Bayer: ‘A very important threshold’

Rep. Cliff Bayer, R-Boise, has proposed an alternative motion for the teachers division, this one to set the minimum starting teacher salary at $30,000, rather than $29,655. It’s now $30,915. The change means overall base salary reductions for teachers have to be bumped up to 4.37 percent instead of 4 percent. “I understand it has an implication to the base adjustment for other teachers,” Bayer said. “This sets a threshold. … We have a constant need to recruit new teachers into the classroom. I just think this is a very important threshold at $30,000 that I would prefer not to go under.” He noted that his alternative proposal is a “shuffling” of the money.

Bayer also spoke out for taking an additional $3 million from discretionary funding to school districts next year to fully cover possible costs for an early teacher retirement incentive program. There is $1 million in the base budget for that; remaining amounts come from the Public Education Stabilization Fund. Bayer said he worries about the state of that fund.

Sen. Joyce Broadsword, R-Sagle, spoke out for the original motion from Hammond, instead of Bayer’s alternative. “We have a lot of good, hard-working dedicated teachers in the state of Idaho, and we are very fortunate that they are willing to give and give and give,” Broadsword said. “And while I agree that we should attract new bright minds, I can’t see letting the great ones we have in the classroom … suffer any more than they need to. So I’ll be supporting the original motion.”

Rep. Wendy Jaquet, D-Ketchum, said school districts are pleading for flexibility, and Bayer’s proposal reduces it by cutting into discretionary funds. Hammond noted that school districts decide how much to pay teachers; JFAC’s decisions just fund a pool of funding. “I am very comfortable that we will not see increases in class size,” Hammond said. He said “the whole point” of the budget plan this year is to try not to cut teachers’ jobs - and to cut pay instead, while giving school districts maximum flexibility with what money they get. Rep. Shirley Ringo, D-Moscow, said, “I think that we are making a good effort to give the districts flexibility,” but said the bottom line is down so far that some districts will have to cut teachers. Every district will be affected differently, she said.