Senate Education Chairman John Goedde, R-Coeur d’Alene, said he backs new legislation allowing school boards to cut the salaries of experienced teachers because it beats laying off teachers. “When you’re given X number of dollars to employ teachers, either you employ less teachers and increase…
Idaho Education Association President Penni Cyr is disputing Idaho School Boards Association chief Karen Echeverria’s assertion that the IEA only had problems with two portions of Proposition 1, regarding continuing contract rights and limiting teacher negotiations to just salary and benefits. “Frankly, everything in Proposition…
Before she proposed her four pieces of new legislation this afternoon, Karen Echeverria, executive director of the Idaho School Boards Association, said she thought the Idaho Education Association, the state’s teachers union, really only objected to two parts of the voter-rejected Proposition 1: Banning teachers…
Sen. Branden Durst, D-Boise, asked Idaho School Boards Association Executive Director Karen Echeverria about the recent Office of Performance Evaluations report that found a sense of “despair” among Idaho’s school teachers, and how the legislation she’s proposing to bring back parts of the “Students Come…
Four new bills proposed by the Idaho School Boards Association were introduced on party-line votes this afternoon in the Senate Education Committee to roll back collective bargaining rights for Idaho teachers, echoing some of the provisions in the voter-repealed Proposition 1. On all four, the…
Idaho State Controller Brandon Woolf has been unanimously confirmed by the state Senate; he was appointed to the post after elected Controller Donna Jones stepped down to focus on recovering from injuries suffered in an auto accident. “It’s not often that we have a vacancy…
The House has voted unanimously to honor Kristin Armstrong, the two-time Olympic gold medal cyclist from Boise. “In my estimation, Kristin Armstrong has grit and courage and determination – she doesn’t give up,” said Rep. Grant Burgoyne, D-Boise. “And she reminds us that the Idaho…
State Department of Lands Director Tom Schultz distributed a laminated card to lawmakers showing the acreage burned in wildfires in Idaho from 1983 to 2012, plus in the catastrophic fire year of 1910. 2012, at 1.75 million acres burned, was almost as high as 1910,…
Idaho Department of Lands Director Tom Schultz, who is making his budget pitch to lawmakers, got lots of questions from members of the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee, including why, when the state is reaping record timber harvests, its timber revenue has dropped; see this chart here.…
Things are gearing up, as the Legislature heads into the fourth week of its session. This afternoon, the Senate Education Committee is scheduled consider four bills from the Idaho School Boards Association to limit teachers’ collective bargaining rights, some of them restoring changes that voters…
Idaho’s state parks department, which now gets only $1.3 million a year in state funding, is making its budget pitch to lawmakers this morning. “We are very proud to say we’ve been able to keep all 30 of our state parks open,” state Parks Director…
The intrusion of an armed open-carry advocate who blended in with an evening Cub Scout tour of the Idaho House and then used the opportunity to rifle through lawmakers desks in the House chamber, go through trash cans and photograph papers has state lawmakers considering…
News, happenings and more from the Idaho Legislature and the state capital.
