Gov. Butch Otter late yesterday signed three bills into law: HB 372a, the major legislation to consolidate Idaho's elections to just four dates, for all levels of government; and two education bills, HB 303a and HB 374, which both promote funding "virtual education," or online classes, within existing school funding, and give school districts some temporary flexibility from "use it or lose it" funding rules for teacher pay during the state's budget crisis. The controversial HB 374, an end-of-session bill authored by House Education Chairman Bob Nonini, R-Coeur d'Alene, reversed an amendment that the Senate had made to HB 303, which sought to put a two-year limit on the sections expanding virtual education.

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