Idaho Board Of Education

Experienced teachers in Idaho looking for a bonus will have to show their work just like their students under a new plan recently adopted by the Idaho State Board of Education.

Under the new state guidelines, teachers with at least eight years of experience will have to submit a portfolio documenting how they meet the standards required to receive a master teacher premium. These $4,000 bonuses won't go into effect until 2019, but the board wants to give enough time to teachers and school districts for preparation.

Idaho’s Department of Education is proposing several new rules that would affect what kids learn. But creating a new education rule in Idaho is a bit like a soccer game. There’s a long period of passing back and forth before the goal is reached. Take this one: a proposal to require elementary students learn cursive handwriting.

The state Board of Education is seeking input from the public on a series of new requirements — from mandatory cursive writing classes to making physical education a graduation requirement.

The board is taking public comment on six proposed rule changes in all. The board has also scheduled a public hearing Oct. 8.

The proposed rules includes a requirement that elementary students learn cursive writing — an idea initially pitched by Rep. Linden Bateman of Idaho Falls during the 2013 Legislature.

The Idaho Board of Education has approved a plan to allow second-year University of Idaho law students to take classes in Boise.

It's the second time the state board has granted the request from UI — but last year the budget approval for the expansion was voted down in the Legislature.

UI Vice President for Finance and Administration Ron Smith says he's hopeful that this year lawmakers will support the expansion.

Third-year curriculum is already being offered at the UI's law school program in Boise.

Idaho’s Task Force for Improving Education wraps up a series of public meetings Thursday in Boise. The task force’s final public listening meeting will start at 6:30 p.m. at the state capital. 

It has been traveling Idaho for two weeks. The group’s goal is to put together recommendations for overhauling the state’s education system that can find broad support.

Idaho’s Task Force for Improving Education starts a whirlwind tour of the state this week. Members have been meeting since January to find education reforms with broad support. Governor Butch Otter asked the State Board of Education to put the group together after voters repealed a series of education laws last November. Now the task force wants public feedback.

Idaho governor Butch Otter last week said the State Board of Education would “shepherd” a statewide discussion about improving schools. That’s something the governor and many others have talked about since voters repealed an education overhaul last November. What’s being called the Education Improvement Task Force is scheduled to start work next week, but its member list is not complete.

It will have about 30 members. Ten stakeholder groups made nominations. One name we do know is Richard Westerberg. A member of the State Board of Education, Westerberg will chair the task force.

Idaho high school students won't have to take online classes to graduate. The State Board of Education repealed a rule Monday that required them.

Voters rejected the Students Come First laws on November 6 but one of those laws had a twist. It required the board of education to set the online class requirement, which it did. That requirement was still in place despite the laws' repeal.  The Idaho Legislature still has to sign off but, board spokesperson Marilyn Whitney says students should consider it gone.

Two thirds of Idaho voters Tuesday rejected a law to increase technology use in schools. Of the three propositions voted down, it was Proposition Three that failed by the widest margin. That one repeals the technology component of the Students Come First laws. But one of the most well-known parts of that law will remain in place.

Idaho’s State Board of Education Thursday approved a plan to get more students to go on to college. It’s called Complete College Idaho and its goal is for 60 percent of Idahoans between 25 and 34 years of age to have a post-secondary degree or certificate by 2020. It includes reforms to college remediation programs and measures to decrease the amount of time it takes to earn a degree or certificate. The Board of Ed held focus groups and sent out surveys to students, teachers, businesses, and community groups to get feedback on the plan before it was approved.