BOISE, Idaho — After 108 days of meetings, Idaho lawmakers are considering a variety of education bills. It's sometimes easy to lose track of just what's still in play during the waning days of the 2009 Legislature.
Here's a primer on some of the latest action on public schools, a topic some say has been relegated to a political sidelight as leaders in the House and Senate and Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter fight over their gas-tax impasse.
"Education has become a pawn on the chess board," Sen. Diane Bilyeu, D-Pocatello, lamented. "It's just appalling."
Bills that had cleared both houses by Wednesday include:
- HB 256, which, when originally passed the House last month aimed to cut $4.2 million from public school transportation costs by eliminating money for academic field trip bus rides and by changing the formula urban school districts, such as Boise, use to be reimbursed by the state.
The bill was amended in the Senate to restore the field trip money, and budget writers this week approved shifting $4.2 million from textbooks to cover those costs.
Instead of the Boise district giving up money, auditors from public schools chief Tom Luna's office will ride school buses in the city this spring, to recommend ways the district can save money.
Otter hasn't signed the measure.
- HB 262 first sought to phase out over two years an incentive for teachers to retire early and free up jobs for younger, less-expensive teachers. It costs about $4 million a year to pay some 200 teachers who take early retirement with an average lump sum bonus of $18,000.
The bill also froze raises for teachers based on experience for a year, saving the state about $6 million in fiscal year 2010, which starts July 1. The experience pay freeze was preserved when the bill reached the Senate, but the plan to dump the early retirement incentive was cut.
Otter has not signed that measure, either. On Wednesday afternoon, the House Ways and Means Committee — a powerful committee that includes three House GOP leaders and meets at the House speaker's discretion — introduced a new bill to restore the phase-out. Tuesday, the House Education Committee had introduced a bill that would have retroactively eliminated the program.
Several education bills await action in the House or the Senate:
- HB 303 aimed to promote Internet education by dumping some "use it or lose it" rules governing state funding of teacher positions. When it passed the House on April 14, the measure would let districts shift 5 percent of their instructional funding to defray costs of virtual education, without threat of losing the money.
The Senate amended the bill to end such shifts after two years, after complaints that it made radical changes in schools without evidence that increased Internet courses benefit kids.
The bill remains on the Senate's amending calendar. Some senators want to allow some school districts to shift a total of $9.9 million from their maintenance funds to other programs, including buying supplies, as state funding shrinks during the recession.
The delay of the bill in the Senate prompted the emergence of HB 339, approved by the House Education Committee earlier this week. It also allows some school districts to shift a portion of their maintenance funds, but conflicts with changes the Senate made in the other education bills. For instance, it includes Luna's plan to do away with the early retirement program the Senate had restored in HB 262.
"Show me where else in state government where we offer employees an early retirement bonus," Luna said.
It also would allow districts to shift 5 percent of teacher funding to Internet courses, without the two-year sunset period the Senate added to HB 303.
Lobbyists for school districts, administrators and teachers - and some lawmakers - are scratching their heads about how the measures fit in when the Legislature is dominated by debate over Otter's transportation plan. Sen. Gary Schroeder, R-Moscow and a Senate education panel member, thinks the bills will be resolved quickly, once a roads deal is reached.
"It's just a distraction," Schroeder said Wednesday. "All these are interesting, but transportation is the big issue."
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