As education culture wars consumed the Statehouse this spring, the running joke was that Idaho educators were scrambling to Google to figure out what “critical race theory” is. Things aren’t much different now. So, think of this as summer school.Read More
The “Task Force to Examine Indoctrination in Idaho Education” reconvened Thursday — in a meeting marked by a rocky start, a tense middle and a slow end.Read More
Idaho’s public colleges and universities have lost more than 5,000 students since the pandemic. t’s not worst-case scenario stuff. The 18-month dropoff was 8.7%, but administrators feared a 20% decrease.Read More
Idaho’s ever-growing budget surplus is trending toward a record-shattering and mind-boggling $800 million. The big reason: Individual income tax collections are ahead of forecasts by a whopping $452.2 million. We’ll know the exact surplus sometime after June 30, when the state closes the books on the 2020-21 budget year.Read More
The university will offer a three-year revenue guarantee to Alaska Airlines, under a contract that could bring back flights between Boise and Pullman, Wash. Under the agreement, approved by the State Board of Education Thursday, the flights could resume as early as Aug. 8.Read More
Two competing guns-in-schools bills will not get a hearing in the waning days of Idaho's 2021 legislative session. They've been in the Legislature for months, but the timing ran out following a shooting this week in Rigby, Idaho, where a sixth grade student shot two other students and a school staff member.Read More
The 2021 Idaho Legislature took its ugliest turn on its 108th day, when the House Ethics Committee weighed a sexual assault complaint against first-year Rep. Aaron von Ehlinger.Read More
The new budget bills still have to pass both houses — and House conservatives have killed three major education bills over social justice and critical race theory concerns. But on Monday, the Senate followed the House’s lead, passing a bill addressing “nondiscrimination” in schools and critical race theory. That nondiscrimination bill, now on its way to Gov. Brad Little’s Read More
The 500-student Lapwai School District takes an all-bases-covered approach to student well-being, including leveraging partnerships with the Nez Perce tribe and local community to address youth mental health. The small North Idaho district is among only nine rural districts in the state to provide four key behavioral health supports for all of its students, according to an Read More
The state’s K-12 teacher salaries budget fell Tuesday on a 34-34 tie vote after more than an hour of volatile debate — ranging from anecdotes about good teachers and “bad actors” to accusations that educators are being forced to include critical race theory in their coursework. Stories from teacher-lawmakers on both sides of the issue focused on the content’s presence — or Read More
Lawmakers convened for the first time in 18 days — after calling a sudden and historic recess in an attempt to slow a Statehouse coronavirus outbreak. The first sessions were brief: The House reconvened at about 12:05 p.m., and stayed on the floor for about 25 minutes. The Senate went into session at about 12:25 p.m., and was in session for just 10 minutes.Read More
No one seems to know what will happen starting April 6, when legislators return to the Statehouse after an 18-day pandemic recess. Fitting, isn’t it? Shouldn’t an unprecedented session culminate in an unpredictable finish?Read More
Idaho House Bill 249 would require parents to sign permission slips for youth to learn about human sexuality. The bill passed the House of Representatives Friday, March 5, 2021 on a party-line vote of 56-12. It heads next to the Senate for consideration.Read More
The big battle will center on the four-year schools: Boise State University, the University of Idaho, Idaho State University and Lewis-Clark State College. After JFAC agrees on a number, the higher ed budget will have to get through the House — where hardline conservatives are poised to continue a fight that began last legislative session. It took three tries to get a Read More
The University of Idaho’s teacher preparation program is among the nation’s best at maintaining high admissions standards while still establishing a racially diverse student body, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank says.Read More
Plenty of factors have brought Idaho’s larger districts closer to reopening. But none are unique to Idaho. Seventy-six percent of respondents said they wanted to see K-12 students back in the classroom, at least part-time, according to a statewide Boise State University survey released last month. For Republican respondents and parents of K-12 kids, those numbers skewed Read More
Gov. Brad Little vigorously defended the statewide emergency order Friday, accusing members of the Legislature of pushing misinformation about the coronavirus and endangering Idahoans’ lives.Read More
With at least 11 pieces of legislation already in the pipeline — all addressing some aspect of Little’s coronavirus response, and the Legislature’s role during an emergency — this issue is a long way from settled. And it could be a fascinating, defining debate of the 2021 session. Separation of powers, once the stuff of a “Schoolhouse Rock” segment, is all a bit more real Read More
At the University of Idaho, for example, students who receive a vaccine will be allowed to skip mandatory midsemester coronavirus testing. “At this time, we do not plan to require vaccination, but it is highly recommended,” President C. Scott Green and Provost Torrey Lawrence said in a Friday memo to the campus community.Read More
Idaho’s teachers and school staff serving students in grades pre-K through 12th are cleared to start receiving the COVID-19 vaccine, Gov. Brad Little and public health officials announced Tuesday afternoon.Read More
