Going through details of school reform bills…

The Senate Education Committee today has continued going over state schools Supt. Tom Luna’s lengthy school reform bills in detail with Luna aide Jason Hancock, in a decidedly subdued process compared to the days of public testimony last week. Among items that have come up during today’s review: Senators expressed safety concerns about raising class sizes for students in juvenile detention centers. Hancock said that’s not an issue, because, “The school district isn’t the one that provides for the safety of the facility, but they do provide education services there.” Sen. Edgar Malepeai, D-Pocatello, said he worried that the move could “put people in harm’s way, especially if you don’t have the staff to supervise some of these instructional times when they’re taking place.” Hancock said he’d note the concern.

Sen. Chuck Winder, R-Meridian, asked why the bills eliminate all the laws enacted a couple of years ago permitting school districts to declare a financial emergency and reopen teacher contracts. “You’ve deleted all that language that we fought so dearly for a few years ago,” Winder said. Hancock responded that later in the bill, “You have language in there that gives the Board of Trustees the same kind of ability that it has under this statute to establish the compensation level in the event that they have failed to reach a negotiated agreement.” No financial emergency declaration would be required to do that, under the Luna plan, Hancock said.

“Essentially these provisions allow a district, whether they have an emergency or not, frankly, to do a lot of what we put into the emergency clause,” said Sen. Nicole LeFavour, D-Boise. Hancock responded, “That’s correct.”

Committee Chairman John Goedde, R-Coeur d’Alene, told the committee it’ll continue until about 5:30 p.m. today, then pick up again tomorrow.