill, printed today, will be considered at 8 a.m. Wednesday in Room EW41.
In other action:

The House passed S1410, the Fiscal Year 2013 public school funding bill. With a general fund price tag of $1,279,818,600, it represents a 4.6 percent increase from FY2012, but the overall budget of $1,566,813,100 showed an increase of just 0.4 percent over the current year. What’s more, Idaho’s public schools will still be operating with $139 million less in the general fund than the state invested in FY2009. Read more about the bill.

Lawmakers fell short on a parliamentary maneuver to revive S1358, the anti-bullying bill that passed the Senate two weeks ago but did not get a hearing in the House Education Committee. Although 20 other lawmakers joined Rep. Brian Cronin (D-Boise) in the motion to bring the bill out of committee, 48 voted no and the bill is dead for another year.

H670, which would thwart the Idaho Constitution’s prohibitions against state support for private schools, was considered on the House amending order today and passed back to the second reading calendar. This bill would allow tax credits to individuals to fund a child’s attendance at a private or religious school. Corporations would also be eligible for tax breaks for donations to private schools.

The House passed H564, the amended bill from Rep. JoAn Wood (R-Rigby) that makes changes to the year-old legislation dealing with employee records and Professional Standards Commission investigations. The IEA debated against earlier versions of this bill, but last week, a compromise was struck with the sponsors to clarify that a former employee will be provided any information from other investigative files (beyond their personnel file). The IEA also won clarifying language to guarantee that newly hired employees will receive full salary and benefits while awaiting a review of their personnel files.

The Senate didn’t work nearly as hard today, since it is awaiting a compromise on teacher pay and tax cuts. H672, the bill allowing school districts to use facility maintenance money for other non-personnel needs for a fourth year, is on its calendar for final consideration tomorrow.

The contortionists

Tue, 27 Mar 2012 20:10 GMT

Last year, the Idaho Legislature passed three hastily written education reform laws that take away teachers’ voices, base bonuses on standardized test scores, and start the privatization of public education. Idahoans will have a chance to overturn the laws this November via Propositions 1, 2, and 3.

With the upcoming election as a backdrop, the 2012 Idaho Legislature has considered no fewer than 16 bills that attempt to clarify or clean up the three original reform bills. The contortions continued today as Rep. Bob Nonini (R-Coeur d’Alene) pulled House Bill 656 and replaced it with House Bill 698, last-minute legislation that continues to fund bonuses before base salaries and technology before manageable class sizes.

“This is just the latest example of bureaucrats playing politics with our children and with our state’s economic future,” said Idaho Education Association President Penni Cyr. “Most lawmakers didn’t listen last year, and all this session, they’ve been attempting to fix their bad bills.”

Although H698 would, as long as funds allow, end 2011’s mandated salary shifts and offer faster growth in teacher minimum salaries, this passage from the bill’s statement of purpose makes its priorities plain: “Any increased funds appropriated for Public Schools in FY14 will first be used to pay for growth and the statutory cost of Pay for Performance, Public School Technology, the next implementation phase for 1-1 mobile computing devices in high schools” and dual credit programs “prior to funding increases for any other items within the Public Schools budget” like transportation, textbooks, and discretionary funds.

In other words, last year’s faulty laws still come first. To put it another way, it’s as if Idaho lawmakers want to eat dessert first and their meat and vegetables second, assuming they still have room after gorging on gimmicks and gadgets.

“Idaho voters will have the final say on these faulty bills in November,” Cyr added. “By voting No on Propositions 1, 2, and 3, we can push the reset button on education policy and have a real conversation about the sort of policies that will truly put students first.”

Here a tweak, there a tweak

Tue, 27 Mar 2012 19:53 GMT

As of today, the 2012 Idaho Legislature has considered a whopping 16 bills to clean up or clarify the three hastily written education reform bills passed last year. Here's a list:

