Huckleberries Online

Posts tagged: Russ Joki

Idaho, School Districts Face Lawsuit

Posted by DFO

Oct. 1, 2012 1:21 p.m. • 4 comments

An Idaho grandfather and former school district superintendent is suing the state of Idaho and all its school districts, charging that cash-strapped schools are violating the Idaho Constitution by increasingly charging fees for what are supposed to be “free, common schools.” Russ Joki's twin kindergartner granddaughters were each charged $45 to register for kindergarten this year, and his grandson, a high school junior, had to pay $85 in fees to enroll at Meridian High. But a 1970 Idaho Supreme Court decision specifically found educational fees for public schools unconstitutional in the state. “I don't think it passes the constitutional test at all,” Joki said, “and I think someone has to raise that question/Betsy Russell, Eye on Boise. More here.

Question: I think Joki has a good chance to prevail. How about you?

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D.F. Oliveria is a columnist and blogger for The Spokesman-Review. Huckleberries Online was judged the best 2008 Idaho newspaper blog by the Idaho Press Club. And the best 2007 news blog in the Pacific Northwest by the Society for Professional Journalist. Print Huckleberries is a past winner of the Herb Caen Memorial Column contest by the National Association of Newspaper Columnists. The Readership Institute of Northwestern University cited this blog as a good example of online community journalism.