Education

Voters approved the Boise School District’s $70 million supplemental levy Tuesday by a wide margin. Almost 29,000 people cast votes, which is about 29% turnout. Of those Boise voters more than 71% said yes to the levy. It will cost homeowners about $100 a year for every $100,000 of taxable value.  The tax will be spread out over five years beginning fall 2012.  Volunteers campaigned heavily both for and against the levy.

More than half a dozen schools districts throughout the Treasure Valley will ask voters to decide if they’re willing to pay higher taxes to support local education. One of the largest levies is for Boise’s School District. It’s a 70 million dollar levy over five years. That dollar amount has brought volunteers on both sides out to canvas neighborhoods to get your vote…

Boise, ID – Idaho’s budget writing lawmakers Monday  set the state’s public schools budget. It accounts for about half of the state’s total spending. Under the proposal schools would get more than one and a half billion dollars in 2013, a four point six percent boost. That was the easy part. 

Boise, ID – Tom Luna wants a more hands off role for the federal government when it comes to education, but he does think federal oversight is needed. Idaho’s Superintendent of Education testified on Capitol Hill Thursday urging House members to overhaul the federal No Child Left Behind Law. It created a national accountability system for schools based on student performance back in 2001. Luna acknowledges the law was needed to help under performing schools. But he says things have changed.

Imagine graduating high school with two years of college already under your belt. That’s the intention of a bill passed Monday by Idaho’s House Education Committee. It’s called the eight in six program. Students could get eight years of education in six, and the state would pay for up to eight extra classes a year for students who participate. Most of those classes would be online. Bill sponsor Steven Thayn, a Republican from Emmet brought his daughter Carly to testify. Carly Thayn, a high school junior, told the committee she’s already taken several online classes to get ahead:

Boise, ID – Idaho Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Luna goes before legislative budget writers Thursday morning. He’ll make the case for why public school funding should be increased. Idaho teachers including Carly Hill watch this budgeting process closely. She teaches U.S. history and government at Boise’s Timberline High school. Hill says years of cuts to education have hurt her school and colleagues. She talks about a couple she knows … both teachers who’ve just finished masters degrees.

Boise, ID – Charter school enrollment across the country hit an all-time high this fall. A national charter school advocacy group  estimates more than two million students now attend charter schools.  Enrollment in Idaho charter schools is also on the rise.

The National Alliance for Public Charter Schools looked at this fall’s enrollment for the forty states that allow charter schools. Only about half of those states had numbers available. Idaho likely won’t have the fall enrollment calculated until February.

Idaho has doubled what it does to use data to improve student performance.  That’s according to a report that came Thursday by the Data Quality Campaign. This national nonprofit encourages states to use long term data to set educational policy.

Aimee Guidera  “So often data is equated with being a high stakes test score, and yes test scores are very important, but they are only one snapshot in time.”

BOISE, ID – It’s hard to measure equity if you don’t have a definition. That’s what the Idaho Office of Performance Evaluation found when trying to look at how fairly funds are distributed amongst the state’s four colleges and universities.  So OPE measured differences in funding levels between the four institutions from 2001 to 2011. OPE analyst Lance McCleve says,  “Over time the differences have grown.”

Idaho’s Superintendent of Education is in the halls of Congress Tuesday. Tom Luna testifies before a Senate committee on No Child Left Behind.  Congress is working on an overhaul of the law that governs the nation’s schools.

Tom Luna “What I’m going to tell them is this reauthorization is the right step because it’s a step towards returning the governing of our schools back to states and local school districts. ”

Idaho’s Board of Education voted Thursday that students will have to take two online courses to graduate high school. The requirement is unique in the nation. Education Board spokesman Mark Browning says there is one more step.

Mark Browning " The legislature will get the opportunity to review the rule in January. If and when the legislature approves of it, then it becomes a permanent rule. And should they choose to reject it then we would have to start over but for right now it is in place, it’s done.”