Idaho’s Education Improvement Task Force has started a statewide tour seeking public comment. The group was put together by the State Board of Education. It's been meeting since January to talk about ways to improve Idaho’s education system. It kicked off a seven city public meeting tour Wednesday night in Nampa. About 60 people attended and 19 spoke. Fewer than a third of the members of the 31 person task force attended the forum.
People argued for and against the Common Core standards Idaho and many other states are adopting. Two mothers bitterly decried their schools’ ability to deal with their autistic children. But one subject was mentioned more than any others. Nampa teacher Jamie Hazing summed it up.
“I guess the thing that just keeps coming to my mind is funding, funding, funding," Hazing said.
That’s what stood out to task force chair Richard Westerburg.
“I did think you heard a fair amount of comment from folks that they thought education ought to be adequately funded it’s just nobody spoke to what adequate means," he said.
Many of the teachers who spoke emphasized the need for increased professional development. Tom Luna, a task force member and the state’s schools’ superintendent, said he heard from the group that funding and teacher training as connected. Luna expects funding and professional development to be major topics in the remaining task force public meetings as well.
"Don’t expect us to be able to teach at a higher level or students to be able to perform at a higher level without the resources necessary to do that. But I agree with that," he said.
Westerburg said he thought the evening was helpful.
“I didn’t hear a lot that was brought up today that the task force hasn’t been talking about already so, there’s kind of some good reinforcement that maybe we’re headed in the right direction," Westerburg said. "But it’s just one of seven and we’ve got six more to do so we look forward to hearing from people all around the state.”
The next is Thursday night in Twin Falls. The meetings conclude in two weeks in Boise.
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