Happy New Year! As you launch into new lessons with your students, lawmakers are making the trek to Boise to begin the 2016 legislative session.
Governor Otter will deliver his State of the State address on Monday, and we expect public education to be front and center on his list of priorities. Not only is he expected to continue pushing for funding for his Education Task Force recommendations, he’s also signaling that he will propose ideas to improve Idaho’s high school graduation rates, as reported earlier today by Idaho Education News.
The IEA will be working to improve K-12 funding. Districts must have the necessary resources to recruit and retain the highest quality staff. We will be working with legislators to make sure the funding is allocated to ensure the career ladder is fully-funded, that operational funding levels return to 2009 levels or higher, and that professional development funding is available to help all educators be prepared to carry out their duties.
Even before the holidays, legislative leaders were predicting that the 2016 legislative session would be shorter than in years past. While we can’t be sure how long the session will last or which issues will be debated, you can count on the IEA to be at the Capitol advocating on your behalf every day this session and keeping you updated with our nightly hotline messages.
You are receiving this message because you previously subscribed to the IEA Hotline. We hope you’ll continue to subscribe and that you’ll encourage your colleagues to also sign up to receive nightly legislative updates from the IEA.
We’ll give you a brief summary of the Governor’s State of the State message regarding education on Monday evening.
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