House and Senate Hold Brief Pre-Easter Holiday Meetings

The House of Representatives met for about 45 minutes before breaking for the Easter holiday. During their brief morning meeting, House members concurred with the amendments the Senate made to HB 206, HB 221, and HB 259. These bills will now make their way to the Governor for his signature.

The House has completed their work on all education-related bills. The only outstanding education issue from the House is the FY 14 Public Schools appropriations bill. However, no committee meetings were held or announced for Monday, signaling there is still disagreement among lawmakers on what should and should not be included in the FY 14 Public Schools budget.

During their hour long Friday morning meeting, members of the Senate completed work on several education-related bills important to the IEA.

Senators unanimously approved HB 65; thereby assuring local school districts will be kept whole for the remainder of this fiscal year. That bill will now move to Governor Otter’s desk for his signature.

SB 1040a, the bill amended earlier this week to replace SB 1148, was approved by the full Senate by a vote of 21-14. Immediately following the approval of that bill, Senate Education Chair John Goedde (R-CDA) made a request to pull HB 260 back to committee. Typically, when a bill is moved back to committee the legislation is dead for the remainder of the session. We believe this is the case for HB 260. Assuming no other procedural maneuvers change the situation, local associations will not be required to complete bargaining by June 10 or face certain school board imposition of the terms and conditions of the contract for the coming year.

Today’s Senate action significantly reduced the number of education-related bills on their agenda. HB 317 and the FY ’14 Public Schools funding bill must be addressed before the end of the session.

Both the House and Senate will reconvene at 1:30 PM on Monday, April 1st.

The following chart identifies some of the bills the IEA has been working on this session.

