Idaho teacher unions see decline in membership
POSTED: Monday, January 23, 2012 at 04:22 PM PTBY: The Associated Press
Tags: Idaho Education Association
Idaho’s new school reform laws have gutted the collective bargaining powers of teachers’ unions, and membership in some of the organizations is waning.
That’s leaving some of the union locals without the simple-majority status that they must prove in order to negotiate with the district.
The Students Come First laws, unveiled by schools Superintendent Tom Luna one [...]
U.S. Supreme Court says Constitution bars job-bias suit against religious school 
POSTED: Monday, January 16, 2012 at 10:00 AM PTBY: Pat Murphy
The First Amendment bars a disability discrimination suit brought by a teacher who was fired by a religious school, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled in a unanimous decision.
The ruling reverses a decision from the 6th Circuit.
The plaintiff suffers from narcolepsy. She was hired as a lay teacher at a Lutheran elementary school. After the [...]
NNU business class focuses on social good
POSTED: Friday, January 13, 2012 at 03:16 PM PTBY: Brad Iverson-Long
Following a path made at other universities, Northwest Nazarene University School of Business Dean Steve Mountjoy is teaching a class on social ventures, where students create business plans with a financial and social bottom line.
“Business really should be meeting the needs of the communities it works in to make those communities thrive,” said Mountjoy, an advocate of [...]
Treasure Valley gains in state’s higher ed spending
POSTED: Tuesday, January 10, 2012 at 09:44 PM PTBY: Brad Iverson-Long
Boise State University and the College of Western Idaho are two big winners in the higher education budget unveiled by Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter.
For the first time in three years, the budget includes funding for the enrollment workload adjustment, or EWA. The EWA benefits schools that see gains in the number of courses taken, such [...]
New Petersen contract comparable with those of other big names
POSTED: Thursday, January 5, 2012 at 01:42 PM PTBY: Sean Olson
The state board of education approved the first year of Boise State football coach Chris Petersen’s renegotiated contract Jan. 4, raising his yearly base salary to $2 million.
With the $375,000 raise next year — and scheduled $200,000 raises every year through 2015 — Petersen will be paid more than most of his counterparts in the [...]
County scales back school recycling sites
POSTED: Friday, December 30, 2011 at 12:44 PM PTBY: The Associated Press
A decades-old recycling program serving more than 40 public schools in northern Idaho will be significantly scaled back next year in a move that is expected to save Kootenai County about $170,000 a year.
Teachers and students who recycle can now find collection bins for newspapers, cans and magazines at 42 schools within the county. But [...]
Idaho to eliminate certification stipend for teachers
POSTED: Monday, December 26, 2011 at 01:42 PM PTBY: The Associated Press
The state is ending a stipend for teachers earning National Board certification and some fear that the loss of that incentive will result in fewer educators completing the rigorous program, which can take up to three years to finish.
Lawmakers in the 2010 Idaho Legislature voted to discontinue a long-standing stipend of $10,000, distributed over five [...]
BSU football heads east hoping for big revenues
POSTED: Thursday, December 8, 2011 at 09:53 AM PTBY: Brad Iverson-Long
Tags: Big East Conference, Boise State University
West will meet east as the Boise State University football team joins the Big East Conference starting in 2013. Other sports will shift back to the Western Athletic Conference (WAC), which the school left earlier this year. BSU is one of five football teams in the Big East, which is expanding to reach both coasts [...]
Construction underway on northern Idaho’s new technical school
POSTED: Tuesday, December 6, 2011 at 12:53 PM PTBY: Anne Wallace Allen
Tags: Ground Force Manufacturing, KTEC
The Kootenai Technical Education Center, northern Idaho’s new professional-technical school, has been in the works in some form or another for 15 years, but now construction is finally underway on a field in Rathdrum.
The 54,000-square-foot school is being built this winter on 20 acres of land, 10 acres donated by a local family and 10 [...]
Idaho Supreme Court upholds dismissal of ISU professor’s lawsuit over firing
POSTED: Friday, December 2, 2011 at 12:24 PM PTBY: The Associated Press
The Idaho Supreme Court has upheld the dismissal of a lawsuit filed by a professor who claims he was wrongfully terminated.
The justices issued a ruling Nov. 30 in the case of Habib Sadid, who claims he was fired from Idaho State University for publicly voicing his discontent with administration policies. Sadid sued the university in [...]
