Education Committees Begin Their Work
Members of both the House and Senate Education Committees met today to begin their annual review of the rules. When the legislature approves legislation, it is fairly common for the legislation to include a clause giving the appropriate state agency authority to write rules about the law. These rules are intended to further clarify or detail how the laws passed will be implemented. The education committees review rules written by the State Board of Education and the State Department of Education.
Rules must align with laws. As a result this year, following the defeat of Propositions 1, 2, and 3, the SDE is asking the legislature to repeal several rules passed last year that required bargaining to take place in open session and a rule that limited the scope of bargaining to salaries and benefits only.
Committee to Begin Discussing Education Reform
Members of Governor Otter’s Task Force for Improving Education will hold their initial meeting tomorrow. In his State of the State address, Governor Otter told lawmakers he wants the task force to address the school improvements. He also told lawmakers he wanted everyone to allow time for the process to work and that he did not expect reform legislation to be introduced until next year.
IEA President Penni Cyr, Brian Smith (Sandpoint), Cindy Wilson (Meridian), and Teresa Jackman (Pocatello) will represent the IEA on the task force. We’ll be sure to provide an update about the meeting in tomorrow’s hotline message.
