Breaking legislative news for Idaho educators
IEA Hotline
New Bill Invades Educators’ Privacy
The IEA has just learned about new legislation that invades educators’ privacy and usurps local control. Introduced by Rep. Rich Jarvis (R-Meridian), HB651 has the laudable intention of trying to prevent educators who have performed poorly or engaged in misconduct from being hired in another district.
IEA lobbyists will meet tomorrow with Jarvis and co-sponsor Rep. JoAn Wood (R-Rigby). We will share more information after those discussions. Meanwhile, a cursory examination of the bill reveals that it reaches too far in attempting to solve a problem.
The bill usurps local school district control by mandating that every school district (and other Idaho employers) follow certain extremely onerous and expensive hiring procedures.
The bill would give unprecedented power to a single individual, the Chief Certification Officer of the Professional Standards Commission, to dismiss complaints alleging unethical conduct by teachers or administrators, issue letters of reprimand against such certificate holders, or deny certification to applicants from out of state. Currently, such power, except in certain extremely limited cases, may only be exercised by the Executive Committee of the PSC and the full PSC itself.
The Idaho Attorney General’s Office has opined that the bill may unconstitutionally discriminate (a) against applicants for school district employment, by requiring such applicants (and no other group of applicants for employment) to release confidential information from prior employment, and (b) against out-of-state applicants for employment in Idaho school districts, by allowing the Chief Certification Officer to deny certification when in-state applicants may be entitled to certification under the same circumstances.
The bill conflicts with current Idaho teacher personnel file law, which, with very limited exception, makes the contents of personnel files confidential unless a teacher consents to disclosure.
The bill is unnecessary because it duplicates existing statutory protections for employers who provide job references in good faith.
The bill would require school district job applicants to provide a release to allow prior employers to provide -- and require the applicant’s prior employers to provide -- job performance information without limitation as to time or type of job. As such, old performance information completely unrelated to education would have to be provided.
The bill would mandate in every instance that school district employers (and school district employers only) provide a substantive job reference concerning a school district job applicant upon request, even though locally-adopted school district policy might – for good and sufficient reasons and because of liability concerns – require the school district to only disclose that the employee previously worked for the school district in a certain position for a certain period of time.
Stay tuned for more information.
Crossing the K-12 Rubicon
IEA member Juli Stricklan, a local columnist for the Post-Register in Idaho Falls, also teaches English at Rigby Senior High School in Jefferson County. In her most recent column, Stricklan compared how a family handles its budget with state officials’ decisions. Here are excerpts from her column.
Let’s extend one of the common analogies that our state legislators like to use when describing state budgets. They like to tell us that the state budget should be determined just like in families, that when the income drops into the red, responsible families cut their expenses. This an apt analogy, to a point.
During a rough patch financially, most families will cut spending on “extras,” things like date night or ski trips. If further cuts are needed, they will look at their expenses and prioritize….
But for most families, there is a “no more cuts” line that is unique to that family and their situation. This Rubicon will be different for each situation. Some families are just trying to buy enough groceries each week so that the children can continue to grow and thrive….
A family that is supporting the training of an aspiring and promising gymnast would not cut gymnastic lessons until last....
But most families in a reduced budget scenario will attempt to increase income before cutting vital services. Often, mom has to work either full or part time, in addition to dad, to make the family’s minimum budget work; sometimes one or both of them work multiple jobs. This extra, exhausting effort is usually seen as a temporary sacrifice….When the effort is no longer necessary, the part-time work or second job is gratefully relinquished.
It always kills the sophistication of an analogy to explain it explicitly, but sometimes for clarity’s sake it’s necessary. So: the state of Idaho is the family with the reduced budget situation….
The state family has already had several meetings to decide which extras to cut and how to prioritize the other family needs. Although there are still nickels and dimes out there that could be corralled and used more efficiently, the state is at what should be the Rubicon; it’s not possible to cut any more state services without precipitating future crises.
The question now is: When are the supposed adults in the room going to realize that someone has to bring in more income?
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Trivia Question: What Did the Idaho Legislature Do on This Day in 1931?
The song, "Here We Have Idaho," was adopted as the Idaho state song by the Twenty-first session of the Idaho Legislature on March 11, 1931. Verses by Albert J.Tompkins, Chorus by McKinley Helm, Music by Sallie Hume-Douglas, Arranged by Craig Chernos.Enjoy this post? Share it with others.
School Board Chair Voices Opposition to ISBA Actions
Frustration and anger about the Idaho School Boards Association’s proposed statute changes continues to emerge. Yesterday we shared a letter from the Hansen School District superintendent in which he voiced opposition to ISBA’s efforts to make changes to teacher contract law.
Today another letter of opposition surfaced. Citing destruction of trust among the parties, the chair of the Wendell School District Board of Trustees urged lawmakers to reject the ideas being floated by ISBA. Gay Petersen gave us permission to share the letter with you. Here is a portion of that correspondence:
“As board chairman of the Wendell School District I was surprised to see that our district had been added to a letter by the Idaho School Boards Association concerning the changing of Idaho Code Section 33-515. As far as I know our board was never apprised of this letter, yet it appears that we approved it….
“Doing away with this section of the Idaho Code would take away much of our teachers’ job security. What would be their incentive for getting more credits, for trying to improve their teaching skills – for even staying in the state of Idaho?
“As a former teacher and a present school board chairman I understand both sides of the budget problems we are facing in these troubled times, but whatever we do to keep the budget together I would hope that the fix would be a temporary measure with board, administration and teachers working together. It appears that the change to the Idaho Code as suggested by the Idaho School Boards Association would be a permanent one, destroying the trust all participating negotiators must have. I therefore oppose it.
“I also must take issue with the Idaho School Boards Association’s being so bold as to add our district without our approval!”
These types of messages and the many you and your colleagues are sending may be making an impact. Rumors are circulating that these measures may be in trouble. However, we can’t assume that is the case. Helping legislators understand the problems with the proposed language even before it gets printed may lessen the likelihood that the legislation will move forward.
Please contact your legislators. Tell them that trying to make sweeping changes to a law that has been in place for nearly 40 years, especially in the last few weeks of the legislative session, is neither good policy nor good politics. Urge them to oppose any attempts by ISBA or others to raze teacher contract laws that have worked well for decades.
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