Education

Each of Idaho’s four community colleges are set to welcome students back to school in-person this month as cases of coronavirus have spiked far beyond what the state experienced earlier this spring.

Currently, most school districts in Idaho use supplemental levy revenue to cover operating costs, like teacher salaries.

Idaho’s school reopening framework asked local health districts to analyze community transmission levels and assign a risk category, ranging from 1 to 3.

Yale School of Public Health researchers created a simulation: a hypothetical campus of 5,000 students where 10 are asymptomatic carriers of COVID-19. They found the safest way to reopen a campus like that was to enforce strict guidelines like distancing and mask-wearing. But that wasn't enough.

After initially planning to re-open Boise schools for in-person instruction, the district’s board of trustees will now consider a virtual start to the year for students.

Ben Borkowski just graduated from Sage International School of Boise this spring. He’ll start his college classes at the University of Idaho in Moscow this August. 

Since the killing of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis in May, organizations, businesses and higher education institutions have released statements in support of Black lives. But at universities which are predominantly white, a growing number of people say they’re disappointed by the lack of tangible change to policy and programs. 

This interview originally aired live on June 15, 2020.

The recent police killings of Black people like George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and countless others have sparked a movement unlike any in recent memory, as calls to defund the police and dismantle white supremacy have moved into the mainstream. 

Many public schools in Idaho are only five weeks away from the scheduled first day of school, but planning how to safely open school doors during the coronavirus pandemic is uncertain at best.

Boise State University is cutting some of its sports programs as the school continues to deal with the financial fallout of COVID-19.

Advocates of an initiative to increase education funding in the state are having their day in court this afternoon. The group, called Reclaim Idaho, is responsible for the successful push to expand Medicaid in 2018. But when they turned their attention to education funding, they had no idea that a disease called COVID-19 would be a thing in 2020. 

The recent police killings of Black people like George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and countless others have sparked a movement unlike any in recent memory, as calls to defund the police and dismantle white supremacy have moved into the mainstream. 

After nearly 90 minutes of constitutional arguments and pointed questions, a turf war between state superintendent Sherri Ybarra, the Legislature and the State Board of Education is now in the Idaho Supreme Court's hands.

Idaho’s higher education community has been rocked by the pandemic. In the middle of the semester, classes moved to distance learning and students and professors alike were forced to get used to a “new normal.”