Teachers mull funding initiative
If the Idaho Legislature won’t put more money into education, the state teachers’ union may take its case for more funding directly to the voters.
The Idaho Education Association is considering an initiative campaign to increase the amount of state support for education, perhaps by dedicating some portion of the sales tax.
The organization plans to survey public opinion during the next six months to gauge the amount of interest, said Gayle Moore, association spokeswoman.
The idea for an initiative – a campaign that would require at least 47,881 valid petition signatures to put the question on the 2006 fall ballot – came out of the organization’s annual meeting last month.
In recent years, teachers have received little or no state funding for salary increases. Some teachers have received individual salary increases, but those raises have mainly been either programmed salary increases or district-sponsored raises given without state support.
That’s because the Legislature has not significantly increased the statewide salary base in several years.
“There are many, many needs of the schools that are not being adequately funded,” said Rep. Steve Smylie, a Boise teacher and Republican who is considering a campaign to be the next state superintendent of public instruction.
Smylie said he is leery of initiatives and considers them a last resort. However, he said an initiative campaign could persuade the Legislature to add back the penny sales tax that is set to expire this summer. The temporary one-cent sales tax that goes away on June 30 will cost the state $180 million in revenue next year.
During the legislative session that ended in April, lawmakers appropriated $987 million to public education for the next fiscal year. Democratic Superintendent of Public Instruction Marilyn Howard initially requested $1 billion.
The average teacher’s salary in Idaho is $41,206, slightly less for elementary teachers, according to data compiled by the Legislative Budget Office. Over the past 10 years, the average teacher’s annual percent salary increase has been about 3.7 percent.
Moore stressed that no decision has been made on how or even whether to proceed with a statewide initiative.
“Our members have basically been telling us that something different has to happen,” said Moore. “We will have a revisiting of the situation in six months with the delegates.”