Idaho Gov. Brad Little called for reversing budget holdbacks, increasing teacher pay, cutting taxes and fighting the coronavirus virus pandemic during a historic, remote State of the State address Monday. In conjunction with the 30-minute speech, Little unveiled a budget proposal that would increase K-12 general fund spending beyond $2 billion for the first time in Idaho Read More
The Idaho Legislature will begin an unsettling and potentially unsafe 2021 session in four days. The state’s 105 part-time lawmakers will meet in the midst of a surging pandemic that has killed more than 1,500 Idahoans, and in the aftermath of rioting at the U.S. Capitol that left four people dead.Read More
That cumulative total — at least 4,818 cases, involving students, teachers and staff — is significantly higher than the weekly totals Health and Welfare has released since October. Using those weekly reports, Idaho Education News in December pegged the number of K-12 cases at slightly more than 3,300, based on the totals from the weekly Health and Welfare reports.Read More
Idaho’s colleges and universities logged more than 5,400 coronavirus cases during a turbulent fall semester. All 11 public and private colleges and universities managed to maintain some form of face-to-face learning during the semester — but not without problems:Read More
On Tuesday, Boise State will host a national digital summit for Project Launchpad — an effort to support students who are struggling during the pandemic.Read More
Idaho public schools are serving 4,554 fewer students than they did last school year, marking the first time since 1997 that the state has seen a decline in enrollment.Read More
Like most colleges, the University of Idaho in Moscow is dealing with how to control rising coronavirus cases around campus. Recent cases connected to the University’s Greek system have made the school push for more testing. Unlike nearby Washington State University in Pullman, the UI has a hybrid in-person and virtual model this fall semester.Read More
The $49.4 million in Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act money will only go so far on Idaho’s college campuses. It won’t cover all of the schools’ COVID-related losses — or the revenue the schools have lost to the pandemic.Read More
Gov. Brad Little announced a plan Friday to pump another $150 million of CARES Act money into supporting schools. If approved, that would push education-related CARES Act spending past the $300 million mark.Read More
A federal judge has put Idaho’s controversial transgender athletics ban on hold. The injunction will allow Chief U.S. District Judge David C. Nye to review the myriad constitutional questions surrounding the law, which bans transgender women and girls from participating in women’s and girls’ sports.Read More
The Education Working Group requested the Legislature take up the issue of school closure authority when Gov. Brad Little convenes an extraordinary session of the Legislature the week of Aug. 24. Currently, health districts do have the authority to issue quarantine orders or close schools.Read More
The U.S. Supreme Court has put a halt to the Reclaim Idaho K-12 initiative drive. Thursday’s ruling represents a legal victory for Gov. Brad Little and Secretary of State Lawerence Denney, who requested a stay of a lower court ruling allowing Reclaim Idaho to gather online signatures for its “Invest in Idaho” initiative. Read More
Gov. Brad Little still wants to see Idaho schools reopen next month — but he’s not sure that can happen in the state’s coronavirus hotspots. “I think the answer is, it depends,” Little said during a news conference Thursday morning, one day after the state reported its highest one-day death toll from the coronavirus outbreak.Read More
Parents raised concerns about racism with the Lewiston School District board of directors last October, citing personal experiences and reports that students made a Nazi-salute before a football game, TV station KREM reported. Parents Christine Jorgens and Sarah Graham told the board that their children have experienced harassment, physical aggression and heard racial slurs. Read More
State And Governor Question Security Of Reclaim Idaho’s Signature Gathering For Education Initiative
It will be up to the Ninth Circuit to decide whether Reclaim Idaho can continue gathering online signatures in a final attempt to get its K-12 initiative on November’s ballot. Reclaim Idaho suspended face-to-face signature gathering on March 18 — a few days after the state reported its first cases of coronavirus.Read More
Facing the threat of coronavirus-driven state budget cuts, the University of Idaho is considering mandatory employee furloughs. The proposed furlough plan would cut about $3.3 million in spending, U of I President C. Scott Green said in a memo to staff and faculty Monday.Read More
Administrators in Idaho’s largest districts say they’ve lost touch with up to 5 percent of their students during the transition to remote learning. These families haven’t responded to texts, calls, emails and sometimes home visits from administrators.Read More
Little’s extended stay-at-home order, running through April 30, spells out a few small steps to reopen the economy. Some businesses, previously deemed “nonessential,” will be able to reopen for curbside or delivery service.Read More
By the numbers, Little’s decision will cut state spending by $40 million, from a state general budget of close to $4 billion. State agencies will have to move quickly, imposing the spending cuts over the final three months of a budget year that ends June 30.Read More
During what the board called a “soft closure,” schools will be closed to students. At least for now, the shutdown runs through April 20. The shutdown is designed to provide some guidance for school administrators, as a global pandemic shakes the foundation of Idaho education.Read More
On Feb. 12, the Idaho House Education Committee gave its initial approval to a bill designed to keep transgender students from competing in girls’ sports. That means the bill could come back at a later date for a full hearing.Read More