Highlights from 02-26-2013
SCHOOL SAFETY
Hagedorn: Schools need options
Armed bus drivers and metal detectors could be part of beefed up security efforts at Idaho's public schools under a bill making its way through the Senate.
The Senate Education Committee introduced a measure Monday requiring school districts to work with the local county sheriff to develop school safety plans.
The bill's sponsor, Sen. Marv Hagedorn, R-Meridian, says the intent is to give districts flexibility to decide and enact the kind of security measures appropriate for their schools and community. The bill does not provide options available to schools, but Hagedorn said they could include arming teachers or administrators, posting security officers on school grounds or using metal detectors on buses.
The Associated Press
CURSIVE WRITING
Lawmaker displays handwritten notes
Rep. Linden Bateman, R-Idaho Falls, showed up prepared.
Pushing his proposal to keep cursive writing instruction in Idaho classrooms, Bateman came to the Senate Education Committee armed with samples of handwritten letters - notes that, said Bateman, have more impact than a sterile email. One was a note from Gov. Butch Otter, with one misspelled word.
Bateman's tongue-in-cheek show-and-tell got some laughs, and then his House Concurrent Resolution 3 got a unanimous thumbs up from the committee. HCR 3 now goes to the Senate for final approval - and because it is a resolution, not a proposed law, the Senate has the last word. Otter does not need to sign it.
Kevin Richert,Idaho Education News
TEACHERS
Senate OKs ending early retirement
The measure approved on a 29-6 vote Tuesday would eliminate early retirement benefits for teachers nearing the end of their career.
That program was dumped under the 2011 Students Come First laws, but reinstated when voters repealed those measures in November.
Sen. Cliff Bayer, R-Boise, said the program is intended to save the state money, but data show many teachers retire early regardless of the extra benefits.
Sen. Branden Durst, D-Boise, countered with competing research showing that replacing veteran, high salaried teachers with cheaper recent college graduates saved the state millions of dollars in the last decade.
The proposal now moves to the House for debate.
The Associated Press
COURTS
State likely to get 3 more district judges
The Senate voted Tuesday 35-0 to bump total district judges to 45 from 42 to help handle a growing caseload.
The new judges - in Canyon, Ada and Jefferson counties, in the 3rd, 4th and 7th judicial districts - would begin work Oct. 1 if Gov. Butch Otter signs the bill.
Idaho has added just three judges since 2000, though its population has grown by nearly a quarter.
The Associated Press
HEALTH INSURANCE
Senate OKs 'sharing ministries' plan
Nonprofit religious organizations that help members share medical costs are closer to being exempted from Idaho insurance laws.
The Senate voted Tuesday 34-1 to remove health care sharing ministries from the state's definition of an insurance company.
The bill's sponsor, Sen. Sheryl Nuxoll, R- Grangeville, fears "overzealous" insurance regulators will subject these ministries to the same requirements as insurers, essentially putting them out of business.
The bill heads to the House.
The Associated Press
