Luna to visit Silver Valley

In the midst of a statewide skirmish between lawmakers, state officials and educators regarding his sweeping educational reform package, Idaho Superintendent of Education Tom Luna will speak with Silver Valley residents today in Wallace.

Besides Luna, a smorgasbord of Republican federal, state and local politicians, including Gov. Butch Otter, will be on hand from 2:30 to 4 p.m. at the Wallace Inn to volley public inquiries during the Shoshone Republican Party's annual Lincoln-Reagan Day fundraiser.

The event has been billed as a "meet and greet" and promises "the opportunity for (constituents) to speak one-on-one with ... officials."

Luna will have a powerful ally in his corner during the event as Otter, who has supported the Luna Plan since its inception, signed SB 1110 and SB 1108 into law on Thursday effectively destroying teacher tenure (1108), limiting teacher contracts to one year (1108) and instating a pay for performance plan (1110) which is currently not funded.

"I had the privilege of signing into law today two bills that have been a long time coming, have been publicly vetted and debated to an unprecedented degree, an will improve the ability of our public schools to fulfill their mission of educating Idaho's children," said Otter Thursday after signing the pieces of legislation. "But our work is not done."

According to Luna spokeswoman Melissa McGrath, the third piece of legislation SB 1113, wihch hit the senate floor Friday after it passed the Senate Education Committee Thursday on a slim 5-4 vote. Initially the bill endeavored to cut 770 teaching positions statewide, increase class sizes, require high school students to take online courses before graduation and allocate $53 million for the purchase of computer hardware and software for Idaho schools.

Student and teacher protests against the plan have been a regular occurrence over the past few weeks and pubic testimony during legislative hearings was lopsided in its opposition. Regardless Silver Valley residents will have an opportunity to make their ideas heard today, if only in the literal sense.