Pocatello allows SROs to carry rifles
School resource officers will be allowed to bring service rifles into Pocatello schools — but the weapons will be stored in locked safes. The Pocatello School Board approved the policy Wednesday night,...
View ArticlePrisons agency ‘concerned’ about school expulsion bill
Brent Reinke, Idaho Department of Correction On Wednesday afternoon, I showed Correction Department Director Brent Reinke a copy of a bill to make public schools off-limits to ex-convicts. It was...
View ArticleKudos to Boise 6th grader Seth Husney
Husney was named one of the National WWII Museum’s “Salute to Freedom” award winners and became one of 51 students nationwide to win an all-expenses paid trip to New Orleans to participate in the grand...
View ArticleExpulsion bill: an alternative school’s take
A bill making schools off-limits to violent convicted criminals would affect the state’s alternative high schools. And in a story in today’s Times-News in Twin Falls, Statehouse reporter Melissa Davlin...
View ArticleIdaho Humanities Council calls for ‘Outstanding Teaching of the Humanities’...
The Idaho Humanities Council invites nominations for its “Outstanding Teaching of the Humanities Awards.” The Council will honor one elementary and one secondary teacher of literature, history,...
View ArticleRegistration is now open for Idaho high school juniors who want to take SAT exam
Registration has opened for Idaho’s SAT School Day, a free, in-school college entrance exam scheduled for Wednesday, April 17, the State Department of Education announced Tuesday. Last year, more than...
View ArticleBig Brothers Big Sisters of Southwest Idaho gets a new CEO
Jason Sears, a non-profit executive with more than 10-years of mentorship experience in the Treasure Valley, has been hired as the CEO. Sears replaces Nora Carpenter who left earlier this year to...
View ArticleBoys & Girls Clubs of Ada County name new board members
The Boys & Girls Clubs of Ada County recently name Larry Price and Brandon Woods to its Board of Directors. Price is Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Syringa Networks. Woods is General...
View ArticleA big hearing on Idaho’s K-12 budget: a preview …
Week Nine of the 2013 Legislature begins with a big hearing: On Monday morning, the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee will tackle the public schools budget. With that comes, perhaps, some answers...
View ArticleState Board of Ed noncommittal on charter bills
A controversial charter school bill passed the House Tuesday. But late Tuesday afternoon, the State Board of Education opted not to vote. The board decided not to endorse or oppose House Bill 206,...
View ArticleIdaho education — and Uncle Sam’s funding role
Idaho schools landed on an unenviable Top 5 list this week. The Pew Charitable Trusts ranked Idaho among the five states most vulnerable to mandatory federal budget cuts — better known in the political...
View ArticlePersonal Property Tax 101: the stakes for education
Thursday marks a pivotal day in the 2013 Idaho Legislature, with the first public discussion of a bill to repeal personal property taxes. So this is a good time for Personal Property Tax 101 — a...
View ArticleAre both education budgets in trouble?
House Speaker Scott Bedke, R-Oakley On Monday, I interviewed House Speaker Scott Bedke, R-Oakley, on education — and the legislative “interim committee” that he would like to put together to study...
View ArticleSchool budget battles: the plot thickens
Senate President Pro Tem Brent Hill, R-Rexburg Some senators oppose the proposed 2013-14 public schools budget proposal, Senate President Pro Tem Brent Hill said Tuesday. But is the opposition...
View ArticleConnecting dots: Tuesday’s school levy results and the personal property tax...
Thursday could be decision day on the personal property tax — at least in the crucial House Revenue and Taxation Committee. The panel could decide between two competing plans: House Bill 272, a...
View ArticleIn the Nampa School District, the other shoe drops
Seven days ago, Nampa voters approved a $4.3 million supplemental levy designed to erase the school district’s chronic red ink. Since then, Nampa patrons have learned two tough lessons: The $4.3...
View ArticleMat Erpelding’s old-school debate
You never know what lawmakers will reveal about themselves during debate. So it was Wednesday, when first-year Rep. Mat Erpelding stood up to debate against a bill that would offer $10 million in...
View ArticleSenate amends charter school bill — significantly
For Ken Burgess, a lobbyist representing charter school advocates, it was a dreaded scenario. His two controversial charter school bills on the Senate’s “amending order” — where any senator could offer...
View ArticleTom Luna vs. Glenn Beck? (UPDATED)
Maybe not exactly. But sort of. State Superintendent Tom Luna In defending one of Tom Luna’s key initiatives — Idaho Core Standards, or “common core” — spokeswoman Melissa McGrath calls out...
View ArticleThe dark Statehouse art of ‘radiator capping’
The operative phrase at the Statehouse Tuesday was “radiator capping.” This is a term lawmakers use to describe the process of completing rewriting a bill on the House or Senate floor. Think in terms...
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