1. H534—Eliminates requirement that instructor must have completed three years of experience before being eligible for leadership awards.
2. H589—Defines and clarifies fractional Average Daily Attendance (ADA) and how it will be calculated.
3. H603—Provides for 97 percent ADA funding protection for school districts.
4. H604—Provides statutory framework for the SDE to review online courses.
5. H626—Implements a recommendation from the 2011 Technology Task Force to create a web-based clearinghouse of approved online course providers.
6. H646—Creates a transparency report for Education Management Organizations.
7. H656—Removes the 2.38 percent negative adjustment for salary-based apportionment for FY13 and each year thereafter.
8. H671—Changes the portion of S1108 re: liability insurance for public school educators
9. S1224—Clarifies that the requirement to include parental input component in teacher evaluations begins with the 2012-13 school year; aligns teacher evaluations with administrator evaluations.
10. S1237—Amends the definition of an online course to allow for a teacher to teach an online course in the same location or school where the course is being taken.
11. S1297—Would remove non-certificated staff grievance rights to assure they did not have more statutory rights than certificated staff.
12. S1327—Makes eight amendments to SB 1108
13. S1328—Makes five amendments to SB 1184
14. S1329—Makes five amendments to SB 1110
15. S1331—Removes future (FY13 and beyond) reductions in salary-based apportionment outlined in S1184
16. H698 —Removes future (FY13 and beyond) reductions in salary-based apportionment outlined in S1184; requires that any base salary increases be doubled for minimum teacher salary; and requires that for FY14, any increased state funds appropriated for public schools must first be directed to fund pay-for-performance, technology, one-to-one computing devices, and dual credit programs before any other increases to the educational support program.

Senate passes education budget

Mon, 26 Mar 2012 22:25 GMT

The Senate today passed S1410, the Fiscal Year 2013 public schools budget. With a general fund price tag of $1,279,818,600, it represents a 4.6 percent increase from FY2012, but the overall budget of $1,566,813,100 showed an increase of just 0.4 percent over the current year. What’s more, Idaho’s public schools will still be operating with $139 million less in the general fund than the state invested in FY2009. The bill now goes to the House.

Sen. Dean Cameron (R-Rupert) said that although the budget is not perfect, it’s an improved, “glass-half-full” version of the state’s largest budget. But Sen. Nicole LeFavour (D-Boise) questioned why, as the economy improves, Idaho could not do better by its schools. “We are keeping this education budget in a state of perpetual crisis, and to me, this is not acceptable,” she said. Sen. Michelle Stennett (D-Ketchum) said that while she supported the budget, it needs to be viewed in the context of a wave of recent school levies that still raised people’s taxes by another means.

The budget raises the minimum teacher salary to $30,500. However, the teacher minimum remains $1,250 below the minimum teacher salary of Fiscal Year 2009. S1410 does include classified employees, but not teachers, in 2 percent raises the state plans for its public employees. Still, many Idaho education employees – especially in the classified ranks – are working below current federal poverty guidelines of $20,426 for a two-person household and $31,118 for a family of four.

S1410 funds the shift from salary based apportionment to pay for one year of the pay-for-performance and technology mandates passed by the 2011 Legislature. However, it seems less likely than ever that the Legislature will fully cover those shifts for the years beyond FY2013. Although Sen. Cameron advanced and the Senate unanimously approved S1331 to do that, the House Education Committee on Tuesday will hear H656, a bill from Rep. Bob Nonini (R-Coeur d’Alene), together with another piece of legislation he is putting forward on the same topic.

H656 would reduce by 2.38 percent the salary shifts ordered by last year’s laws, the same amount already approved for FY 2013 via S1410. But school districts already took a hit on salary based apportionment this year, and Nonini’s bill would see salary-based apportionment cut by 3.92 percent in FY2014; 4.04 percent in FY15; 3.83 percent in FY16; and 3.36 percent in FY17 and every year thereafter, all to fund the bonus pay and technology mandates passed last year. The only way to stop these shifts altogether is to overturn the 2011 laws by voting NO on Propositions 1, 2, and 3 this November.

Also today:

In what may have been the shortest committee meeting of the 2012 Idaho Legislature, the Senate Education Committee took four minutes to pass H672 to the full Senate. This bill allows school districts to use facility maintenance money for other non-personnel needs for a fourth year.

The House passed H694, the bill that purports to “clean up” a badly written portion of S1108 from 2011 which requires school districts to provide lists of liability insurance carriers for teachers. In debate, Rep. Donna Pence (D-Gooding) said the provision was onerous for school districts and the new version does little to help. Rep. Brian Cronin (D-Boise) said the bill does nothing to help students and is in fact nothing but a way to give free advertising to a “non-union” Washington state-based organization that has had little success in its efforts to lure educators away from the Idaho Education Association. It now goes to the Senate side, where it may or may not get a hearing in the final days of the 2012 session.

