Education week in Boise
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January 27, 2014 |
By Idaho Senator Shawn Keough
It was “education week” for the budget committee
and in the statehouse during this third week of
the Legislative session. There may not be a more
important task for the Legislature than funding
our state’s education system.
In fact, nearly half of the state’s annual
budget goes to fund K-12 public schools. When
you add in funding for colleges, universities,
and “other education“, that’s more than 60
percent of Idaho’s budget.
North Idaho College officials spoke to their
commitment to the expansion of the Sandpoint
Center plus shared the Governor’s budget support
of $226,700 for continued delivery of a two-year
degree from NIC without having to travel to
Coeur d’Alene. 616 students from Bonner County
(over 10% of the student population) and 182
students (about 3% of the student population)
from Boundary County are taking courses through
NIC.
I’m pleased to report that Lewis Clark State
College also re-committed to continuing course
offerings at Sandpoint with the goal of offering
a four-year degree, again, without students
needing to leave Bonner County. For the
residents of Legislative District 1, this
continues to be an important service and
excellent opportunity. This is a goal I’ve been
working on, with many others in our community,
since before my service in the Senate. I am very
excited about this and will continue to work to
support this availability of higher education in
our community.
The K-12 budget hearing was also this week.
Idaho’s Constitution says “The stability of a
republican form of government depending mainly
upon the intelligence of the people, it shall be
the duty of the legislature of Idaho, to
establish and maintain a general, uniform and
thorough system of public, free common schools.”
This constitutional obligation is clear and a
responsibility that I focus on. Superintendent
Luna presented a budget for the K-12 public
school system that seeks an increase of $66.9
million of funding from the state. The details
of the Supt.’s budget can be found on the
internet at:
http://legislature.idaho.gov/budget/JFAC/presentations/2014/2014-01-23.01.pdf.
As your representative in the Idaho State
Senate, the education of Idahoans is one of my
top priorities. I will continue to work hard to
ensure that local students have access to a
quality education.
Other developments included the announcement by
Governor Otter of establishment of a working
group to study the Idaho State Tax Commission.
I’ve heard from several constituents in the last
few years about the approach the Commission and
its staff takes to issues and the concern that
they focus on insignificant things and ignore
glaring tax evasions.
It is important that our tax system be fair and
that the Commission is also fair in its efforts
to be certain that all Idahoans comply with our
tax laws. I applaud the Governor for his
leadership on addressing these concerns and look
forward to the working group’s recommendations.
Other issues surfaced and received hearings this
week including changes in how the state manages
care for our citizens with mental health and
disability challenges, a re-design of our
justice system, and a proposal to means test the
grocery tax credit while lowering the income tax
rate. All very complex issues that need
discussion, but, I’ve run out of space for this
week. Thank you for reading! The pace is picking
up and as always I encourage you to follow your
Legislature at work at
www.legislature.idaho.gov and stay in touch:
1-800-626-0471 or
skeough@senate.idaho.gov. |
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