Plan would let Idaho teachers trade job security for more pay

BOISE – GOP lawmakers said Tuesday they’ll introduce a plan later this week that would pay Idaho teachers more if they’re willing to give up some of their job security.

Idaho Education Association officials were skeptical. They didn’t participate in drafting a bill that could affect their 12,700 teachers’ livelihoods.

Though specifics weren’t available, House Assistant Majority Leader Scott Bedke, R-Oakley, and Senate President Pro Tem Bob Geddes, R-Soda Springs, told reporters at an event sponsored by the Idaho Press Club that teachers may eventually be able to choose between career tracks: a traditional path that would provide job security but lower financial incentives, and an alternative that could boost teacher’s salaries but make them more accountable to performance-based measures such as student achievement and test scores.

That could make it easier to fire teachers who are missing the mark, Geddes said.

“I’m not saying there’s an overly large number of bad teachers,” he said. “I’m just saying there are a number of teachers who could be replaced. We could do better to empower our school administrators.”

The bill likely won’t get a vote this year, Bedke said, because the session is slated to end March 23.

Under the plan, starting state teacher salaries could rise to around $34,000, from a minimum of $31,000. Top salaries would be more than $50,000, Bedke said.

The most Idaho currently sends districts to pay teachers with the highest level of experience and education is $49,556, though some districts pay more using separate money the state allows them to spend as they please.

If every teacher would sign up for the new plan, it would cost about $70 million more annually, Bedke estimated.

Sherri Wood, president of the Idaho Education Association, said her group would fight any plan that calls for teachers to give up continuing contracts. Those provide educators with at least four years’ experience with job security, including due process, should a district move to end their employment.

In addition, a plan marrying teacher pay to performance measures that are based solely on graduation requirement tests such as the Idaho Standards Achievement Test also would be unacceptable, Wood said.

“When it’s merely based on a test, it’s not a benefit to students who struggle, or to the teachers who work hard to get those students to a better place,” she told the Associated Press, adding states including Minnesota have created incentive programs that have found favor with teachers – by enlisting teachers to help draft them.

Bedke and Geddes haven’t done that in Idaho, she said.

“We’ve said for many years that we would be a player at the table … to come up with a pay-for-performance plan,” Wood said. “If we’re not at the table, we always feel that there’s little buy-in.”

Idaho isn’t alone in wanting to boost teacher performance and classroom results with more compensation.

In addition to Minnesota’s efforts, Alaska school officials have proposed yearly cash bonuses to teachers whose schools meet performance measures. Some Colorado schools also have an incentives-based program.

Rob Winslow, with the Idaho Association of School Administrators, said his members are trying to walk a “middle ground” and hope the plan that emerges will boost teacher pay – without being too frightening for educators concerned for their jobs.

Winslow did say administrators who try to fire poor teachers have been hamstrung by job protections for teachers.

“They (teachers) will get the unions involved, along with lawyers,” Winslow said. “It’s not uncommon for a district to spend $100,000 or $200,000” on litigation when trying to fire a teacher. “Once you hit that ‘continuing contract,’ it can get fairly difficult,” he said. “The legislature is looking for more flexibility.”

Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Luna said through a spokeswoman that he’s aware of the bill, but declined to comment until it’s introduced.