Rep. Tom Trail, R-Moscow, said he's talked with many of his local school administrators, teachers and parents in the last several months, and they have two big questions about the school-reform plan. The first: Why the state would require online learning for all students. The second: Why the state would require multi-year cuts in salary-based apportionment to fund the technology program and other reforms. "There's really scattered research out there," Trail said. "The families I've talked to want to have a choice of instructional delivery models and don't support requiring online courses for all students. They feel it's being mandated from the top down."

Luna responded, "We have decided that we think all students should take four years of English, not just some, but all. What the state board will decide is whether they think all students should take online courses before they graduate from high school. ... It won't be an interior product that is offered online, becuse it has to meet the same criteria as a course that is offered in a brick and mortar school."

On the multi-year cuts in the salary-based apportionment, the main state funding stream to school districts for salaries, Luna said, "It's expected that revenue for education is going to increase over the next five or six years, which is going to reduce that kind of stress at the local level. ... The governor has made it clear ... that when revenues begin to increase, the first place it will go is into education." He said the salary fund is "the only part of the school budget currently where there is use-it-or-lose-it language," and that's why it was targeted.