Schools Are His Business

Idaho’s Tom Luna has again stumbled past common sense

By Mary Lou Reed

As back-to-school season rounds the calendar again, it’s time to check up on Idaho’s bad boy, Tom Luna, who ahs a talent for dropping bombshells and offending the wrong people—legislators, teachers, parents.  He’s Idaho’s Superintendent of Public Instruction, and schools are his business.

Luna’s been in the headlines again in recent weeks for signing a $2.1 million-per-year, five-to-15-year contract with a Nashville, Tenn., company to supply wireless Internet connections to Idaho’s high schools.  Following his usual mode of operation, Luna forged ahead with arrangements for the contract without including the major players in the decision.

Alert Spokesman-Review reporter Betsy Russell broke the story, which was news to Gov. Butch Otter, the superintendents of Idaho’s school districts, and members of the Joint Finance and Appropriations (JFAC) Committee of the Idaho Legislature.

The co-chairman of JFAC, Sen. Dean Cameron, did not appreciate Luna’s act-now, ask-later approach.  Sen. Cameron is quoted in the Spokeman-Review as saying Luna’s finagling “perhaps borders on a lack of honesty.”

The Legislature had appropriated $2.25 million of one-time (one year) money for Internet connections, presumably to be administered by local school districts.  Meanwhile, Education Networks of America, the company awarded the contract, has contributed at least $6,000 to Luna’s political campaigns, and several of the company’s leaders have close personal ties to Luna.  An informal poll by the Idaho Press-Tribune revealed that Idahoans were more offended by the contract going to a campaign donor and the appearance of a sweetheart deal than by the choice of an out-of-state bidder.

We should note that Coeur d’Alene School District $271 and Lakeland School District $272 have decided to stick with their current Internet provider, Post Falls-based Ednetics, which was bypassed in Luna’s process.

It is difficult to know whether Luna’s motives are devious or if he is just a habitual bungler – an Inspector Clouseau of sorts, stumbling his way from one pratfall to the next.  Turns out Luna’s eligible for Wi-Fi, so the $2.1 million figure has absolutely no connection with the number of schools to be connected.

I personally suspect Tom Luna believes the ideas he promotes are sound and worth fighting for.  I just don’t agree with him.  I question that he has the knowledge and experience the job requires.  He definitely has earned an “F” in working together with colleagues to get things done.

But that’s my opinion.  Let me remind you of a little Tom Luna history, and you can draw your own conclusions.