Idaho’s current state superintendent of schools – the first non-educator ever to hold the position – loomed large in the debate Tuesday night between the two educators vying to succeed him. “If you liked Tom Luna, you’re going to love Sherri Ybarra,” Democratic candidate Jana Jones said of her GOP opponent. “We can’t afford to have another four years of a superintendent who is well-intended but ill-prepared.”

Ybarra also made some comments critical of Luna, a Republican who proposed a controversial set of school-reform laws that voters rejected in 2012. “Right now, I think that teachers are feeling very disrespected,” Ybarra said, “and I think they feel that the public does not support them and their leader does not support them. It’s important to remember that being on the front lines, I do support them.”

But she also said she’d “take the opportunity that our current leader has given me to transition in and spend two months closely studying” the school budget and the job. You can read my full story here at spokesman.com on tonight’s debate, which was broadcast statewide on Idaho Public Television. It included some agreement - on Idaho Core standards and restoring local control to school districts - but lots of disagreement, particularly on the school budget.