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Four day conversation at SBOE. Discussion in the June meeting what the minimum instructional days looks like. Was total information only at this board meeting. June board meeting is in Pocatello.
State Board meeting today. They will introduce the language in HB 521 that deals with student days and hours. The agenda link is below and there is a link to listen at the top of the agenda.
https://boardofed.idaho.gov/meetings/board/archive/2024/041724/00%20AGENDA.pdf
The 2024 legislative session is over! Senate just finished up and everyone will adjourn for a week and make sure the Governor signs everything and no Veto's. The. They will sine die and officially be done. It's been a tough session and we will get highlights of the new laws out to you soon. Have a great weekend and thanks for all the support this year. We needed it!!
Happy Wednesday! I believe that this will be the final day of the 2024 legislature! HB 766 which is the clean up language for HB 521 on 4/5 day weeks, charter facilities funding and a few other things went through Senate State Affairs this morning and now will go to the senate floor. The only other thing on the agenda that needs finished is the ITD (transportation) budget and hopefully that gets resolved this morning as well. It has been a long and grueling session and we will have a post legislative recap mid April! If you want to tune into the Senate today, here is the link https://www.idahoptv.org/shows/idahoinsession/senate/
We could be near the end of the 2024 Legislative Session! We have an Omnibus bill (meaning clear full of fun things from the 4/5 day week to charter funding). I believe this is the go home bill and we will be out of this mess! I will set up a post legislative zoom meeting mid April and talk about all the actual things that got through and those that didn't that we wills see next year! Thanks for being patient this crazy session. watch House Ed at 9:30 https://www.idahoptv.org/shows/idahoinsession/ew41/
Happy Easter Weekend. Legislators went home and will not be coming back until April 2, which is Tuesday. Still have a handful of things to take care of. Enjoy your Easter weekend and thanks for all you do.
Wednesday March 27. Things are going slowly as we get close to finishing up. There are only a handful of bills that have any hope of crossing the finishing line at this point. We are watching the trailer bills that address the 4/5 day week issue. HB 742 and SB 1452. Hoping to clear up that language and then get everyone home for another year! HB 521, the facilities bill, will hopefully be signed later this week by the Governor and that will be the direction for facilities moving forward.
March 25. While we thought we were getting close to the end, ways and means committee will hear 8 new RS's this morning at 9 am MT. Almost all of them deal with education and the new voucher tax credit is one of them. This is so late in the session, hoping the senate won't even hear any of these, since most are not great. Will keep everyone posted on how it turns out. They were moved to ways and means because they couldn't get them out of tax and rev. Watch it at https://www.idahoptv.org/shows/idahoinsession/ew05/
Friday, March 22. Things are gearing up for the end. Two major pieces of legislation passed yesterday with Launch and the Facilities bill. Today, Jfac will be hearing the education budget and supplemental at 8am MT today. https://www.idahoptv.org/shows/idahoinsession/jfac/
Senate State Affairs will be hearing four "trailer bills" at 8am MT, https://www.idahoptv.org/shows/idahoinsession/ww55/
It will be a busy morning down here at the statehouse but there may only be a week or so left before everyone goes home!
HB 521 Facilities Passes the Senate by a vote of 23-11. It will now go to the Governor's desk to be signed into law. That is a huge bill with so many moving parts. Hopefully one of the last and we can get the education budgets through.
HB 722 Launch has just passed the full House. It will now move onto the Governors office to be signed into law. This has been one of the big hurdles this year and it is now moving on. HB 521 is being debated now in the full Senate. I will update this feed when it is voted on.
Thursday, March 21. Senate State Affairs will be hearing four new RS's this morning all dealing with "Trailer Bills" to address some of the concerns with HB 521 (facilities). While not sure what each of the RS's contain, we know that they will have some language to address some type of cap on dollars going out, language on the four/five day week, and other perceived issues. We will see if any of these will actually be printed and created into law. Stay tuned. Live Feed https://www.idahoptv.org/shows/idahoinsession/ww55/
Wednesday, March 20. Things are hopefully coming to an end for the FY24 Legislative session. We are waiting on several bills to work their way through the system like HB 521 Facilities, Launch, and still waiting for the promised Voucher. HB 710, the newest library material bill is up today at 8am MT in Senate State Affairs. this will be the 5th attempt to get this type of bill through this session. Watch it live https://www.idahoptv.org/shows/idahoinsession/ww55/
Happy Friday! There will be a new RS being presented in House Ed this morning on Math funding. We will have the bill on the sway as soon as it is printed. The idea is to get 40m out to districts as one-time money to help with Math curriculum or something to that effect. Please send out a thank you to Debbie Critchfield, she was the driving force behind us not losing these dollars! House Ed will meet at 8:30 MT this morning. https://www.idahoptv.org/shows/idahoinsession/ew41/ I hope everyone has an amazing weekend.
JFAC has pulled the supplemental off the agenda. It will also be moved until next week. The games are being played. Please reach out to your local legislators and push the need for the supplemental dollars in this year's budget.
March 14. Two items of interest this morning here at the capital. First, JFAC will be hearing the Supplemental this morning starting at 8am MT. JFAC has moved the Education Budget hearing to Tuesday, but that may be pushed as well. The link for JFAC is https://www.idahoptv.org/shows/idahoinsession/jfac/
Also at 8am MT Senate State Affairs will be hearing H645 which deals with school boards in the case of a recall. https://www.idahoptv.org/shows/idahoinsession/ww55/
March 13. Senate State Affairs will be hearing the new guns in schools bill. SB 1418. 8:00am MT and watch it live https://www.idahoptv.org/shows/idahoinsession/ww55/
HB 447 the tax credit voucher bill was held in committee on a 10-7 vote. Please make sure we thank all of them! huge day for us today!
March 12 Senate Ed will meet at 2:00pm MT and on that agenda is SB 1358 which amends Empowering Parents. While the intentions of this bill are to deal with a home school issue, we believe this may be sent to the 14th order and have the tuition for private schools added into it and this would skip the process of going through the committee and having any input on those type of changes. This is an FYI and we will have to all reach out to our local legislators if this happens. Will keep you posted on how this all plays out. https://www.idahoptv.org/shows/idahoinsession/ww55/
March 12 8:00am MT HB 447, Tax Credit Voucher bill will be introduced and discussed. This bill was printed the first week of the session and is finally being heard this morning. you can listen live with the following link. Listen live https://www.idahoptv.org/shows/idahoinsession/ew42/ This committee does not take remote testimony so you will not be able to sign up to testify online. Dale and I will both testify against the bill as well as ISBA and IEA. Stay tuned, this will be the first of several attempts to get a voucher passed in the state of Idaho.