SPIRIT LAKE, Idaho -- Teachers across North Idaho are celebrating the defeat of three education reform laws.
Idaho voters rejected all three of Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Luna’s laws to overhaul education.
The reforms, passed by the 2011 Idaho Legislature, limited union bargaining and job protection for teachers, promoted merit pay, created online-class mandates, and leased laptops for high school students.
Kristie Mitchell and Kathy Gray teach in schools in Spirit Lake, Idaho, who said they were hurt and insulted the law existed in the first place. Mitchell and Gray disapprove of merit pay, and do not believe a computer-based program can replace what teachers can do in the classroom.
These teachers said they know reform is coming to Idaho, but did not believe Propositions 1, 2, or 3 were the right tactic.
(Cole Heath contributed to this report)
