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Committee sends bill to floor after debate over shrinking school safety advisory board
Summary
House Bill 42, which trims the school safety and security advisory board to address quorum problems, was sent to the floor with a due pass recommendation after testimony from the State Board of Education, the Idaho School Boards Association and law enforcement. The committee approved the bill by roll call, 8-4.
The House Committee on Education voted to send House Bill 42 to the floor with a due pass recommendation after extended debate and public testimony about the proposal to reduce the size of the state’s school safety and security advisory board.
Representative Ted Hill, sponsor of the bill, told the committee the current 13-member advisory board has “been problematic” because it struggles to achieve a quorum. Hill said the proposal aims to preserve a “broad spectrum of stakeholder representation” while making the board small enough to meet and act.
Matthew Reiber, strategy and planning officer with the State Board of Education, told the committee the State Board supports keeping experts involved and pledged to appoint members with school expertise. “We still want the experts in the room,” Reiber said, and the change is intended to “strike that balance between an effective board that can get a quorum…as well as a board with the proper expertise.”
Quinn Perry, deputy director of the Idaho School Boards Association (ISBA), told the committee ISBA took an opposed position on House Bill 42 and urged keeping at least one statutorily guaranteed seat for a school official. “We do just wanna be on record that we have some concerns…that there should be at least one person who is serving in the capacity of administrator or school board member,” Perry said.
Sheriff Chris Gertz testified he was personally concerned the bill strikes a sheriff or other law enforcement representative from a guaranteed seat. “We feel that there needs to be a law enforcement person on this committee officially there,” Gertz said, adding that the sheriffs’ organizations had not yet taken a formal position.
Committee members debated alternatives including adding a small number of additional seats or preserving statutorily guaranteed seats for school officials and law enforcement. Supporters said reducing voting membership and inviting other experts as nonvoting participants would allow the panel to meet more reliably while preserving outside expertise in hearings.
Representative Mathias requested a roll call vote. The substitute motion—to send House Bill 42 to the floor with a due pass recommendation—passed by roll call vote, 8 to 4.
No statutory language was amended in committee during the hearing; the committee’s action was to advance the bill to the next stage with a due pass recommendation.
