A word from our President!

 Here is a piece written by our President, Tom LeClaire. Keep your eyes out for a chance to read it in the Idaho Statesman as well!

"The Idaho Constitutions says the legislature "is to establish and maintain a general, uniform and thorough system of public, free common schools."  Many legislators and education stake-holders are concerned that our state is not meeting this mandate.  A special legislative committee is considering major changes to Idaho’s public school funding formula, including a shift to a student-based model.   As president of the Coalition of Idaho Charter School Families, I strongly support this committee's efforts. 
    The current public schools funding formula is based on staffing and program allocations set by the Idaho Legislature and the Idaho Department of Education. The state government tells local school boards how to spend approximately 75% of the funding they get.   This funding formula is overly uniform, inflexible, resistant to innovation, and takes accountability away from local school boards. Also, students are more mobile than ever and this staffing and program-based funding does not keep up as students move from a traditional school, a charter school, a chartered online school and back into a traditional school. 
    We can do better than this. A student-based model would give freedom to principals, allow for more innovation for teachers, and bring more accountability to local school boards."

To follow what is happening and what has already happened. Read more about it by following this link --> https://www.idahoednews.org/news/school-funding-formula-committee-begins-drafting-resolution/