Item: Idaho's charter school law ranks high/AP

More Info: Idaho now ranks among a dozen states with the strongest charter school laws. That's according to the Center for Education Reform, a school choice advocate based in Washington, D.C. Idaho climbed several notches in the group's annual report, which was released Monday and ranked Idaho 12th among 42 states with laws allowing charter schools.

Question: Do you support the charter school movement in Idaho?

At a committee meeting at the Capitol in Boise Thursday, State Board of Education President Richard Westerburg said the organization is requesting $117,000 in state dollars to fund a new full-time employee to carry the additional load caused by new charter schools in the Gem State. The budget figured provided by the board would include salary and benefits/Dustin Hurst, Idaho Reporter. More here.

Question: Do you think the state needs a $117,000-per-year administrator for the charter school commission?

(Nampa Charter Academy) has a long history of run-ins with the charter commission, and sued the state after the commission ruled it couldn’t use the Bible in its classes. The school has been buffeted by controversy, dissension and turnover since it opened. The other 35 Idaho charter schools have avoided NCA’s problems, but the issue is serious enough to do what Twin Falls Superintendent of Schools Wiley Dobbs has suggested: a top-to-bottom review of how Idaho charters are — or aren’t — working. That would be timely now because some school districts, including Twin Falls, are considering applying for permission to convert traditional schools to charters because the funding is better/Steve Crump, Twin Falls Times-News. More here.

Question: Should the problems that led to the revocation of the charter for Nampa Charter Academy cause the state to order a top-to-bottom review re: how Idaho’s 35 other charter schools are working?

Item: Charter schools hurt public education/Sheri Thomas, Idaho Statesman

More Info: The year of 2008 marked the 10th anniversary of charter schools in Idaho. Charter schools were intended to be a pilot program in the public school system. They receive public tax dollars just like our public schools, but they are anything but public. The idea of putting competition into a tax-funded program is like having prisons advertise for better accommodations. Charter schools were brought about after vouchers - for tax dollars to go toward private school tuitions - did not pass the federal or state governments. Now it is time to focus on one educational system and not turn education into a business. Our future as a great country depends on it.

Question: Do charter schools hurt or help public education?