Superintendent Ybarra tours Idaho to meet with school officials about 2021 session

By: Christina Lords - May 10, 2021 4:05 am

Superintendent of Public Instruction Sherri Ybarra, photo courtesy of Idaho State Department of Education

Starting today, Superintendent of Public Instruction Sherri Ybarra and key staff members will hit the road for the next two weeks to meet with Idaho educators and administrators to provide updates on the 2021 legislative session and other education-related topics, according to a press release from her office.

The first leg of the superintendent’s annual Legislative Roadshow begins today at the Galaxy Event Center in Meridian. The event will be livestreamed on YouTube so interested members of the public can watch the presentations online.

The tour continues at the Best Western University Inn in Moscow on Thursday and at the Coeur d’Alene Inn on Friday. The second leg will come to the Canyon Crest Event Center in Twin Falls on May 19, and conclude May 20 at the Waterfront at Snake River Landing in Idaho Falls.

“Although the Legislature has not yet adjourned, the education budgets have been finalized, and we need to get out there and let our educators know what’s happening, and what’s ahead,” Ybarra said in the release. “Education issues this session have largely been settled, and school districts have less than two months before the next fiscal year begins.”

The Legislative Roadshow will be held in person this year; last year’s meeting was held virtually.

The event includes superintendents, charter school administrators and business managers from throughout the state. At each location, sessions are scheduled from 9:30 a.m. to 12:20 p.m. and from 1-3 p.m.

Schedule of events for superintendent’s legislative roadshow

9:30 a.m. Superintendent’s Welcome

Sherri Ybarra, superintendent of public instruction

9:50 – 10:20 a.m. Legislation/IDAPA Rules Update

Marilyn Whitney, deputy superintendent for communications and policy

10:20 – 10:50 a.m. Child Nutrition

Colleen Fillmore, director of child nutrition programs

10:50 – 11:20 a.m. Content Standards/Mastery Education

Todd Driver, director of content and curriculum

11:20 – 11:50 a.m. certification standards

Lisa Colon Durham, director of certification and professional standards

11:50 a.m. – 12:20 p.m. federal programs

Karen Seay, director of federal programs

1 – 3 p.m. Public School Finance

Julie Oberle, chief financial officer, public schools

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Christina Lords

Christina Lords is the editor-in-chief of the Idaho Capital Sun and has been a professional journalist covering local and state government since graduating from the University of Idaho in 2009. A Pocatello native, Lords is a fifth-generation Idahoan who served as a reporter at the Moscow-Pullman Daily News and the Post Register in Idaho Falls and served as assistant editor for the Idaho Press in Nampa. She also led the Idaho Statesman in Boise for two years before turning to nonprofit journalism.