BOISE — It’s not all about increased test scores, said Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Luna.
He said he wants to see students succeed in everyday life, and increased technology and student safety are the keys.
Luna presented the State Department of Education budget to the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee Thursday at the Capitol. In his presentation, Luna said the main areas of financial focus include the revitalization of standardized testing, increased technology in classrooms, school safety and professional development to improve the educational experience of the nearly 280,000 students in the Idaho’s public schools.
“We need to focus on the lives of students to see success,” Luna said. “What’s going on outside classrooms is equally as important.”
Luna also presented the budget for Idaho’s public schools — the state’s largest single budget.
He said the funding he is requesting is directed to advancing the Governor’s Task Force for Improving Education’s 20 recommendations and achieving the State Board of Education’s benchmark of 60 percent of all Idahoans between the ages of 25-34 years old gaining a professional or technical certificate by 2020.
“The task force set a clear path forward, including several budget estimates,” Luna said.
He said it would cost between $350 million and $400 million to bring the task force’s recommendations to reality.
For fiscal year 2015, Luna recommended $300,000 to establish a technical advisory committee to follow through on the future achievement of the task force’s recommendations.
Luna also said the state’s current system of standardized testing, the Idaho Standards Achievement Test, is inadequate, and will transition next year to the new Smarter Balanced Assessment.
“We were previously testing students’ ability to write with a multiple choice test, now we’re testing their writing by actually having them write,” Luna said.
He said 95 percent student participation in standardized testing will be necessary to truly measure the successes of state schools. Now, students are required to be tested in grades 3-8, and once in a while in high school.
“Idaho’s children deserve the best — the best teachers (and) the best standards,” Luna said.
“A world class education is more important today than ever before.”
To support a major facet of overall education quality, Luna said the future successes of Idaho schools will depend on technology. After establishing the Idaho Education Network, a statewide broadband system connecting high schools to each other and also to Idaho’s higher education institutions, Luna said positive results have been immediate.
Luna said at least one classroom is equipped with a flat screen TV featuring microphones and cameras that allow students to receive instruction via distance learning programs. Next, the state will work to establish a statewide wireless Internet connection to offer ways for students to connect to, learn from and fully utilize the Internet.
“The next logical step is for each student to have access to a device,” Luna said. “Whether it’s a tablet, a laptop or a smart device … each student should have access to that world of information and knowledge. We’re putting in the infrastructure in place to bridge that divide.”
The State Department of Education has also been using $150,000 issued last year to create an all-inclusive online education portal to connect high school students with classes that are available in Idaho’s post-secondary institutions. Luna said the portal should be available in March to allow high school students to register for college-level courses for the upcoming summer and fall.
Luna discussed how state funding will be necessary to increase school safety.
He said $100,000 from the last fiscal year is being put toward increased safety education, and he is requesting $2.2 million to be funneled directly to school districts for developing increased safety measures.
“We never want to look back and wonder, ‘Could we have done more? Should we have done more?'” Luna said. “Students will only be able to learn successfully when they’re free of fear and terror.”
Luna is also requesting $500,000 for the creation of a state safety center. The projected Idaho Center for School Safety will be a one-stop-shop for training workshops, materials and educational programming for educators in order to prevent safety breeches at Idaho schools.
Luna also requested a one-time amount of $16 million for teachers’ leadership bonuses to help retain and reward Idaho educators.
JFAC co-chair Sen. Dean Cameron, R-Rupert, questioned whether Luna thought it was most appropriate to allocate funding for a bonus system that has not yet been established or measured for success.
In response, Luna said the money would be given in efforts to get money into school districts to inspire increased educator leadership, and by doing so, would be taking one more step toward completion of the task force’s recommendations for improvement.
Chloe Rambo can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @CRchloerambo