Lawmakers unveil revamped bill for education reform

BOISE (AP) - Lawmakers unveiled the third piece of a plan to reform Idaho's public schools with more technology in the classroom.

The legislation has undergone significant changes since it was first introduced in the Idaho Legislature last month. The bill triggered strong opposition from teachers, parents and students when it was first introduced with provisions to require online learning while arming students with laptops and increasing class sizes to help pay for technology upgrades.

The bill is the centerpiece of a three-part reform plan authored by public schools chief Tom Luna.

Idaho's Republican governor signed two other parts of the reform package into law Thursday, introducing teacher merit pay in Idaho while also phasing out tenure for new educators and restricting collective bargaining. The Idaho Education Association announced Friday that a group of parents and union representatives had taken initial steps to launch a referendum on the new laws, filing paperwork with the secretary of state's office. The group is expected to decide by mid-April on whether to proceed with the repeal campaign.

The biggest piece of Luna's reform package was reworked in the Idaho Senate amid concerns over provisions that would hike class sizes and cut jobs.

A contentious provision that would have eliminated 770 teaching positions and boosted class sizes to help pay for the plan is gone, leaving to the local school districts decisions on how to allocate less state funding and the number of educators to retain, said Senate Education Committee Chairman John Goedde.

"From that standpoint, local school districts will have a little more flexibility. They'll make the determination on how to spend what appears to be a little lower appropriation," said Goedde, a Coeur d'Alene Republican who expects to hold a hearing on the new bill Tuesday.

A previous version of the bill would have required students to take four online course credits in order to graduate. The revamped legislation directs the state Board of Education to draft standards governing the online course requirements and directs a state task force to study the implementation of the laptop program.

Students starting in the ninth grade would still eventually get laptops, but teachers will get them first, along with training.

Idaho would shift money from public school funding used primarily for teacher salaries to fund the new technology upgrades and the pay-for-performance plan signed into law this week, under a budget plan provided by the state Department of Education.

Luna has argued that the current public school system, which has lost roughly $200 million in funding during the past two years and faces additional cuts in the upcoming year, is no longer sustainable and Idaho needs to restructure how it spends its scarce education dollars.

"The plan was to reform the education system, so when schools receive less money, they didn't just have to cut programs or cut teacher salaries one more year," said state Department of Education spokeswoman Melissa McGrath.