Lawmakers question state ed board on evaluations training plan

Legislative budget-writers this morning had a few pointed questions about the state Board of Education’s spending plan, including a $2.5 million training line item stemming from Idaho’s teacher evaluations controversy, reports Idaho EdNews. The $2.5 million would train school administrators in completing teacher evaluations. And that’s “critical” to the success of Idaho’s teacher salary career ladder, state board Executive Director Matt Freeman told the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee.

JFAC is working its way through 2017-18 education budget requests all week, writes EdNews reporter Kevin Richert. On Thursday, state superintendent Sherri Ybarra is scheduled to present her budget request. Ybarra and Gov. Butch Otter both want to fund the third year of the five-year career ladder , which would provide another $62 million for teacher pay raises.

However, Otter and some key legislators have tied the fate of career ladder funding to an improved evaluations process; teachers would only move up the career ladder if they have positive evaluations. You can read Richert’s full report here .