$35 million grant offered to start student information system in Idaho

State would be one of the first to implement plan to connect schools for sharing vital information

Dan Gallagher
Associated Press

BOISE _ A foundation created by the late grocery magnate Joe Albertson and his wife is offering Idaho $35million to create a statewide student information system.

The network would connect all the schools to provide data for parents, teachers, students, administrators, lawmakers and the public. Idaho has no such system, but would become one of the first states to establish one.

"Schools can’t really share that information easily. It’s not their intention not to share it, but trying to get it around is a more cumbersome task than you would like," said Chris Latter, spokeswoman for the J.A. and Kathryn Albertson Foundation.

Gov. Dirk Kempthorne complimented the foundation during his State of the State Address on Tuesday.

"Like our health districts four years ago, today, our school districts cannot share basic student information among themselves, nor are they able to communicate statistical data with the State Board of Education and the State Department of Education," he said. "We need to correct this."

The state is increasing its assessment of students’ performance through standardized tests, and the results should be made available, he said.

"It is one thing to measure what’s been learned, and another to learn from what’s been measured."

"The plan is to have the system Web-based so we don’t need a lot of additional hardware," said Wayne Rush, foundation senior program officer.

Most of the grant would be used to acquire software and train teachers in its use, he said.

"We really want teachers to use it for their classrooms," Rush said. "They can set up their day plans and this would be their grade book."

Parents also could access the system for their children’s grades, homework assignments and attendance records. Meridian and Idaho Falls school districts already have similar networks in place, Rush said.

Kempthorne said Idaho’s broadband investment tax credit enacted in 2001 will help the network get up and running over the next few years. The state would shoulder the cost after that money runs out.

The foundation grant builds on lessons learned from a 13-district program piloted in 2001 by the state through a $3.5 million grant from the foundation.

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