Lawmakers set aside bill on border students

BOISE (AP) — Lawmakers set aside a plan to give school districts along Idaho's borders more bargaining power when sending students out of state.

The legislation was proposed at the urging of the Bruneau-Grand View School District, which said Idaho was getting hamstrung by Nevada officials charging $700,000 to educate 60 students. That's about $12,000 per kid.

The Idaho House approved a bill allowing the district to secure additional funding to either bus students to the nearest Idaho school, or at least threaten to when negotiating with the other state. But turns out, the mere threat of legislation was enough.

Sen. Bert Brackett said Monday the Nevada school district has already agreed to a lesser amount, saving Idaho about $80,000.

The bill was pulled from the Senate floor at Brackett's request.