History Of Defeat Can’t Stop Fox Schools Chief Armed With New Proposals On Sales Tax Hike, School Accountability

Idaho Schools Superintendent Anne Fox doesn’t cringe when lawmakers hint her key education bills are doomed, because she believes they would make Idaho schools No. 1 in the nation.

“I don’t get discouraged,” Fox said when discussing the chances of her proposals making their way into law. “I’ll get criticized. But I know, in my heart and my mind, what works.”

Asking Idaho’s 112 school districts to build a solid educational foundation is her strategy.

Fox’s school accountability act, which would require school districts with chronically low academic and financial achievement to write improvement plans and inform the community of their progress, is part of this effort.

A one-half percent state sales tax increase to pay for school facility needs, and two measures that would ensure a sound education in phonics are Fox’s other priorities.

Their chances may be bleak, but defeat isn’t new to Fox.

For two years, lawmakers have killed an attempt to raise the state sales tax. After working with local districts to smooth the rough edges, Fox plans to write a revised bill that would raise $60 million for construction of schools, portable classrooms and property for future buildings.

The new version would give one-third of every dollar collected back to local school districts for use in paying off existing bond debts. Fox said this would guarantee property tax relief to some districts struggling with debt.

Even with this new addition, Fox admits the bill is likely to die.

“I don’t think the Legislature wants to raise any taxes or even address this issue,” she said.

Passage of the accountability act seems more likely, Fox said.

The Department of Education has no authority when school districts fall below academic or financial standards, which hurts students and taxpayers, Fox said. Demanding that deficient districts declare their shortcomings will help the department work to fix the problem, Fox said.

The Bonner County School District had been in financial shambles for seven years when the department stepped in last spring to help remedy the problem, Fox said.

“They were accountable to the problem and found out what could be done to help the district,” she said.

The bill doesn’t rip local control from the districts, Fox said, emphasizing the idea is to help schools recognize and solve their problems.

Sen. Gary Schroeder, Senate Education chairman, said Fox is stealing the idea from the federal Goals 2000 grant program - a proposal Fox opposed several years ago, calling it an attempt by the federal government to control what was being taught.

Fox argues the plan has no resemblance to Goals 2000 and that it is a way to make schools accountable to the public and the school board.

Schroeder, R-Moscow, has a shaky relationship with the Education Department and said his committee probably won’t debate Fox’s bill.

He does intend to conduct an informational hearing on the idea of making school administrators, such as district superintendents, accountable to their schools.

House Education Chairman Fred Tilman, R-Boise, said his committee is happy to debate the department’s bills. Tilman said he expects Fox’s phonics measures to spark interesting discussions.

One bill would require all kindergarten and first-grade teachers to teach 45 minutes of systematic phonics each day. The other measure would require all Idaho higher education programs to offer undergraduates a three-credit course in the use of phonics for reading instruction.

The teaching of systematic phonics, the process of teaching all the sounds of each letter in the alphabet, combined with other methods, ensures a balanced reading program, Fox said.

“It’s simply a piece of the whole process,” Fox said. “It’ll save a tremendous amount of money in remedial costs if kids have really good reading teachers to start with.”

Tilman warns that both bills should provide a clear definition of phonics and an explanation of how the theory helps students. He questioned why the department wants to make these mandates law instead of guidelines.

Tilman added that the committee can’t have a complete debate on the phonics bills until it hears the results of a survey conducted by a special committee on reading, which was formed to study methods such as phonics.

The group is scheduled to review its findings with both the Senate and House Education panels later this month.

, DataTimes MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: FUNDING PLAN Schools superintendent Anne Fox wants to raise the state sales tax by one-half percent to pay for school facility needs. Her plan would would raise $60 million for construction of schools, portable classrooms and property for future buildings. One-third of every dollar collected would be given back to local school districts for use in paying off existing bond debts.