The full Senate body took little time discussing how to deal with an omnibus tax bill early Tuesday evening. When the Senate reconvened in the late afternoon, Senator Bart Davis (R-Idaho Falls) made a motion to send the bill back to the Senate Transportation Committee for reconsideration, effectively killing the tax cut measure for the…
The House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved HB 311 Monday. This omnibus bill will increase the gas tax, decrease the income tax rate for Idaho’s wealthiest citizens, remove the grocery tax credit, and eliminate the tax on food. Those debating against the bill reminded lawmakers that with the passage of HB 296—the career ladder teacher pay…
Members of the Joint Finance and Appropriations Committee met Friday morning and unanimously approved $101 million more funding for FY16. This represents a 7.4% increase in general funds and an overall 8.2% increase when dedicated and federal funds are factored in. Funding for the JFAC budget is based on an increase of 167 new support…
The full Senate voted 34-0 (one senator was absent when the vote was taken) late Thursday afternoon to approve HB 296, the career ladder teacher salary formula measure approved earlier this week in the House. The speed at which this measure has moved through the process is an important sign that lawmakers are serious about…
The Senate Education Committee approved HB 296, the career ladder teacher salary funding plan on Wednesday afternoon. Members of the Joint Finance and Appropriations Committee have been waiting for action to be taken on this significant piece of legislation before setting the public school budget. With today’s decision by Senate Education Committee, we are hopeful…
In what has become an all too familiar situation this session, the Office of Performance Evaluation (OPE)—the research arm of the legislature—has released another report pointing out serious problems with a statewide system intended to assist school districts that ended up doing the opposite. OPE released a highly critical report Idaho’s Instructional System (Schoolnet) Offers…