BILL #	TOPIC	WHERE IS IT?	WHAT DOES IT DO?	IEA POSITION
HB 65	FY 13 Public School Funding	Governor’s Desk	Makes one-year-only changes to Idaho Code and allows districts to meet their FY13 contractual obligations. Under this legislation, districts would receive all expected funds, based on the FY13 original appropriation. The budgeted amounts that had been allocated for mobile computing devices have been re-allocated to additional professional development for public school educators.	SUPPORT
HB 163	Teacher Contracts	LAW	Allows districts to deliver individual contracts to teachers via email. In the event the teacher does not respond to the email within a specific time period, the district would be required to follow up via certified mail.	SUPPORT
HB 205	Education Steps	Governor’s Desk	Reinstates the two years of movement on the salary grid, assuring school districts receive the necessary $4 million to fully fund education movement on the salary grid for those teachers who have earned college credits over the past few years but who’ve been either unable to move on their local salary schedule or who’ve gone unpaid for that additional education, due to legislative decisions to freeze these payments to school districts.	SUPPORT
HB 206a	Charter Schools	Governor’s Desk	Siphons money from the K-12 public school funding for charter schools to offset the costs of purchasing, leasing, or repairing their current facilities. The bill even assures that virtual charter schools will be reimbursed for 50% of their actual building costs.	OPPOSE
HB 221a	Charter Schools	Governor’s Desk	Would allow any Idaho college and university—both public and private non-sectarian—to become chartering entities. Amended to remove 501C (3) organizations as charter authorizers.	OPPOSE
HB 225	Education Support Units	Governor’s Desk	Reestablishes the self-funded 97% ADA funding protection for school districts.	SUPPORT
HB 259a	Involuntary Leave	Governor’s Desk	Requires that if a district puts an employee on involuntary paid administrative leave, the district will have 60 days to investigate the matter. It also allows the district to stop paying the salary and benefits of any employee if a court order prevents the employee from carrying out his or her contractual duties. Amended to require an escrow account for employees on unpaid leave.	OPPOSE
HB 260	Negotiations	Senate Ed Committee	Requires all negotiations to be completed by June 10 of each year. If bargaining has not concluded, the district shall impose its last, best offer. It also allows either party to call for mediation, as long as the mediation is completed before June 10th. *SUNSETS July 1, 2014*	OPPOSE
HB 261	RIF	Governor’s Desk	Requires RIF decisions be made by the local school board and encourages the board to adopt a policy establishing how to recall individuals who were subject of a RIF. *SUNSETS July 1, 2014*	SUPPORT
HB 275	Use it or Lose it	Governor’s Desk	Allows districts use it or lose it flexibility of 9.5% in staffing teaching positions without a reduction in funding.	NO POSITION
HB 286	Tuition Tax Credit	FAILEDin Senate Local Gov’t/Tax Committee	Provides a credit on state income taxes to individuals and corporations that make donates to scholarship granting organizations (SGO’s) that provide scholarships to qualified K-12 students attending approved schools.	OPPOSE
HB 317	Teacher Evaluations	Senate 3rd Reading Calendar	Clarifies that all certificated employees must receive at least one written performance evaluation each year. In the case of instructional staff the evaluation must include at least two documented observations.	SUPPORT
HB 323	Public Schools Budget	FAILEDin Senate	This is the fiscal year 2014 appropriation for the Public Schools Educational Support program in the amount of $1,598,156,500. This appropriation includes a 2.2% increase in General Funds and a 2.0% increase in overall funds. This appropriation also provides growth at 33 additional supportunits above the Base; unfreezes the two remaining years on salary grid; increases the minimum teacher salary from $30,500 to $31,000; increases discretionary funds by 1.5% up to $20,000 per support unit; provides $21,000,000 in achievement awards and professional development; provides $13,400,000 for classroom technology, professional development; and technology pilot projects; returns $6,517,500 to facilities maintenance; and provides for other statutory and non-statutory distributions.	SUPPORT
HB 325	Teacher Salary flexibility	FAILEDin Senate Ed Committee	Requires that the 1.67% in salary-based apportionment funds rather than being returned to the salary grid must first be used to replace teachers and replace furlough days using 2011 as a baseline.	OPPOSE
SB 1027	Scholarships	LAW	Reorganized various state scholarship programs. It eliminated the student education incentive loan forgiveness program.	NO POSITION
SB 1040a	Teacher Contracts	Governor’s Desk	This bill was amended to reintroduce SB 1148, giving the local school board sole authority to reduce or increase contract days and/or reduce or increase the salary of employees for any reason or no reason whatsoever and further deny an individual due process hearing for affected employees. It also allows, in very limited circumstances and for a limited period of time, districts to lower contract days with or without concurrence through the negotiations process. *SUNSETS July 1, 2014*	OPPOSE
SB 1055	Website Reporting	LAW	Reinstates the requirement that school district budgets and master contracts be posted on the school districts web site	SUPPORT
SB 1089	ERIP	LAW	Repeals the Early Retirement Incentive Program (ERIP) for teachers, a program which has been in place since 1996 and, based on calculations by the IEA, has saved the state nearly $100 million over the past 14 years.	OPPOSE
SB 1091a	Idaho Digital Learning Academy	LAW	Creates a stable, long term funding formula for the Idaho Digital Learning Academy, establishes a portal for online classes, reestablishes the dual credit for the early completers program and makes minor changes to the “8 in 6” program.	NO POSITION
SB 1092	Math and Science Teachers	LAW	Allows for permanent and ongoing funding for math and science teachers.	OPPOSE
SB 1098	Open Negotiations	LAW	Would require all negotiations between the school district and the local association be held in public. The IEA initially developed this legislation as an alternative to a bill introduced by the Idaho School Boards and Idaho School Administrator’s Associations. Since initial introduction of the legislation, all three organizations have come to agreement to support the IEA’s bill.	SUPPORT
SB 1108	Initiative/Referendum	Governor’s Desk	Increases the requirements for qualifying referendum/initiative ballot questions by requiring collection of no less than 6% of registered voters in each of at least 18 Idaho legislative districts, and 6% of all registered Idaho voters.	OPPOSE
SB 1133a	School Security Plans	House 3rd Reading Calendar	Requires county sheriffs and school boards to create, impose, train and measure the effectiveness of individual school security and safety plans. Amended in House to delete all language and replace with language from two House bills re: gun rights.	OPPOSE
SB 1146	Financial Emergency	Governor’s Desk	Would allow qualifying local school districts to reopen the master contract, if their funding is reduced in future years due to state cuts or failed supplemental levies.	SUPPORT
SB 1147a	Master Agreements	Governor’s Desk	Limits all contracts to one year with regard to salaries and benefits; all other portions of the agreement could be extended for no more than two years. Also eliminates Fact Finding. *SUNSETS July 1, 2014*	OPPOSE
SB 1148a	Teacher Contracts	FAILEDin Senate	Gives the local school board sole authority to reduce or increase contract days and/or reduce or increase the salary of employees for any reason or no reason whatsoever and further deny an individual due process hearing for affected employees. *SUNSETS July 1, 2014*	OPPOSE
SB 1149	Negotiations	Governor’s Desk	Requires the local association to prove that they represent 50% + 1 of the professional employees in the district in negotiations, should the district request such information. Also, requires both parties to prove they have ratified the master agreement each year.	OPPOSE
SB 1150	Board Hearings/Court Review	Governor’s Desk	Limits courts from considering new evidence, should a board hearing be challenged in District Court.	OPPOSE

House and Senate Hold Brief Pre-Easter Holiday Meetings

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