Education

A company installing wireless Internet networks in Idaho public schools says it will reduce the contract's price tag amid pressure from lawmakers who question the deal.

The Spokesman-Review reported Friday that Tennessee-based Education Networks of America and the State Department of Education agreed the company will be paid only for schools it connects with Wi-Fi system, not get a flat fee.

Idaho teacher Shelby Harris is featured in a documentary by Academy Award winning filmmaker Davis Guggenheim that premieres Friday on CBS.

"Teach" features four educators from around the country, each trying different strategies to teach and inspire their students.

Idaho doesn’t require schools or daycares to have disaster plans. According to a report out this week from the nonprofit Save the Children, Idaho is one of four states that have no requirement.

Shelby Harris’s first period is not a typical seventh grade class. The students come in, get laptops and go to work.

“Without any instruction from me,” Harris says. “They know exactly what path they’re on. And they just work. It’s amazing.”

Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter backed recommendations from an Idaho education task force, saying his top priority in 2014 and beyond will be restoring funding to school districts that have suffered recession-fueled cuts since 2008.

Otter told a Boise Metro Chamber of Commerce crowd Tuesday his top spending priority will be restoring $82.5 million in operational revenue lost by Idaho's 115 school districts.

The Idaho Board of Education has approved a plan to allow second-year University of Idaho law students to take classes in Boise.

It's the second time the state board has granted the request from UI — but last year the budget approval for the expansion was voted down in the Legislature.

UI Vice President for Finance and Administration Ron Smith says he's hopeful that this year lawmakers will support the expansion.

Third-year curriculum is already being offered at the UI's law school program in Boise.

Today the school year starts for Idaho’s two largest school districts, Boise and Meridian. Several others have already begun. This is the first year that all Idaho schools will be using the Common Core State Standards.

Idaho’s Task Force for Improving Education released its final recommendations Friday. Governor Butch Otter asked the State Board of Education to create the group last December after voters rejected the education laws known as Students Come First.  The 31 member task force was made up of representatives from several education groups.

Their recommendations include a unanimous recommendation to raise minimum teacher salaries from $31,000 to $40,000.  Plus they want to restructure the career ladder so experienced teachers could also make more money. 

North Star Charter School in Eagle started classes Thursday morning. As parents dropped off some of the school’s nearly 1,000 students administrators told them the worries that it might have to close in the next few months seem to be over.

ACT scores are out for the class of 2013. The company that owns the nationally administered college entrance exam has released its annual report on how the scores reflect the nation’s college and career readiness.

Idaho high school grads outpaced their national peers on all of the ACT’s college readiness benchmarks by wide margins.

At his annual State of the University speech, Boise State President Bob Kustra says the school will spend a year ranking its programs, departments and offerings. The process is being dubbed "program prioritization."

He says the goal is to make Boise State programs more cost effective. “We know there will be some resources as a result of this study that will require re-allocation,” says Kustra.

A preliminary list of recommendations created by Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter's new Task Force for Improving Education shows a focus on recouping lost education dollars and improving the workforce by paying teachers more money.

The Idaho Statesman reports the preliminary list includes a draft recommendation to raise minimum teacher salaries from $31,000 to $40,000 statewide, and to seek to restore $82.5 million in operational revenue that school districts have lost since 2008.

The Nampa School District was out of line when it asked teachers to sign a contract addendum to include furlough days.

Idaho's State Board of Education is scheduled to vote Thursday on statewide physical education requirements for high school students.

The Idaho Statesman reports the proposal calls for high school graduates to have two credits of physical education, beginning in 2019. Students would also be required to take CPR training, but wouldn't be required to pass a CPR test.

The Idaho Department of Education released its school rankings last week for the 2012-2013 school year. Before the updated list came out, we told you there was a strong connection between poverty and low achieving schools based on the 2011-2012 rankings.

About 200 Idaho high schools have signed up to get Wi-Fi internet under the state’s new contract with a Tennessee-based company. Signing that contract brought the state’s Department of Education under fire last week. Some lawmakers thought the multi-year agreement violated the spirit of what the legislature had authorized the department to do when it set aside $2.25 million for Wi-Fi in the coming school year.

Idaho’s new list of school rankings came out Thursday afternoon. The number of schools receiving the highest rating, five stars, increased from the 2011-2012 school year to the 2012-2013 year. The number of one star schools declined. Nearly 160 schools went up at least one star. The highest concentration of schools continues to be in the four star category.

Idaho’s Department of Education releases its list today of school rankings for the 2012-2013 school year. It’s based on a five star system the state began last year.

Five star schools are considered high performing. Those at the bottom have to follow an improvement plan under state scrutiny. In last year’s rating list there was something most one star schools had in common: poverty. Take Boise’s Hawthorne Elementary where Beverly Boyd is principal.

A federal jury has sided with two Idaho school districts in a lawsuit brought by the family of a teen with Asperger's syndrome, an autism spectrum disorder.

The jury deliberated about 6½ hours Friday before reaching the verdict in favor of the Boise and Meridian school districts, and U.S. District Judge Candy Dale issued an order officially dismissing the lawsuit on Wednesday.