Educators ask lawmakers to help improve schools

Schools can’t really control the negative impacts poverty, inadequate parenting or too much TV can have a child’s test scores, Becky Ford told parents, legislators and educators gathered Wednesday evening for a meeting at River City Middle School. But the assistant superintendent from Post Falls said there are some definite ways Idaho schools can help students achieve more – with the support of lawmakers.

Ford called on North Idaho legislators, many of whom were present at Wednesday’s legislative reception, to help schools recruit and retain “the most highly qualified teachers.” Having such teachers is one of the mandates schools have been given under the federal education law, No Child Left Behind, but Ford said the state’s salary index makes it hard for schools to recruit retirees or people coming out of one profession into a second career as a teacher.

An engineer or architect who returns to college to get a bachelor’s degree in education could only earn $27,500 as a first-year teacher, Ford said. A master’s degree in education, would mean only a slight boost in pay, Ford said.

Educators at the reception – sponsored by the group Supporters of Public Education and Kids – asked North Idaho legislators to support adequate funding for education and to proceed with caution on the issue of merit pay.

Newly appointed Senate Education Chair John Goedde, R-Coeur d’Alene, listened as Coeur d’Alene teacher Nancy Larsen shared her wish list for considerations if a merit pay system were proposed. Goedde sits on a statewide committee that is looking into the issue, also described as bonus pay for teachers, or pay for performance.

Larsen, Idaho’s 2000 Teacher of the Year, said teachers should be receiving adequate pay before there’s talk of adding bonus pay.

“First of all, you have to compensate teachers well in order for a bonus system to work,” she said. “You have to have a good, solid base first.”

Larsen said a merit pay system would have to involve all constituents in a school or district, and that everyone would need to participate in crafting a system. She said teachers need to have clear expectations and targets to be held accountable. Funding for a merit pay program shouldn’t place additional strain on Idaho’s school districts, she said.

“Education funds are limited in Idaho. Everywhere,” Larsen said.

Goedde told Larsen she was missing one thing on her wish list. He said many teachers have expressed concern over objectivity. They want to know the people who would evaluate them for bonus pay would be fair.

He said the Legislature might not take action on the merit pay issue this session, but that a pilot system might be in some schools or districts as early as next fall.

Goedde said he supports the idea of pay for performance. He added that there is an increasing demand nationally for accountability, and that several states are looking for ways to hold schools more accountable.

“I don’t have any idea how many bad teachers there are, but parents and students involved with bad teachers have a bad taste in their mouth for the rest of their lives,” Goedde said. “It reflects on the good teachers.”

He said he views merit pay as an “opportunity to reward good teachers.”

Business managers from Kootenai County’s three largest school districts discussed some of the financial issues districts are facing. They asked the legislators to reconsider the caps that lawmakers placed on the salary index for teachers and on property tax replacement funds.

Coeur d’Alene’s Steve Briggs said the property tax replacement funds helped relieve some of the pressure school funding puts on local taxpayers. If the cap were removed, Briggs said the Coeur d’Alene district could receive up to an additional $800,000 because of increasing property values.

He said the cap has forced school districts to rely on local supplemental levies to make up for the lost funding.

Coeur d’Alene Superintendent Harry Amend told legislators that North Idaho’s educators consider themselves part of the lawmakers’ team. He urged legislators to call if they have questions or want data or figures.

“We know the difference it makes when you’re able to stand up with something that’s fresh from your home school district,” Amend said.