Proposition 3
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Ad slams Idaho school reform laws
BOISE – The hottest election issue of the season in Idaho – possible repeal of the state’s controversial new school reform laws – has yielded the first statewide TV campaign commercial, and it makes some questionable claims. “Proposition 3 replaces teachers with computers by requiring that taxpayers fund laptops for high school students,” the ad says. “The Legislature failed to fully fund the laptops required by Proposition 3, so our property taxes could increase.”
Idaho teachers will get earned merit pay
BOISE – It turns out both sides were wrong: Idaho teachers who earned merit-pay bonuses last year under a controversial school-reform law will get those payments this fall, regardless of the outcome of a Nov. 6 vote on whether to repeal the law. State Superintendent of Schools Tom Luna, the author of the laws, has been saying his department would have no legal authority to send out the payments if voters turn down the referendum on the law. The Idaho Education Association, the state’s teachers union, meanwhile, has accused Luna of holding the bonus payments hostage to pressure teachers to back the law.
Idaho teachers to get bonuses regardless of election outcome
It turns out both sides were wrong: Idaho teachers who earned merit-pay bonuses last year under a controversial school-reform law will get those payments this fall, regardless of the outcome of a Nov. 6 vote on whether to repeal the law.
Eye on Boise: Races simmer after heated primaries
BOISE – The northernmost legislative district in Idaho, District 1, saw some of the hottest election contests in the state in May’s primary, with tea party challengers trying to knock off longtime Republican incumbents and lots of outside interests taking sides. But it’s a different story in the general election contest this fall. Although Democratic challengers originally had filed to challenge all three GOP incumbents, two of the three have withdrawn their names from the ballot, and the third isn’t actively campaigning.