‘Wrangling for schools’

It’s something of a mob scene in the Capitol Annex today, as school trustees from across the state hold their “day on the hill” to talk with legislators. Larry Brown, right, chairman of the Lakeland School District board, said, “We’re wrangling for schools. … We’re just asking the legislators to have the least amount of impact on student class time.” He said at the ball games, Lego fair, science fair and similar events in his district, people have been talking about the looming budget cuts. “They’re expecting it,” he said. “But we don’t know how hard the times will be … we don’t know what the impacts will be.” Vern Newby, left, Coeur d’Alene school trustee, said his message to lawmakers is, “Give us flexibility - we need all the flexibility we can get at this point. … We need to be able to say, ‘This is important for our district - it may not be important for someone else.’”