When the Senate took up HCR 3, the cursive writing resolution, this morning, Sen. Bob Nonini, R-Coeur d’Alene, warned, “I hope you’re not expecting for my debate … to be as eloquent as the good House sponsor from across the rotunda.” Nonini told the Senate he had seven pages of hand-written cursive notes from that House sponsor, Rep. Linden Bateman, R-Idaho Falls, regarding the resolution, which calls on the state Board of Education to include cursive writing in Idaho’s Common Core standards for what children should learn in school. “We heard the evidence presented to us that this is good information, it helps with brain development,” Nonini told the Senate.

Sen. Dean Mortimer, R-Idaho Falls, compared learning cursive to learning music, saying it “really promotes thinking in our children.” He said, “It’s one of those things that I have tried to improve. I wasn’t good at it, and my parents asked me to work at it, and it’s something that I’ve continued to work on through the years.”

The Senate approved the resolution on a voice vote.