Betsy Russell reports the Idaho Senate has unanimously backed a major change to last year’s “Students Come First” school reform law that requires cuts each year in the teacher salary funds that the state sends out to school districts, to pay for the reform plan’s technology boosts and teacher merit-pay bonus program.

SB 1331, sponsored by Senate Finance Chairman Dean Cameron, R-Rupert, and co-sponsored by 15 other senators including Senate Education Chairman John Goedde, R-Coeur d’Alene, would eliminate all the cuts in teacher salary funds. The state still would be required to fund the technology boosts, including phasing in laptop computers for every high school student, and the merit-pay plan, but it wouldn’t be required to cut teacher salary funds to do it.

Goedde was the lead sponsor of the Students Come First laws.