[Vision2020] Where Will Tom Luna Take Idaho's Public Schools?

[Tom Hansen]

>From the December 9, 2006 edition of the Moscow-Pullman Daily News with
thanks to Judith Brown -

Luna actively supports permitting unfettered (pronounced "non-regulated"),
limitless expansion of charter schools, while requiring a super-majority
vote on public school levies.

Translation: Millions of Idaho tax dollars will be re-routed from public
education to charter schools, Tom Luna's nest egg.

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HER VIEW: Where will Tom Luna take Idaho's public schools? 

By Judith L. Brown 
Saturday, December 9, 2006 - Page Updated at 07:12:50 PM 

The dust has mostly settled from the elections. It's time to start thinking
about the new leadership that will take office Jan. 8. I am particularly
intrigued, but also concerned and skeptical, about the direction incoming
Superintendent of Public Education Instruction Tom Luna will take Idaho's
public schools over the next four years. 

During the campaign, Luna became known as the "innovation candidate." He is
a strong supporter of charter schools and education in other nontraditional
settings, of more choice and of more local control and flexibility. He did
serve formerly on the Nampa School Board and on the State Board of Education
commission to develop the current achievement standards, and was an advisor
to former U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige. By and large though, Luna
comes from outside the "education establishment." He received his bachelor's
degree from an online college and has pursued a career as a successful
businessman. 

Beyond buzz words like "choice," however, the recent campaign for
superintendent of public instruction did not leave me feeling like I had any
real understanding of the innovations and improvements Luna will pursue. So
I decided to do an online search of stories dealing with the race for
superintendent and review the priorities and positions he espoused. In
addition to a variety of news stories, this search also turned up the Gem
State Voters Guide, subtitled "The Complete Idaho Voter Guide for Families."
It was jointly produced by the Idaho Values Alliance, Education Excellence
Idaho, Idahoans for Tax Reform, Idaho Chooses Life and This House Is My
Home. These are all very conservative groups, but Luna responded to the
questionnaire and so it seems fair game to hold him accountable for his
answers. 

I decided to focus my review on three areas: overall school funding,
curricular and other education reforms, and addressing facilities needs. 

Regarding overall funding levels for public education in Idaho, Luna's
position is fuzzy. At this point, I think just abut every Idahoan knows
Idaho has the eighth most crowded classrooms in the country and that we rank
45th-lowest in per pupil spending. Where does Luna come down on school
funding? Sometimes he says public schools need better funding; sometimes he
says he could produce better education with less funding. If he supported
strengthening funding for public education, I suspect he'd be more
forthright in saying so. 

What does he support in terms of ways to improve the education achievements
of our children? Nationwide, there is considerable interest in improving
high school curriculums, particularly math and science content, and in
improving early childhood education and school readiness. Luna, however,
does not support the Idaho State Board of Education's proposals to reform
the high school curriculum, saying that should be left to local control. He
also opposes both universal kindergarten and state-funded preschool
programs. 

Luna does support improving Idaho's rural schools, and that intrigues me.
But how?  Presumably his ideas on how to do this will be revealed after he
takes office. 

Luna also supports removing the cap on charter school expansion and reducing
regulations for charter schools. He opposes both registration and state
testing of home-schooled students. 

This begins to sound like a plan for very little innovation for traditional
public schools, while shifting more and more education with less and less
accountability to charter schools and home schooling. Charter schools are
hardly innovative at this point. Furthermore, some longer-term studies are
showing that the educational achievement of charter school students lags
that of students in traditional public schools. Does expanding charter
schools, while relieving them of accountability, make sense? 

Lastly, how might Luna deal with Idaho's crumbling school facilities? He
supports maintaining the requirement for supermajority (67 percent) approval
of school bond issues, believing that the recent property tax cut/sales tax
hike will make it easier for school districts to pass bond levies. This is a
"wait and see" approach, not an innovative approach. 

As I said, I am a little intrigued and quite a bit concerned about the
direction Luna will take Idaho's public schools. Will he prove to be another
Anne Fox, dragging us through four years of incompetent and misguided
leadership? Or will he indeed prove to be an innovator, reshaping our public
schools to meet the demands of the 21st century? 

The clock starts ticking Jan. 8. I'll be watching.

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Seeya round town, Moscow.

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho

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"A bad cause will ever be supported by bad means and bad men." 

- Thomas Paine (English Writer, 1737-1809)

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