Bills aim to punish teachers

It is actually a good thing that Sen. John Goedde and the Idaho School Board Association have reintroduced the teacher contract portions of the Students Come First legislation. It is now clear that these provisions have nothing to do with students coming first, or with student learning, but were intended to punish teachers. In fact, students are not mentioned anywhere in the new legislation. It is interesting that the online learning component, which is the only part of last year’s package that actually might have a direct impact on student learning, is left out completely.

It is also interesting that the ISBA is now pushing their contract provisions. As a high school teacher in Idaho, our school district depended on its teachers to get out information about how the Students Come First legislation would not benefit students. I find it ironic that ISBA is now backing these new bills, which take away the rights of the very teachers they depended on to defeat last year’s bills.

Congratulations to Goedde and the ISBA for finally showing their true intentions this session. Since we all like catchy nicknames, they can call these bills “Teachers Come Last.”

Nick Hoffman

Osburn, Idaho