Luna: ‘Very, very difficult’ budget for schools

State Superintendent of Schools Tom Luna said he was surprised at the last-minute clause tacked onto the public schools budget set by JFAC today, declaring a financial emergency for all school districts statewide and letting them reopen negotiated teacher contracts. “That’s the first time I saw that motion was today,” Luna said. “It was discussed in the stakeholder meetings, and there wasn’t consensus, and our agreement is we would only move forward with consensus.”

Luna said he agreed to support the negotiated deal among stakeholders, and he’s sticking with that. “I think we made our case and we fought our battles when meeting with all the stakeholders - I agreed to be supportive when we came out of that meeting,” he said. Luna said the budget that was set will be “very, very difficult” for Idaho schools. “I don’t think any of us ever thought that when I was state superintendent, that we would be dealing with this, that two years in a row we would be cutting education,” he said. “It’s a very difficult situation, but it’s all being driven by the economy. … I tell folks that there is a brighter day that’s not far off, and we will get through this.”