On January 21st, President Pro Tem Brent Hill and
Speaker Scott Bedke announced the formation of an informal working group to
revamp Idaho’s education funding formula.
The Education Funding Formula Working Group will consist of selected
Senators and Representatives as well as Superintendent Ybarra, a member of the Idaho
Education Board, and a representative from the Governor’s Office. Representative Wendy Horman will serve as
Co-chair and I am pleased to have the opportunity to serve as her counterpart
from the Senate and Co-chair the Committee.
Idaho’s Education Funding Formula needs to be evaluated as a
result of many updates and improvements made to education in recent years. The current law was passed in 1994. Governor Otter’s 2013 Education Taskforce
recommended reworking Idaho’s funding formula in order to more appropriately
fund technology changes and student mobility available in education today. A new funding formula be studied and
formulated to fit the mastery-based style of education currently being
implemented in Idaho as a result of recommendations from education stakeholders.
I anticipate the working group will hear testimony, work
together on developing a funding formula, and come back for the 2017
Legislative Session with legislation to present our conclusions.
On Wednesday, February 3, Idaho home school families came to
the Rotunda and held their annual Pie Day.
This is a day that my colleagues and I look forward to. I enjoy the opportunity to visit with home
school students, see their recent projects on display and learn about the home
school approach many families have found to be successful for their children. Home school families have endeavored to
provide their children with the best education they have to offer. I believe in school choice and appreciate home
school families for the support they provide each other and offer to other
Idaho families exploring home school as an option. I also enjoy the varieties of pies home school
families have taken the time to bake.
Pie Day in general is quite a treat.
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State Affairs
On Monday February 8, I introduced a few pieces of
legislation in the Senate State Affairs Committee. Two of those pieces of legislation had to do
with improving Idaho’s current absentee voter election laws. S 1274 addresses the issue of the number of
days allowed for an absentee ballot to be mailed before an election date. In light of the US Post Service ultimate
consolidation of several local processing centers, to Salt Lake City, it will
be necessary to change the number of days when absentee ballots are sent out
from six to eleven days. Consolidation
of processing centers is estimated to take one extra day for mail to reach its
destination. Changing the number of days
when absentee ballots are sent out from six to eleven will accommodate
S 1275 updates the early voting process. Currently only counties that count ballots at
a central location qualify for early voting. S 1275 allows all counties that use modern polling
place counters, meaning electronic counters that count automatically as your
ballot is placed in the ballot box, to also conduct early voting.
Transportation
On Tuesday, I presented S 1263 before the Transportation
Committee. S 1263 would utilize GARVEE to
generate funds to purchase right-of-way for the ongoing need to fund state
highway systems. This will not change or expand the corridors which GARVEE
already has, but it will stay within those corridors to work on projects. These GARVEE funds would be a tool to acquire
additional right-of-way and save significant money in the long run. While testifying, I gave the example of the
Lewiston Hill coming into Thorn Creek for the impact GARVEE has had on the
highway. Five years before the
construction on Lewiston Hill, there were 52 crashes. After five years, that rate was reduced by 75%.
Fatalities went from 13 to 1 within a 3-year span. These GARVEE projects are
providing safe roads, saving lives and protecting the public.
One concern the Committee had was how the Transportation
Department decides where right-of-way is acquired first. A member of the
Transportation Department answered by stating that the Transportation
Department decides which projects to build by making sure that the benefits of
the project will outweigh the money spent on these projects. They look at data
base on the crash reports and fatality reports and prioritize that way. As of
right now, however, they do not have a set list of projects. Following this discussion, S 1263 was approved
by the Committee and sent to the Senate Floor. I am hopeful it will advance to the House and then
to the Governor’s to as resource for the Idaho Transportation Department to
continue making travel safe for Idahoans and their families.
The past couple of weeks have been very busy at the Capitol
as legislators and interested parties submit final ideas and language to the
legislative bill writers by the deadline, this past Monday, February 8. The deadline for Senate Committees to print
legislation in non-privileged committees is this coming Monday, February 15. After this date only privileged committees
can print a bill. In the Senate,
privileged committees include State Affairs, Local Government and Taxation, and
the Joint Finance-Appropriations. These
deadlines encourage legislators and interested parties to have their ideas
finalized by the deadline in order to propose legislation to be printed as a
bill in a committee leaving enough time to complete the legislative process before
the legislative session adjourns.
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There has been some controversy over a piece of legislation that I presented to the Senate State Affairs Committee on Monday, February 8. The State Affairs Committee printed S 1273 after asking me to address their concerns, as is the procedure whenever a committee holds a hearing on whether to print a bill. I have received a few comments in response to the proposed legislation. Some are concerned that I am trying to interfere with the current recall underway in the West Ada School District; however, the proposed bill would not become law until the certified petition phase was done or well underway. S 1273, therefore, could not impact the current recall. It would only apply to future recall efforts across the state.
Most see this legislation as protection of the recall and election process. Current law does not prohibit a school board from orchestrating resignation(s) in such a manner as to skirt the recall process and those who want to exercise their right to vote. There is an additional bill being sponsored by Senator Rice of Caldwell that would consolidate school board elections to even year general elections. This bill would help to assure that more taxpayers may exercise their right to vote for their school board members. The bill will also give a significantly higher number of signatures to initiate a recall of school board members across Idaho.
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This morning the Senate and House Health and Welfare
Committees met jointly for the second time during this session to hear public
testimony on Medicaid and possible future expansion. I want to thank anyone who came to testify. I have said before that when Idahoans share
with their legislators how Idaho’s laws and proposed legislation affects them
and their families, it helps us better assess what changes in Idaho’s Code are
necessary and appropriate. It is through
the benefit of your experiences that my colleagues and I have the information
we need to do our jobs. Thank you for
taking the time to come to the Capitol, wait in line, and share with us.
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