Post Falls school trustee discusses trip to capital
POST FALLS — Post Falls School District Trustee Carol Goodman submitted a report to her peers and other school officials Monday about her time observing the Idaho Legislature.
Goodman's February trip to Boise coincided with the Idaho School Board Association's Day on the Hill event — an annual gathering of trustees featuring workshops, a luncheon, and attendance at the legislators' education committee hearings. Although Goodman represented the district at the same hearings as those who officially registered for the event, she declined to sign up this year.
"When the notification (to register) came, there was only one workshop listed and it was one that I have already attended twice," Goodman said. "I did want to go to the legislative sessions though; I always find that very interesting."
Goodman said she met with Superintendent Jerry Keane to discuss the possibilities of the district paying $195 for her flight to the state capital for the legislative hearings, without having the district pay for the event itself. She stayed with a friend while in Boise, she added, and those friends picked her up from the airport.
"I wanted to save the district money," Goodman said. "So it only cost the district $195, versus $400 or $500 for me to go down and do the main thing I wanted to do, which is the purpose of the Day on the Hill."
During her trip, Goodman said, she ate lunch in the Capitol building with legislators, and had other discussions with lawmakers between sessions at the statehouse.
The report details the bills, and potential bills, Goodman heard discussion on when she was at sessions in both the House and Senate. One of the bills, for example, would require write-in candidates for school boards to submit signatures of five citizens supporting their candidacy.
Goodman noted that bill, Senate Bill 1257, was moved out of the education committee to the Senate floor with a "do pass" recommendation.
ISBA officials also made presentations during the two sessions, and Goodman reported to the board on what was discussed. During a House presentation, ISBA officials discussed empowering districts by removing certain restraints.
"It was pointed out the Every Student Succeeds Act gives more power back to the states, and therefore ISBA wishes to begin the process of reviewing some current laws and regulations with the legislators," Goodman wrote. "The legislators voiced their support for such meetings."
After returning from Boise, Goodman attended a legislative town hall meeting. During the meeting, she told Kootenai County legislators she supports a bill that would allow tax dollars to follow students to the schools of their choosing, whether those schools are public or private.
When asked by The Press, Goodman said she understands how support for the bill, which has yet to gain traction this session, could be perceived as a move to take funding away from the public school system.
"I don't at all want to hurt public schools," Goodman added. "If I didn't like public schools I wouldn't be trying to help our public schools by donating my time."
However, according to Goodman, Idahoans have a multitude of valid reasons for choosing schools not in the public education system. Those individuals "feel a little slighted," she added, because they pay tax dollars to support public schools, but do not get any financial support for home schooling or sending their children to parochial schools.
"I know that you can't make everybody happy," she said. "But what I do is try to err on the side of fairness and I think it's only fair. I'm not saying the state should pay the whole tuition, but why can't the portion that would pay for the kid to sit at the public school desk transfer over?"