Teacher Pay Hearing Attracts Crowd

There’s a big crowd in the Lincoln Auditorium this morning for the hearing on HB 222 , the teacher career ladder legislation. “What you have before you is I believe a consensus piece of legislation,” House Education Chairman Reed DeMordaunt, R-Eagle, told the House Education Committee, “with something in there for everybody to like and something not to like.” He said, “If you believe as I believe that we need to pay our teachers more, then I would encourage you to support this legislation. This puts us on a path to significantly raise salaries over the next several years. The goal is to make salaries competitive with STEM professions, and I believe we are on a path to do that. However, we also have to be fiscally responsible for our state as well. We are doing what we can afford”/ Betsy Russell , Eye on Boise. More here.

More from Eye on Boise:

• How ‘career ladder’ would move teacher pay
• House Education Committee sounds skeptical
• Testimony: ‘Good balance’ & ‘teachers are going broke’
• Testimony running 4-1 against career ladder, to continue this PM