The Senate on Monday approved a bill that would earmark $5 million annually on “science of reading” training for public school teachers.

In 2021, the Legislature directed public school districts to establish literacy intervention programs for K-3 students who score basic or below on fall reading assessments. Senate Bill 1069 would add $5 million to train teachers on the “science of reading” — a teaching method that emphasizes phonics and word recognition. 

“The bill aims to equip educators with effective, evidence-based instructional strategies, potentially improving literacy outcomes for young students,” said sponsoring Sen. Van Burtenshaw, R-Terreton.

The Senate approved the legislation on a 22-13 vote. Hardline Republicans opposed the plan to spend additional money on literacy intervention. Sen. Brian Lenney argued that previous state spending hasn’t been effective at improving reading. 

“We’re essentially asking for a fancier bucket to bail out the sinking ship,” said Lenney, R-Nampa. “But the ship still has a hole in it, and it’s the taxpayers who are drowning.”

Sen. Dave Lent rebuked claims that Idaho public schools are failing. Idaho students score at or above the national average while spending 60 cents on the dollar compared to the national benchmark for per-pupil spending. Nearly 60% of Idaho students were reading at grade level in the fall, Idaho Education News previously reported. 

“We need to stop and think about the facts and the numbers,” said Lent, R-Idaho Falls. “It does bother me sometimes that we tend to get away with the narrative about how poor our schools are when, in fact, they are not.”

SB 1069 now heads to the House. 

Senate approves omnibus budget bill that includes Launch

The Senate unanimously passed a budget bill that continued funding for the controversial Idaho Launch program.

Senate Bill 1110 is a base “general government” budget for 19 state agencies, including the Workforce Development Council, which administers Launch.

The 10 base budget bills provide state agencies with essentially the same money they received for the current spending year. The Workforce Development Council would receive $74.8 million from in-demand careers fund, which bankrolls Launch.

Conservative hardliners have looked to kill Launch — Gov. Brad Little’s 2-year-old program to provide high school graduates with up to $8,000 for college or career training. But the program didn’t come up Monday afternoon, before senators approved the budget on a 34-0 vote.

The budget bill now goes to the House.

Last week, the House introduced a bill to sunset the Launch program in June 2026. This bill does not propose zeroing out next year’s Launch budget; the cut would occur in 2026-27.

Boost for rural math, science funding introduced

A new bill would boost math and science funding for small public schools.

The state currently provides some districts with extra money for math and science instruction, meant to defray the costs of providing additional courses in these subjects. Schools with 100 to 159 students get one-ninth of a classified position, and schools with 160 to 319 students get two-sevenths of a classified position.

Rep. Rod Furniss’ bill would increase the fractions to one-half for schools with 100 to 159 students and three-fourths for schools with 160 to 319 students. Furniss, R-Rigby, told the House Education Committee Monday that rural schools struggle to attract qualified math teachers.

“Most are operating on a shoestring budget,” he said.

The changes would cost $2.75 million, based on fiscal year 2024 distributions to public schools, according to the bill’s fiscal note.

Reps. Kyle Harris, R-Lewiston, and Steve Tanner, R-Nampa, asked whether it would be wiser to reallocate state funds from urban districts to rural districts, rather than simply increasing funding for rural schools.

Furniss said he liked the thought, but “it’s tough to take money away from the urban schools.” And the primary factor driving disparities between urban and rural school funding is that urban districts have more success passing supplemental levies funded by local taxpayers.

When it comes to smaller districts, “their taxing district isn’t even enough to do a supplemental,” Furniss said.

House Education unanimously voted to introduce the bill, paving the way for a future public hearing.

House passes new restrictions on transfer students

The House unanimously passed a bill that would allow schools to deny admission to transfer students who have been convicted of a crime.

House Bill 236 also requires parents or guardians to disclose a conviction during the transfer process.

With the 61-0 vote, the bill now goes to the Senate.

House passes bill to clamp down on library district proposals

The House passed a bill to set a higher hurdle to creating a library district.

Under House Bill 212, supporters would be required to collect signatures from 20% of local voters, in order to put a library district proposal on the ballot.

Currently, that threshold is a flat 50 voters, regardless of the size of a district.

The goal is to ensure that a proposed district has “credible support” before the question goes to voters, said Rep. Doug Pickett, R-Oakley, the bill’s sponsor.

HB 212 passed on a 60-7 vote, with opposition coming from Boise Democrats.

The bill goes to the Senate.

Cursive proficiency requirement heads to House

A bill requiring cursive handwriting proficiency by fifth grade is headed to the House. 

The Senate approved the bill Monday. Senate Bill 1044 would direct the State Board of Education to require cursive instruction by third grade and proficiency — that students can write legibly in cursive — by fifth grade. 

Sponsoring Sen. Tammy Nichols argued that cursive is still relevant for signatures and reading historical documents like the Declaration of Independence. She also pointed to research showing that cursive can boost brain development.

“It’s an intricate skill that is still needed,” said Nichols, R-Middleton. 

The bill passed by a 29-6 vote. Only Sen. Lori Den Hartog debated against it. 

“I agree that cursive is really important. I think it’s important for our kids to learn and know and understand,” said Den Hartog, R-Meridian.

She said she opposed the bill “in the spirit of not adding additional regulations to our public education system.”

Senate Ed advances charter school bill, rejects apprenticeship reform

The Senate Education Committee took action on two bills: 

Charter school districts

The committee unanimously approved a bill to allow any public school district to convert to a public charter district. 

Sponsoring Sen. Janie Ward-Engelking said charter schools have more autonomy when allocating funds and prioritizing resources compared to traditional public schools. Sen. Carrie Semmelroth, D-Boise, is a co-sponsor. 

“I’m interested in leveling the playing field here,” said Ward-Engelking, D-Boise. “I’ve heard too long how creative charter schools are, and I know our public traditional schools are equally creative. They just have a lot more rules and barriers in place to do that.”

Senate Bill 1097 heads to the full Senate. 

Teacher apprenticeships

Meanwhile, the committee rejected a second bill sponsored by Semmelroth and Ward-Engelking. It would have codified that teacher apprenticeship programs lead to bachelor’s degrees. 

Committee members had many questions about Senate Bill 1098 — particularly around the effects of requiring a bachelor’s degree to complete an apprenticeship program. 

“I understand a little bit of what we’re trying to reach here, but I kind of feel like we’re putting the cart before the horse,” said Sen. Tammy Nichols, R-Middleton. “Maybe we need to be having the discussions first.”