House Education Committee Chair Reed DeMordaunt (R-Eagle) announced to his panel this morning that the House and Senate education committees have scheduled several joint sessions.
The first joint meeting, focused on the Governor’s Task Force recommendations, is set for 3 pm on Wednesday, January 15th. State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Luna will be invited to offer his vision for public schools and former Idaho State Board of Education President Richard Westerberg will report of the work of the Governor’s Task Force. Committee members will then dig into each of the 20 task force recommendations.
The joint committees will meet again the next week on January 22nd to focus on the Idaho Core Standards. Rep. DeMordaunt told committee members there is a great deal of misinformation about what the Common Core Standards are and are not. A panel of experts on Common Core standards will be assembled to answer questions submitted by members of the public. The panel members have not yet been selected, but Rep. DeMordaunt assured his committee that the panel would be made up of a broad group of citizens and officials, including educators.
If you have a question you’d like the panel to address, you must submit it in advance of the meeting. No public testimony will be taken at the event. You can submit questions, in advance of the meeting electronically to hedu@house.idaho.gov or you can mail your questions to: House Education Committee, Routing Code 38, Idaho State Capitol, Boise ID 83720. The final joint committee meeting is intended to be a listening session. The date for this meeting has not yet been announced. As they have done in years past, the joint education committee members will ask members of the public to share their concerns about any and all education-related topics.
Mark your calendars and submit your questions for the Idaho Core Standards panel. All of these events will be streamed on Idaho Legislature Live .