Sen. Bert Brackett (R-Rogerson) asked that lawmakers pull H588, which would have allowed the Bruneau-Grand View district more leverage in negotiating costs with Nevada for Idaho students who must attend a school across the border, where officials have been charging $700,000 a year for 60 students. But according to a brief from the Associated Press, “the mere threat of legislation was enough” and the Nevada district has already agreed to cuts its fees.

Week 11 in review

Fri, 23 Mar 2012 20:16 GMT

It’s almost certain that this will be our last weekly update of the 2012 Idaho Legislature. All signs point to an adjournment by the middle of next week. In the meantime, lawmakers busied themselves today clearing bills from their still-packed calendars – but they weren’t feeling too ambitious, since both chambers adjourned for the weekend before lunch.

The House today concurred on the Senate amendments to H564, the bill that makes changes to the year-old legislation dealing with employee records and Professional Standards Commission investigations. The IEA debated against earlier versions of this bill, but earlier this week, we were able to forge compromises with the sponsors to clarify that a former employee will be provided any information from other investigative files (beyond their personnel file). The IEA also won clarifying language to guarantee that newly hired employees will receive full salary and benefits while awaiting a review of their personnel files. The bill now awaits a full House vote.

Also today, the House passed H672, the bill allowing school districts to use facility maintenance money for other non-personnel needs for a fourth year. The debate on the bill made it clear that this is necessary because Idaho continues to fund its schools at recession levels, but it defers the question about when Idaho will pay serious attention to decaying school facilities that recently rated a C- in a civil engineers’ study.

The House also passed H426, the "8-in-6" bill aimed at allowing students to earn extra college credit while still in high school.

In other news this week:

The Senate has printed S1410, the Fiscal Year 2013 public school appropriations bill and it was on today’s second reading calendar. Expect a final vote on it early next week. Under S1410, Idaho schools will still receive $139 million less from the general fund in FY2013 than in FY2009. As we noted Thursday, it’s is typical each session for competing interests to work toward a “going home” compromise. This year, the “going home package” will likely include a balance of teacher salary protection and tax cuts. The controversial ultrasound bill tabled earlier this week after its Senate passage may still find its way into the “going-home” mix, too.

H670, which would thwart the Idaho Constitution’s prohibitions against state support for private schools, is still sitting on the House amending order. This bill would allow a dollar-for-dollar, penny-for-penny tax credit for money donated, via a “Scholarship Granting Organization,” to fund a child’s attendance at a private or religious school. Corporations would be eligible for a 50 percent tax break for such donations to private schools. The IEA opposes this legislation.

H694, the bill formerly known as H671, emerged this week but may not be going anywhere in the session’s final days. It purports to “clean up” a badly written portion of S1108 which requires school districts to provide lists of liability insurance carriers for teachers, but the IEA argued this week that it actually would muddy things even further and is mainly aimed at giving free government-sponsored advertising to a competing organization that has made little headway in the free marketplace.

Gov. Butch Otter today signed H481, the bill lifting charter school caps in Idaho.

Senate prints ed funding bill

Thu, 22 Mar 2012 22:47 GMT

Late Wednesday afternoon, the Senate printed S1410, the FY 13 public school appropriations bill . This measure, passed several weeks ago by the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee (JFAC), provides an additional 4.6 percent more state money to schools in the coming year. However, a reduction in federal funds means schools will actually receive only .4 percent new funding in the coming year. Most of the new money is a result of expected student growth in the coming year.

Under S1410, Idaho schools will still receive $139 million less from the general fund in Fiscal Year 2013 than in FY2009. Minimum teacher salaries will climb to $30,500, which is $1,250 less than new teachers earned in FY 09. Additionally, discretionary funds—the funds districts use to pay to keep the schools running and for the purchase of additional programs and expenses not specifically funded by the legislature—will be $6,070 less per classroom next year than they received in FY09.

Sen. Bart Davis (R-Idaho Falls) announced today that the Senate hopes to complete their work by mid-week next week. To meet that deadline, senators will need to dispatch with the funding bill in the next few days.

Has a compromise been reached?

