Lawmakers raise questions about reform plan

Key Idaho lawmakers raised serious questions Tuesday about state Superintendent of Schools Tom Luna’s sweeping education reform plan, which he detailed to nearly half the Legislature in a massive joint committee hearing. Luna’s plan relies on raising class sizes and employing fewer teachers, administrators and other school workers over the next two years, and funneling the savings into technology upgrades, a teacher pay-for-performance plan and other reforms.

“I would suggest that it is not on greased skids at this point,” said Senate Education Chairman John Goedde, R-Coeur d’Alene. “I would anticipate hours of additional questions.” Goedde said Idaho’s school facilities simply may not have room to increase class sizes. “It’s a question that at least hasn’t been addressed at this point,” he said. “That’s the linchpin in this whole funding, so if that falls apart I don’t know where we go.”

Sen. Shawn Keough, R-Sandpoint, vice-chair of the Legislature’s joint budget committee, said it’s misleading to rely on the current average statewide student-teacher ratio of less than 20 when considering the plan. “In reality, in my district anyway … there are teachers with 35, 36, 38 students - and they’re already squeezed into rooms,” she said. “I applaud the superintendent for thinking outside the box, but we really don’t have enough detail budget-wise or policy-wise to make a decision. This really does turn our system upside down, and there are huge policy issues with that.” You can read my full story here at spokesman.com.