The debate on the second public school budget bill, for the division of teachers, was an emotional one in the Senate. Sen. Brent Hill, R-Rexburg, said, "I've always supported education ... yet there are those that believe we're the bad guys in this economic stress. ... We sat here and voted to cut other programs left and right. Some of those were tough votes," including sharp cuts in the departments of commerce, environmental quality and agriculture. "Why? So we could put more dollars in public education. ... I want every teacher in the state to know that I'm supping each of these appropriation bills because I support education." Sen. Jim Hammond, R-Post Falls, said teachers, including his son and two daughters-in-law, have told him to "just do the best you can for us." He told the Senate, "I don't want to spend every dang dime that we have right now and then leave them in the lurch until the next year or the following year when we recover. ... This was the very best that we could do, and it was an effort to support teachers as well as we could, because we appreciate them, we value them, wek now that we don't pay them as well as we should but we continue to do our best for them."

Sen. Shawn Keough, R-Sandpoint, the floor sponsor for the bill, HB 324, called the budget "an effort to do the right thing," and said, "The cuts in this budget are smaller than almost every other budget." The bill, like the first education budget bill, passed on a 26-7 vote.

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