Though no one is making any announcements, the fact that the public school funding bill has now been printed signals that a compromise may have been reached regarding teacher salaries and tax cuts.

Senator Dean Cameron’s (R-Rupert) S1331, which would require budget writers to fully fund the technology and pay-for-performance education mandates passed by lawmakers last year, rather than taking the money from salary-based apportionment, has been lingering in House Education Committee Chairman Bob Nonini’s (R-Post Falls) desk for several weeks now. That measure would cost $35 million. Ironically, the same day that SB 1331 was approved, the House passed Governor Otter’s tax cut package to benefit Idaho corporations and the state’s top earners. The cost? $35 million.

In his appearance last week on Public Television’s Idaho Reports, Rep. Nonini told Greg Hahn that he would not schedule a hearing on Cameron’s bill. Instead, he introduced H656, which would backfill the salary-based apportionment for FY 13 only. Nonini noted that there is a philosophical divide between the House and the Senate regarding what is most important—tax cuts or teacher salaries.

As is typical each session, competing interests make for a “going home” compromise. This year, that compromise appears to be between teacher salaries and tax cuts. We should have a clear idea of what the compromise looks like in the next few days. In the meantime, the fact that the education funding bill has been printed signals that at least one year of salary-based apportionment will be backfilled.

Here’s a snapshot of the remaining bills we are tracking:

H564 This bill makes changes to a bill passed last just year dealing with employee records and Professional Standards Commission investigations. The IEA debated against earlier versions of this bill, but over the course of the last few days, the IEA was able to negotiate some compromise language with the bill sponsors that clarifies a former employee will be provided any information from other investigative files, and that newly hired employees will receive full salary and benefits while awaiting a review of their personnel files. Passed the Senate; returned to House for concurrence with amendments

H670 Circumvents the Idaho Constitution’s prohibitions against state support for private schools. It would establish Scholarship Granting Organizations to allow Idahoans within generous income guidelines to get a dollar-for-dollar, penny-for-penny tax credit for money donated, via the SGO, to fund a child’s attendance at a private or religious school. Corporations would be eligible for a 50 percent tax break for such donations to private schools. The IEA opposes this legislation. Still sitting on General Orders—the House amending order

H694 Billed as a tweak to the liability insurance reporting requirements passed last year in Senate Bill 1108, this bill (formerly H671) mainly serves to give a leading IEA opponent another chance to step onto a soapbox and pitch a “non-union” alternative organization that has failed in Idaho’s free marketplace. House 2nd Reading Calendar

S1358a, This bill, supported by the IEA, more clearly defines bullying and cyberbullying, requires school districts to create and post written policies and train staff on how to stop bullying. House Education Committee

Spring housekeeping

Wed, 21 Mar 2012 22:36 GMT

It was a day of education housekeeping at the Idaho Legislature as tweaks to the 2011 education reform laws continue to trickle through the system.

In the House Education Committee, members voted to advance a new version of yesterday’s H671, a bill that essentially is a sop to the Washington-based Northwest Professional Educators to meet its demand that it be included on a list of providers of liability insurance to teachers. Roger Brown of Gov. Butch Otter’s office, making his first appearance in the committee this session, admitted that the liability insurance notification provision of last year’s Senate Bill 1108 was badly written and needed some changes to make it less of a burden on school districts.

In the face of not one but two days of vitriolic testimony from NWPE’s Cindy Omlin, Bert Marley of the Idaho Education Association contended that the bill does not lessen that bureaucratic burden and in fact muddies the issue since associations do not themselves sell liability insurance. Marley also related how becoming an IEA member while a teacher in Marsh Valley was one of the best professional and personal decisions he’d ever made. “For 120 years, the IEA has been the association of choice for educators due to superior benefits,” he added.

As he did in floor debate last year, Rep. Brian Cronin (D-Boise) said he saw no other reason for the bill than to punish the IEA. When Chairman Bob Nonini (R-Coeur d’Alene) asked whether Omlin’s testimony recounting a handful of years-old perceived slights over NWPE access to teachers gave him pause, Cronin said, “No, it doesn’t. The marketplace of ideas is brutally competitive.” (In an earlier question, Cronin elicited from Omlin that NWPE has only 1,100 members in three states.)

