For those who haven't been following this story, and may have just read Joan McCarter's front page piece, this should provide you with better insight into what's really at stake in in Idaho's "Student's Come First" education reform package. Tom Luna is the State Superintendant of Education, having just been re-elected after running on a platform of how well the State's educational programs were doing, and how good Idaho's educational system is. He ran against Stan Olson, former Superintendant of the Boise School District, Idaho's largest school district. Of 6 Idaho high schools ranked in the top 1500 by Newsweek, 4 are in the BSD. Dr. Olson repeatedly asked, throughout the campaign and during the televised debates, "where is the educational reform plan?" Mr. Luna continually insisted he had no such plan; none was needed, he was doing a good job as Superintendant, and our schools were never better.
Two months after the election, Mr. Luna released his plan to reform Idaho's woefully inadequate education system, eventually acknowledging that he had put the plan together "in November." With the Governor. Without consulting with the Idaho Education Association, or local school districts, or any other stakeholders.
You can review the entire plan at the Idaho Dept. of Ed. website. There are three separate bills, and almost all of the public attention has been paid to the third bill, SB 1113, which would replace eight (reduced to four) in-person course requirements with online courses, for all high school students, and provide laptops to all high school students in order for them to comply with the online learning requirement. Of course, to be able to afford this, the plan would end up increasing class sizes and reducing the number of teachers.
But that's the window dressing. That's the part they expect to be defeated, so they can get the other two bills to pass. You think SB 1113 is rife with cronyism for Luna's friends, don't like the online learning provisions? Fine, don't pass that part, but you can still pass the rest, right?
You see, in my view, the really insidious part of the plan is contained in the other two bills, the "Labor and Entitlements" bill and the "Pay for Performance" bill. They are about what you'd expect. Elimination of seniority, elimination of renewable contracts (read: no job security or "tenure," even though we don't have tenure), standardized tests as the measurement of a student's "progress," etc. All pretty nasty stuff, supposedly made more palatable by the inclusion of a "grandfather" clause for existing contracts.
Unless there is a "financial emergency," in which case even grandfathered contracts, i.e., those teachers who have a renewable contract now, can be terminated without any due process. Their contracts can just be voided, without any consequence. The bills even forbid monetary damages in such event.
Further, the bills restrict the ability of the education association to negotiate. Henceforth, they will only be allowed to negotiate over "compensation." School Boards will be forbidden by law from negotiating any other terms with the state or local teachers' union. That means no negotiations regarding academic standards, testing procedures, classroom size, transfer policies, textbooks, controversial subjects ("intelligent design," evolution, climate change), academic freedom, you name it, all the things that give teachers input and expertise into the curriculum, can no longer be the subject of negotiations, by law. Your local school board controlled by Tea Party Fundies wants to teach that African Americans fought on the side of the Confederacy, that there's no such thing as evolution, that dinosaurs and humans lived together in the garden of eden . . . if you don't like it, tough shit, they don't even have to listen to your protestations. Or renew your contract.
Another aspect of the bills is the very short timelines in which education associations have to respond to requests for compensation negotiations. Each year, the local Board will request negotiations in May, and, each year, by a particular date in July, the association will have to demonstrate that they represent "a majority" of the teachers, or the local Board will have no obligation whatsoever to negotiate with the association, and may set compensation "as they see fit," again with no recourse, appeal process, or whatever. And the deadline is set in stone. The local Board can't extend the deadline, even if they want to (that means you, Boise School District!).
Nowhere is "compensation" defined. Does that mean that pensions, health insurance, other benefits are included, or not? Nor is there a particular method of "proof" that an association must provide to the Board. What if the local Board decides not to accept the "proof" offered? There is no consequence, and no accountability, for bad faith actions by the Board; remember, monetary damages are outlawed, so if your local Board rejects your association's "proof," and sets your compensation as the deem fit, ignoring your "grandfathered" contract because its a "fiscal emergency," cuts your salary in half, eliminates your health insurance, and strips your pension, what will your remedy be? Anyone? Anyone? Buehler?
Luna has argued that this is all about the budget, that this is how we "save" Idaho's educational system in the face of massive budget cuts; but it doesn't work unless they eliminate hundreds of teachers outright, immediately.
Rory Jones, a member of the Boise School District, pointed out at one of the rallies opposing this legislation that the Idaho Department of Education increases its own budget exponentially over the course of five years. It's right there, on the website (in pdf, see link above.) Where is that money going to come from?
Well, they're going to change the formula for how schools and Districts are allocated funds: Again, Boise School District, we're looking at you. Under the new formula, the BSD will lose millions in state funds, and the taxpayers of Boise will be subsidizing the rest of the state's schools to an even greater degree than we do now (Egads! Quick, to the Anti-Socialism-Mobile, Tea Party Man!). How will the BSD make up the short fall?
Can you say "local property tax levy?" In effect, Luna's plan is to reallocate Boisean's money to his department, and centralize control over state funding, and raise taxes on Boisean's, without having to take responsibility for it. And the Idaho Education Association, by law, may not negotiate over how funding is allocated.
And the worst part? It's practically a done deal. The Education Association called for a "walk-out" next week; but the teachers themselves refused to do so, concerned about the public relations problem. (We went to McDonalds the other night, and heard a mother tell her children that if the teachers walked out, it just showed that they cared more about money than about their students.) So now it's just going to be a "day of action." Making phone calls to right-wingers who've already got they're mind made up, and who, in many cases, aren't even pretending to care (you shoulda heard Julie Ellsworth at her "forum" for District 18 - she only won by 9 votes, but acts like its a mandate). Whoopdee.
Okay, maybe I'm being too negative, but I went to the debate in the Senate at the Statehouse last week, and I just don't see anything stopping this juggernaut, short of an outright revolt. A few student walk-outs, yeah it got some attention. Gave Tom Luna the opportunity to go on local news and tell everybody how the students were wrong, didn't really understand the legislation, and were being mindwashed by their "union thug" teachers.
Sorry about the attitude folks, but this HURTS. My mother gave 30+ years to the BSD, my sister's pushing twenty years in the BSD, my wife, a special education teacher whom I get to watch lose her mind a few times a year just trying to get her paperwork done in time to be in compliance with state law, has put 13 years into the BSD (see below), my sister, myself, my neices, my own kids, all got our education (or are getting it) through the BSD, and I know how hard both the union and the District have worked, together, for decades, to build up this District. Education is BIG in this blue island in the red ocean - ever heard of Boise State University? (Go Bronco Nation!)
This is part of what makes it so personal:
That's one of my wife's students, speaking at a rally to protest proposed cuts to Medicaid; she taught Elizabeth from Kindergarten through sixth grade.
And now this "Luna-tic" is trying to destroy it, as his stepping-stone to the governor's mansion. I really hope the legislature is paying attention, but I sincerely doubt it.