House and Senate Education Committees to Hold Listening Session Next Week

The House and Senate Education Committees announced they will host a joint listening session on January 27 from 3:00 until 5:00 p.m. The hearings will be held in the Lincoln Auditorium in the West Wing of the State Capitol building. 

Representative Reed DeMordaunt stated, “We invite all of our citizens to participate and share with us their ideas on how our education system can be improved.”

The focus of this year’s listening session will be the Governor’s Task Force Recommendations. The joint committees are anxious to have input regarding the necessary action by the Legislature to bring the Task Force recommendations into real life application for Idaho. Citizens will be permitted to comment on other areas of our education system as well, except for Idaho Common Core Standards. The joint committees held an Idaho Common Core Forum on Wednesday dedicated to this discussion.

Senator Geodde explained, “that we want to hear our citizens thoughts regarding such questions as, ‘What does autonomy look like for a school District?’ and ‘How will teacher licensure effect our education system?’”

The chairmen requests that anyone desiring to address the joint committee should prepare statements in advance and limit comments to three minutes.  More detailed suggestions can be submitted to the committee in writing and will be made available to all committee members.  Comments may also be submitted via email to: hedu@house.idaho.gov.

The Governors’ Task Force recommendations can be found on the State Board of Education Task Force website.