Hundreds turn out for Statehouse education hearing

Share this story

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — A pair of themes — charter school funding and proposed new limits on teachers unions — dominated a two-hour "listening session" where House and Senate Education Committee members Friday got an earful from the public.

Of the roughly 200 people who attended the hearing in the Capitol's auditorium, many who spoke urged rejection of several pending bills seeking to give school boards more power when negotiating with teacher unions. On Nov. 6, voters dumped similar laws that were part of public schools chief Tom Luna's "Students Come First" overhaul.

Former state Rep. Anne Pasley-Stuart, a Boise Democrat, told the committee members that rather than resurrecting those issues so soon after they were roundly defeated, they should wait toto cut positions, not to shrink the entire system."

Others believe Ritter's group is moving too quickly.

Mike Lanza, a member of Otter's task force and one of the organizers behind the successful effort to defeat Luna's overhaul last year, suggested the School Boards Association was making the same mistake the 2011 Legislature made when it passed the "Students Come First" laws amid a charged environment when foes of the changes were marching around the Capitol.

"Voters objected most vehemently to the process involved in writing and passing those laws because other stakeholders were not involved," Lanza said.

In addition to those concerned with Ritter's association's bills, charter school advocates — and many children now attending these alternative public schools — arrived at the Capitol in what was clearly an organized effort