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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Eye On Boise

Overflow room opened for hearing

The crowd more than filled the Capitol Auditorium, the Capitol's largest hearing room, for Friday's first-ever public hearing on public school funding held by the Legislature's joint budget committee. (Betsy Russell)
The crowd more than filled the Capitol Auditorium, the Capitol's largest hearing room, for Friday's first-ever public hearing on public school funding held by the Legislature's joint budget committee. (Betsy Russell)

People were lining up as early as 6:30 this morning for today's unprecedented public hearing on school funding before the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee. There are about 240 theater seats in the Capitol Auditorium; all are full, and people are standing around the sides and in back. Now, an overflow room has been opened up across the hall with video and audio. More than 70 people already have signed in to tesify; at three minutes apiece for three hours, there's likely time only for 60. Those who don't get to have their say today are being asked to submit their testimony in writing.



Betsy Z. Russell
Betsy Z. Russell joined The Spokesman-Review in 1991. She currently is a reporter in the Boise Bureau covering Idaho state government and politics, and other news from Idaho's state capital.

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