Committee sends bill to amend school board public-comment limits to amendment order

BOISE — The Idaho Senate Education Committee voted to send Senate Bill 1007 to the fourteenth order for possible amendments after a lengthy hearing that split testimony between parents and local board members who want broader public-comment access and the Idaho School Boards Association, which argued the current, narrower rule protects board business and legal processes.

Senator Cindy Carlson (District 7) introduced the bill as a cleanup measure to remove a sentence added last year that says ‘‘Public comment shall be limited to items listed on the meeting agenda.’’ Carlson said some districts are interpreting the current law to prohibit nearly any public comment that is not on the posted agenda, restricting patrons from raising issues that are not slated as agenda items.

Parents and local trustees who testified in favor said limiting public comment to agenda items can block practical community-driven fixes. Melanie Phillips, a Kuna parent who testified in support, said she spent months trying to get district officials to consider using advanced opportunities funding to cover driver’s education costs; she said only by speaking at a school board meeting did she secure a district review that led to broader implementation and savings she estimates at about $500,000 for the community. "If I had been restricted during delegations to only the items on the agenda, I would never have had a voice," Phillips said.

Christina Hardy, a patron who has followed her district's meetings for five years, and Leslie Bjerke, vice chair of the Coeur d'Alene School Board, also testified that allowing non-agenda public comment has worked in their districts without disruption and that the change would improve transparency and trust.

The Idaho School Boards Association, represented by Quinn Perry, opposed Senate Bill 1007. Perry said the 2024 change was crafted to ensure public comment opportunities while protecting the board's ability to run efficient business meetings and to avoid circumventing formal grievance processes. "School board meetings are not a public meeting; they are a business meeting held in public," Perry said, arguing that permitting unlimited nonagenda comment could transform routine governance meetings into disorderly forums and could risk prejudicing quasi-judicial matters such as expulsions or personnel hearings.

Committee members asked for middle-ground approaches and requested additional information. Senator Woodward moved to send the bill to the fourteenth order for possible amendment to allow time for compromise language and additional briefings; the motion passed by voice vote. During discussion Senator Woodward asked staff to arrange a presentation from the State Department of Education about the scope of "advanced opportunities" funding after testimony referenced that program.

The committee's referral to the fourteenth order means members will have an opportunity to work on language to balance the sponsor's intent to restore some nonagenda comment with ISBA concerns about due-process and open-meeting implications.