It’s interesting to note that although Omlin insists hers is a professional rather than a political organization, she sent an email yesterday asking members to email the House Education Committee, then sent another one reminding members to use their home email addresses, not school emails, when contacting lawmakers.

In other news today:

The House passed Senate Bills 1327, 1328, and 1329, the three pieces of legislation that make minor changes to the education reform bills passed last year. The IEA opposes these as we opposed the original reforms. If Idahoans vote NO on Propositions 1, 2, and 3 this November 6, these housekeeping bills will be overturned as well.

The Senate passed an amended version of H564, the bill from Rep. JoAn Wood (R-Rigby) that would make major changes to a bill passed last just year dealing with employee records and Professional Standards Commission investigations. It was referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee. The IEA debated against earlier versions of this bill, but over the course of the last few days, the IEA was able to negotiate some compromise language with the bill sponsors that clarifies a former employee will be provided any information from other investigative files, and that newly hired employees will receive full salary and benefits while awaiting a review of their personnel files.

The Senate also passed H603, which restores some funding protection that school districts lost in the 2011 reforms. Under the bill, districts would collectively self-insure to protect themselves from steep funding drops due to enrollment declines from one year to the next. The bill sets a 97 percent floor for year-to-year Average Daily Attendance funding losses. Senators also passed H626, which will set up a clearinghouse of ratings for online classes.

A bad bill for public schools

Tue, 20 Mar 2012 22:17 GMT

Although the 2012 Idaho Legislature has lacked the pitched battles of last year, there have been plenty of bills that are damaging to public schools and educators’ rights. Even in the waning days of the session, today’s House Education Committee was the setting for two such pieces of legislation.

The first, H670, sets up a conduit to circumvent the Idaho Constitution’s prohibitions against state support for private schools. It would establish Scholarship Granting Organizations to allow Idahoans within generous income guidelines to get a 100 percent tax credit for money donated, via the SGO, to fund a child’s attendance at a private school. Under this measure, money that would otherwise be paid in taxes to Idaho would be credited to the individual on a dollar-by-dollar, penny-by-penny basis of what they put into an SGO. Corporations would be eligible for a 50 percent tax break for such donations to private schools. Thus, the individual or corporation would be filtering what would otherwise be tax funds through a SGO to support private (often religious) schools.

Chairman Bob Nonini (R-Coeur d’Alene) said the bill was inspired by private schools in his area losing enrollment due to the economy, and he welcomed Dale Buwalda of the Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice as his “co-sponsor” for the bill, even though Buwalda lives in Indiana. Buwalda’s long-winded presentation made it clear that SGOs are a way to get around separation issues and that the mechanism has been upheld by courts in other states.

Idaho Education Association General Counsel Paul Stark brought up a range of problems with the bill. Aside from the Constitutional issues, he noted that it would drain about $10 million from the public schools: enough to support the Idaho Digital Learning Academy and the state’s new math and science requirements for a year, or the costs of the math initiative, reading initiative, and remediation costs and two-thirds of the cost for all juniors to complete the new college entrance exam.

Stark also argued that it’s not wise to set precedents for citizens to get around paying taxes to support public services that they choose not to use. He suggested that if this bill passes, perhaps he might get a tax credit for flying to North Idaho instead of using the state highways, or maybe he would get a tax write-off for buying books rather than borrowing them from a public library.

Both Karen Echeverria of the Idaho School Boards Association and Rob Winslow of the Idaho Association of School Administrators indicated their groups would like to study the measure more. In the end, Rep. Steve Thayn (R-Emmett) moved that the bill be held in committee and Rep. Reed DeMordaunt (R-Emmett) agreed, noting he had too many questions. But instead, lawmakers voted to pass it to the full House for amendments.

Today’s other ideologically inspired bill in the House Ed Committee was H671. It is being billed as a tweak to the liability insurance reporting requirements passed last year in Senate Bill 1108, but today it mainly served to give a leading IEA opponent another chance to step onto a soapbox and pitch a “non-union” alternative organization that has failed in Idaho’s free marketplace. The committee will resume its consideration of H671 tomorrow.

In other news, H663, a bill that would give charter schools access to bond funds with only the vote of the charter school board, was pulled from the House floor today. Betsy Russell of Eye on Boise reported that floor debate “turned sharply against the bill” before its sponsor, DeMordaunt, agreed to return it to committee.