Here's how the 13-5 vote broke down in the House Education Committee on SB 1108, the teacher contracts bill, and SB 1110, the teacher merit pay bill (the vote split was identical on both): Voting in favor: Reps. Nonini, Shirley, Block, Nielsen, Chadderdon, Shepherd, Wills,…
Here's a link to my full story at spokesman.com on the House Education Committee's passage today of two of state schools Supt. Tom Luna's school reform bills, SB 1108 on teacher contracts, and SB 1110 to set up a teacher performance pay plan. After the…
On SB 1110, the teacher pay for performance bill, the House Education Committee has voted 13-5 to approve the measure and send it to the full House with a recommendation that it pass. The measure had earlier passed the Senate. It would cost the state…
The House Education Committee has voted 13-5 in favor of SB 1108, the bill to remove most existing collective bargaining rights from Idaho teachers; eliminate the teacher early retirement incentive program; and remove the 99 percent funding protection that school districts now have when enrollment…
The substitute motion, to send SB 1108 to the House's amending order to remove the 99 percent provision, was voted down, 5-13. Three Democrats and two Republicans supported it: Reps. Trail, Nesset, Pence, Chew and Cronin.
Rep. Linden Bateman has moved to send SB 1108 to the full House with a recommendation that it pass. Rep. Brian Cronin, D-Boise, then made a substitute motion to send the bill to the House's amending order. "1108 for the most part seeks to erode…
Answering questions from House Education Committee members as they prepare to vote on SB 1108 and SB 1110, state schools Supt. Tom Luna said, "Everyone recognizes that there are some teachers that are not effective in the classroom, and we need to be able to…
State schools Supt. Tom Luna is giving his closing presentation on SB 1108, the teacher contracts bill, and SB 1110, the teacher pay for performance bill. "The system that we have today makes it almost impossible to reward great teachers for the work that they…
Roger Brown, speaking for Gov. Butch Otter's office, said, "Our kids aren't ready for higher education. We have a very small percentage of our students, relative to the other states in the union, who go on to higher ed. ... And that's very troubling." He…
When representatives of the Idaho Business Coalition for Education Excellence, which is supporting SB 1108 and 1110, said the problem is that Idaho has the nation's lowest rate of kids going on to higher education, Rep. Brian Cronin, D-Boise, said, "These bills seem to suggest…
Vince Hannity, president of the Idaho Business Coalition for Education Excellence, told the House Education Committee, "IBCEE strongly supports education reform." Repeating his earlier testimony to the Senate committee, he called the "Students Come First" plan a "bold and innovative step toward the reform we…
Karen Echeverria, executive director of the Idaho School Boards Association, said according to the association's survey, "For the most part trustees across the state strongly support the major elements of this bill, SB 1108," including replacing tenure, or continuing contracts, with two-year rolling contracts; eliminating…
Phil Homer of the Idaho Association of School Administrators told the House Education Committee, "We support and endorse many of the concepts. ... We support the tools and flexibility that are provided to the districts through SB 1108. We do, however, have a concern about…
Laurie Boeckel, legislative vice president for the Idaho PTA, told the House Education Committee her organization is concerned about how SB 1108's removal of the 99 percent funding floor and Oct. 1 date to notify teachers of dismissal could impact kids. "Does this mean a…
House Education Chairman Bob Nonini told Sherri Wood, president of the IEA, "Although my name doesn't appear on these bills as a sponsor, I have been very supportive since the superintendent and the governor have shared these bills. ... I am supportive of these bills,…
Sherri Wood, president of the Idaho Education Association, was the first of the education stakeholders to speak today. "The bill before you today will seriously damage education in Idaho," she told the House Education Committee. "You must think about the true motive Supt. Luna had…
Jason Hancock, aide to state schools Supt. Tom Luna, has now begun explaining SB 1110, the teacher pay for performance bill. He said it's based on a Colorado model. Rep. Tom Trail, R-Moscow, said he's examined the Colorado model, and it was based on an…
Rep. Brian Cronin, D-Boise, asked Luna aide Jason Hancock about what he called the "most bizarre" provisions of SB 1108, on page 15, the extensive rules and requirements regarding providing all teachers each year with a list of available liability insurance providers, and requiring every…
Rep. Mack Shirley, R-Rexburg, asked Luna aide Jason Hancock about suggestions yesterday from an ag teacher from Parma, who called for several changes in a procedure outlined in the bill that Shirley said were certainly "reasonable." Hancock said he didn't hear that portion of yesterday's…
Rep. Linden Bateman, R-Idaho Falls, asked Luna aide Jason Hancock about a clause in SB 1108 that declares that employment under certain kinds of teacher contracts is "not a property right," and asked, "Can this be challenged in a court?" Hancock responded, "As far as…
Idaho Gov. Butch Otter testified to Congress this week that more people play the floating green hole at the Coeur d'Alene Resort golf course in a day than visit the state's largest wilderness area in a year, while arguing against more wilderness, but Idaho Statesman…
House Education Committee Chairman Bob Nonini, R-Coeur d'Alene, has opened this morning's committee meeting back in the committee's usual meeting room in the House wing, rather than in the much larger Capitol Auditorium. In the past two days of meeting there, Nonini said, the committee…
The Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee has set a budget for the state Department of Environmental Quality that eliminates funding for the Pend Oreille Basin Lakes Commission, to save $75,000; cuts support for the Basin Advisory Groups and Watershed Advisory Groups by $75,000; eliminates the wastewater operator…
The House Health and Welfare Committee has agreed to consider a bill that would whack $39 million from the state Medicaid budget, set new eligibility rules for clients and impose changes in the way health and treatment services are provided, the Associated Press reports. The…
Here's a link to my full story at spokesman.com on today's court decision declaring Idaho's open primary election system unconstitutional, ruling that it violates the right of the state's Republican Party to ban anyone who's not a party member from voting in its primaries. The…
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