Editorial: Idaho’s kids need more help from lawmakers

Legislators boosted K-12 spending by 7.4 percent, including an additional $33.5 million to finance the first year of a new five-year teacher-pay plan. But in inflation-adjusted dollars, that outlay still lags the per-student spending of 2006-07 by 18.6 percent, and it keeps the state in last place.

It doesn’t help that state schools Superintendent Sherri Ybarra called for a smaller increase than lawmakers delivered. The top education official must be more aggressive if the state’s schools are to improve.

House Speaker Scott Bedke called the sorely needed teacher-pay bill “a turning point for the education system here in the state.” Gov. Butch Otter said, “We focused on what we should’ve been focusing on all the time, and that was the student in the classroom.” More here. SR editorial board

Thoughts?