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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Eye On Boise

Senate kills bill adding Idaho questions to civics test

Here’s a news item from the Associated Press: BOISE, Idaho (AP) — An Idaho Senate panel has spiked a proposal suggesting that high school students should have to pass a civics test that included at least 25 questions on the history of Idaho. Members on the Senate Education Committee said Tuesday they liked the overall concept of the bill, but couldn't sign off on the current legislation being presented. Republican Rep. Bryan Zollinger, the bill's sponsor, countered that the test would encourage students to learn more about their state government. In 2015, lawmakers passed a bill requiring students to correctly answer 60 out of a 100 questions from the same citizenship test the federal government requires immigrants to pass. This is the second year lawmakers have failed to add an Idaho element to the civics test.



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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