Luna Asks For $61 Million For Schools

Public schools chief Tom Luna says education would get about a third of the projected $180 million budget surplus Idaho is expected to carry into the next fiscal year, under a spending plan he’s submitting to the governor.  Luna told says he wants at least $61 million of the surplus to go toward public education in the 2012-2013 school year.  Under Luna’s budget request, more than $20 million of that extra money would be used to replace funding that would be taken from funding for salaries to pay for new education changes backed by Luna and the governor, such as teacher merit pay.  The shifting of money from salaries to pay for classroom technology and pay-for-performance was among the most debated parts of Luna’s education changes.