Preliminary results from reorganization study circle

According to an article in the Kuna Melba News, the overwhelming choice of attendees at Monday's study circle on reorganizing Kuna schools was to rezone all the existing zones into five new ones, to accommodate the new elementary school on 10 Mile.

I participated in the study circle; in my group, we felt that it would be the simplest choice and that most of the other choices would require a rezone anyway, and most of them wouldn't solve the current and future overcrowding problems at the elementary schools. In addition, because of the state budget situation, it's unlikely that Kuna schools will have any additional money for a more extensive reorganization.

The Kuna School Board is scheduled to address the issue at its December meeting.

We're getting noticed!

http://www.kuna360.com/2010/11/theres-new-blog-in-town.html

Thanks for the kind words. Yes, I expect to do more analysis and Kuna-specific information going forward; I wanted to get caught up at first as it was starting up.

And yes, I expect to keep it updated. That's the idea. :)

As far as ads, I hadn't even realized it was showing any yet. Interesting. I wonder why it doesn't show them to me.

(I've also heard from Scott McIntosh, editor of the Kuna-Melba News, who indicates that he's been looking at this, too.)

Our View: A pre-K problem, created by Idaho lawmakers

"In the winter of 2007, before the Great Recession, the Legislature considered a simple bill to encourage voluntary pre-K programs (in other words, no school district would be mandated to provide pre-K, and no parent would be required to enroll their child). These programs would not have been eligible for a dime of state funding. But lawmakers said no anyway.

By slamming the brakes on voluntary pre-K programs, which would at least qualify for local funding or federal grants, the lawmakers left parents to shoulder the burden of costs of early education. No one can be surprised that some parents are opting out. Meanwhile, no one should expect anything more than crocodile tears from some quarters at the Statehouse."

Read more: http://www.idahostatesman.com/2010/11/16/1420092/a-pre-k-problem-created-by-lawmakers.html#ixzz15RROi5s8

Volunteers pitch in for Treasure Valley schools

"But [Meridian Superintendent Linda] Clark worries about how much more the community can do for schools facing more budget cuts next year.

“There is no place left to cut,” she said. “We’ve cut text books, salaries and teacher development. We only have two arrows left in our quiver. We can cut the school year, or ask our patrons for a supplemental tax levy. That’s all that’s left, because we’re out of options.”

Read more: http://www.idahostatesman.com/2010/11/16/1420103/volunteers-pitch-in-for-schools.html#storylink=omni_popular#ixzz15ROXBLfZ

(Unfortunately, Kuna isn't included in the article and doesn't have information about how volunteers can donate to Kuna schools. Hopefully someone will step up and add that information.)

Good and Bad School Budget News -- Mostly Bad

The Idaho Legislature's Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee (JFAC) met today and will meet tomorrow to discuss the upcoming budget. The Legislature decides upon the budget during the legislative session starting in January 2011, for the budget year starting in July 2011.

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Luna told JFAC that schools would need an additional $61 million just to stay in the same place next year as they are this year -- without replacing the $128 million cut from the school budgets last year.

Unfortunately, the budget for next year is already $340 million behind.

However, for the fourth month in a row, revenues are ahead of projections -- just a total of $23 million, but it's a start. At this rate, that would raise an additional $72 million by the end of the year.

Finally, a new data system will help Idaho better track its students -- and might save money.

Reconfiguring Kuna Elementary Schools

In the fall of 2011, the Kuna School District will be opening a new elementary which will be located on Ten Mile Rd. With the opening of the seventh elementary, the district will reconsider how current schools are configured.

The district is requesting ideas and feedback before a final recommendation is made in December. Patrons and employees can share their ideas by submitting their recommendations through the district website at http://www.kunaschools.org.

The school district also held a Community Study Circle tonight on the subject and will be releasing more information later in the year. The Kuna School Board is also expected to talk about the issue during its December 14 meeting.

Here is part of an article from the Kuna-Melba News about the meeting and reconfiguration. 

Why Idaho's Endowment Trust is in the Self Storage Business

"BOISE — An Idaho-managed endowment trust is unfairly taking on the private sector and undermining tax revenue for local governments by buying a storage facility to bolster revenue for the state’s public schools, a national self-storage lobbying group said Wednesday.

But Laurie Boeckel, a board member of Idaho’s Children’s Land Alliance Supporting Schools, a group focused on making sure endowment lands are managed properly, contends the state doesn’t own the business — its endowment trust does.

Endowment trust lands are tracts granted to states when they achieved statehood, and endowment trusts like Idaho’s have bought and sold holdings such as the storage business over the years.

According to the Idaho Constitution, the five members of the Idaho Land Board who oversee the trust — Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter, Attorney General Lawrence Wasden, Controller Donna Jones, Secretary of State Ben Ysursa and public schools chief Tom Luna — must deliver the maximum benefit to beneficiaries, including public schools.

All five voted in August to buy the storage facility.

Scanlon “obviously has an interest for his group, but that is not what the obligation or fiduciary duty is of those managing the trust,” Boeckel told the AP. “If we continue to let special interest groups pressure the managers into not adhering to their fiduciary duties, the ones that lose will be Idaho’s children.”

Affordable Self-Storage in Boise’s suburbs is more than 80 percent occupied. Its projected annual earnings of nearly $230,000 will be shared by schools statewide. About $20,000 will go to Boise schools, double what they’d been getting from property taxes generated by the facility when it was still in private hands, state officials have said."

http://www.registerguard.com/csp/cms/sites/web/news/sevendays/25530096-35/storage-idaho-self-scanlon-boise.csp

Welcome to Raise Your Hand, Kuna!

The purpose of this website is to help Kuna residents advocate for our schools and for our children. Kuna already has one of the lowest costs per pupil in the state of Idaho, and some legislators want to cut our school budgets even further. Children are our most important product, and our schools are the heart of our community. Work with other parents, teachers, administrators, staff members, and community members to help protect our schools.

This website will be used to share information -- such as what the district is doing, what the state legislature is doing, and what the Governor is doing -- that affects our schools, as well as provide ways that you can act.