SB 1184 now likely to become law…

Here’s a link to my full story at spokesman.com on the passage of SB 1184, the third school-reform bill, in the Senate today by a narrow margin, which virtually ensures the bill will become law. It now moves to the House, where there’s more support for it, and Gov. Butch Otter already has pledged to sign it into law. State schools Supt. Tom Luna issued a statement praising the bill’s passage and saying, “I thank the senators for their passionate debate, hearing from the public, considering the facts, and voting accordingly;” you can read his statement here . The Idaho Education Association said, “Once again, Idahoans’ voices were ignored in the rush to pass “reform,” no matter what it looks like and no matter how many people object;” you can read their statement here .

The Idaho PTA issued this statement: “Anytime legislation is lightning fast that will erode meaningful parental involvement for years to come, it is not in the best interest of Idaho’s children.  We are greatly disappointed.” And the Idaho Democratic Party issued a statement calling the bill “a disaster for rural schools;” you can click below to read that.

A disaster for rural schools

News release from the Idaho Democratic Party

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE –

The Idaho Senate passed Supt. of Public Instruction Tom Luna’s final education cut this evening. Thank you to all of our Democratic Senators, along with Senators Andreason, Broadsword, Cameron, Corder, Darrington, Davis, Keough, and Stegner, for standing strong against enormous pressure to defund our schools.

In these tough times, we need to give our schools more flexibility to deal with the budget cuts they face. This bill does the opposite. This bill mandates higher spending on technology while leaving school districts no choice but to lower teacher salaries or increase class sizes.

Larger school districts might be able to absorb these mandates with levies, but smaller, rural schools will be defenseless. State Chair of the Idaho Democratic Party Larry Grant said, “It is clear that today’s vote will not meet the State’s duty to provide a ‘uniform and thorough’ free system of education required by the Idaho constitution. This bill will be disastrous to our smaller school districts.”

These deep cuts and reckless reforms will have long-lasting, deleterious consequences.

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