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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

State schools budget may come up short

Betsy Z. Russell Staff writer

BOISE – Legislative budget writers on Monday set a public schools budget that would force districts to choose between buying new computers and helping kids who can’t pass a graduation test.

“They’re asking the schools to spend the same dollar two times,” complained state Superintendent of Public Instruction Marilyn Howard.

Howard wanted an 8 percent budget increase to $1.04 billion for Idaho’s public school system next year, but the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee set the budget at $987 million – well below Gov. Dirk Kempthorne’s $999 million recommendation. The budget plan would give schools a 2.3 percent funding increase.

Howard, a Democrat, had pushed for a $5 million-plus investment in remediation, to help students who can’t pass the Idaho Standards Achievement Test get up to speed. Instead of funding that request, the budget panel designated a $5.1 million technology fund to go for either technology or remediation.

That means school districts could decide whether to use the money to invest in computer equipment or to spend it tutoring students who lag on the ISAT.

“This allows for a local interpretation of where the needs are,” said Rep. Scott Bedke, R-Oakley, who proposed the successful budget bill. “There are school districts out there that are better set up on the technology front – this would allow them to address remediation.”

Democrats on the budget committee bemoaned the move, but were repeatedly outvoted on party-line votes.

The budget bill also included one other of Howard’s requests, doubling the $450,000 funding for the Idaho Digital Learning Academy to $900,000. But the lawmakers added a new condition – the learning academy, which provides online high school courses to students in small districts that lack course offerings, would have to make remediation its top priority.

“At this point, we’re sacrificing our able students to decreased budgets,” Howard said. “Remediation by technology is not the answer for students who struggle. It might be an answer for students who are lacking the motivation … but not for students who really are needing the teacher’s touch.”

Even the Democrats on the committee didn’t support Howard’s proposal to spend $800,000 next year to pay college entrance exam fees for students and train more teachers for advanced placement courses, which she touted as a way to get more Idaho students to attend college.

However, the Democrats mounted a last-ditch attempt to save a mentoring program for new teachers. It was set up by state law in 2001 but hasn’t been funded in the past two years. This year, there’s a move on to repeal the law because the program hasn’t been funded.

Sen. Shawn Keough, R-Sandpoint, warned against the Democrats’ move, saying the policy decision about whether to have a mentoring program should be left to the Education Committee, where it’s being debated.

But Sen. Bert Marley, a McCammon Democrat who is a teacher, said, “If we funded this, I think the policy issue that’s currently in play will go away.”

Some education officials have backed repealing the mentoring law, saying they like the concept, but not having an unfunded law on the books.

Senate Finance Chairman Dean Cameron, R-Rupert, said, “We acknowledge that mentoring new people is an important issue. The question that’s before us is whether or not individuals need to be paid to provide that mentoring service.”

Rep. Shirley Ringo, D-Moscow, and a retired teacher, said the program didn’t just pay teachers to serve as mentors. Often, she said, an experienced teacher would spend time observing a new teacher in the classroom to provide tips, and the money would pay for a substitute for the experienced teacher’s class.

But Sen. Mel Richardson, R-Idaho Falls, said, “I talked to teachers who said everybody was mentoring in the old days, but once one person was paid, everyone else didn’t want to do it. … We had more mentoring being done for free.”

The panel also split mostly along party lines on funding for a new bond levy equalization program enacted by lawmakers two years ago. The measure was intended to help subsidize interest costs for districts that pass school construction bonds, to encourage them to replace deteriorating schoolhouses, but so far, the budget committee has simply shifted funds for it from the state lottery money schools already were getting for maintenance.

Democrats pushed for additional money on top of the lottery funds, but the panel’s GOP majority refused.

“Every year we rob Peter to pay Paul,” said Sen. Elliot Werk, D-Boise. “What we do when we do that is decrease the amount of maintenance we’re doing on buildings, so those buildings will end up in poor condition.”

The panel did approve a proposal from Rep. Margaret Henbest, D-Boise, allowing school districts to use money they get for the Safe and Drug-Free Schools Program to pay community resource workers, rather than for drug programs, if they choose. Those workers, who previously were state-funded, help refer troubled families to services in the community.

Rep. Dick Harwood, R-St. Maries, who voted for the successful budget bills, said after the meeting, “I would’ve preferred to see it a little bit more, but it just isn’t there.”

Still left unresolved was whether teachers will receive a pay increase next year. The budget panel deferred that decision, just as it has delayed a decision on whether to give state employees a 1 percent raise next year.

The budget bill needs approval from the full House and Senate and the governor to become law. By itself, the public school budget makes up nearly half of Idaho’s $2 billion general tax budget.