Debbie Critchfield

The Idaho Department of Education wants school districts to create new programs to prepare students, starting in seventh grade, for jobs that are needed in the state.

Plenty of factors have brought Idaho’s larger districts closer to reopening. But none are unique to Idaho. Seventy-six percent of respondents said they wanted to see K-12 students back in the classroom, at least part-time, according to a statewide Boise State University survey released last month. For Republican respondents and parents of K-12 kids, those numbers skewed even higher — 86 percent and 80 percent, respectively.

With the first day of school less than six weeks away, the Idaho State Board of Education on Thursday unanimously adopted school reopening guidelines that set expectations for students to return to school in the fall.