Conflict Develops On School Rules Items House Panel Rejects May Have Support In Senate

The education committees of the Idaho House and Senate may be heading in different directions over whether to accept changes in the rules used to operate public schools.

Following weeks of hearings and debate, the House Education Committee on Tuesday voted to reject five of some 380 rules recommended by a committee created by the state Board of Education.

Rep. Fred Tilman, R-Boise and House chairman, said Wednesday it will be necessary to prepare five resolutions, one for each rule being rejected, for approval by both chambers of the Legislature.

If that happens, it would be up to the state Board of Education to come up with new rules.

But first, Tilman said, he will check with Republican Sen. Gary Schroeder, head of the Senate panel, on that committee’s sentiment. If the Senate does not agree with the House’s approach, there is little use attempting to pass a resolution in the House, Tilman said.

The Legislature in 1994 repealed all school operating rules, effective April 1 of this year, and ordered a comprehensive review after getting complaints that the school rules were cumbersome, outdated and redundant.

Included in the House rejection motions was perhaps the most controversial recommendation, that physical education and the humanities be dropped as courses required for high school graduation in favor of more math and science.

In the Senate, the education panel had a motion under consideration Wednesday to accept Chapter 2, the section in the rules on uniformity. Schroeder said it appeared likely the section would be accepted, but the motion never came to a vote.

That section includes a rule rejected by the House, setting goals for teacher-student ratio in the classrooms but eliminating the ratios now in effect for kindergarten through the third grade.

Meanwhile, the House committee spent its Wednesday session preparing a letter to the state Board of Education explaining why it rejected some rules. But after the session, some members acknowledged the state education board may give it little consideration.

The rules rejected by the House panel on Tuesday included:

A rule covering extensive testing of students, a program that has been pushed by Schools Superintendent Anne Fox.

A rule to greatly expand counseling and career guidance programs, with students getting exposure to career options even in grade school.

A rule to tighten restrictions on using misassigned teachers, or those teaching in areas or subjects they are not certified for.

A section on personnel standards, which among other things did away with requirements for teacherstudent ratios in classes in kindergarten through the third grade.

The rule changing high school graduation requirements.