Legislature
Legislature to return Wednesday afternoon with light education load
Some of the hottest debates over education bills – around school budgets and indoctrination in the classroom – have been settled.
Legislative roundup, 5.5.21: Day 115 focuses on exit strategies
Lawmakers won’t wrap up business before next week, making the marathon 2021 session a record-breaker.
Legislative roundup, 5.4.21: Senate passes key education budgets, including higher ed
Nearly four months after the start of the 2021 legislative session, the Statehouse K-12 and higher education budget debates effectively came to a conclusion Tuesday.
Legislative roundup, 5.3.21: Senate cuts income taxes as Dems call for more education spending
The $383 million in cuts were pushed by Statehouse Republicans, who say lower taxes are key to the state’s economic competitiveness.
House passes higher ed, teacher salaries budgets
Monday’s House votes represent one key milestone on the path to adjourning the 2021 legislative session, the third-longest session in state history. Monday was Day 113 for this year’s session, five days shy of the record, set in 2003.
Analysis: A bad week and a rough session for the facts
Elected officials are in the business of commanding and demanding facts. And a bad session for facts has a real effect on policy.
Legislative roundup, 4.29.21: Little signs nondiscrimination bill, but questions ‘anecdotes and innuendo’ that birthed it
In signing, Little questioned the Legislature’s interrogation of “widespread, systemic indoctrination in Idaho classrooms” that fueled the bill.
Legislative roundup, 4.27.21: House denies funding, need for school COVID testing
The House Tuesday struck down a bill to free up $40.3 million to help schools pay for staff and student COVID-19 tests. School districts, along with private and charter schools, could have opted into receiving the state-held federal money to pay for voluntary tests. But some House members said they didn’t want more coronavirus testing…
New teacher salary, higher education budgets emerge
Budget-writers voted to put another $1 million into the K-12 salaries bill. Then, on a divided vote, they sliced $2.5 million from higher education.
Legislative roundup, 4.26.21: Nondiscrimination bill heads to Little’s desk
It took the Senate three hours to push through the bill targeting concepts such as critical race theory. In other Statehouse news, a bill prohibiting mask mandates appears dead for the session.