The bare knuckles are out as Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Luna, Gov. Butch Otter and their allies in the Legislature press for quick passage of Senate Bill 1184, which attempts to revive the dead K-12 technology mandate bill, S.B. 1113.

Senate Education Committee Chairman John Goedde, R-Coeur d'Alene, led weeks of negotiations to craft a bill, "son of S.B. 1113," that could pass the Senate. The new measure was introduced Friday.

In a email late Friday, Idaho School Boards Association Executive Director Karen Karen Echeverria tells trustees "consequences" of defeating the bill could include forced consolidation of Idaho's 115 schools districts, lost funding for math and science and additional cuts for the state-run Idaho Digital Learning Academy.

Writes Echeverria: "As you can imagine we have been working with legislators and the Governor’s staff non-stop since we received a copy of the legislation this morning. There are many legislators and others who are supportive of the bill. While we are not trying to change your opinion of the bill or discourage you from taking any action you feel is necessary, we want you to know that we have been warned that school districts will face some consequences should we work to kill this bill. Some of the likely consequences are as follows:

· Loss of the 99% protection (we were able to negotiate an agreement where school districts would receive half of the original 99% and hoped to see that as a trailer bill early next week)

· Loss of funding for increased math and science requirements

· Loss of the relief for use-it-or-lose it

· Additional decreases in funding for IDLA

· Forced consolidation of school districts"

The entire email follows:

Trustees – As we all suspected, and has been widely reported in the media, the new reform and technology bill has been printed. Unfortunately, in order to cover everything, this will be another one of those really long emails.

First of all, we will NOT be sending a survey as we had originally thought we would. Instead, we are going to make several suggestions for you and then ask that you/your board contact your local region chair with your thoughts. I will provide their emails below. The Government Affairs Committee (GAC) will be meeting again on Monday at 1:30 to make a final decision on how to proceed, so your input this weekend is imperative. Right now, we have been informed that the Senate Education Committee will not be taking any public testimony. They will allow all stakeholders five (5) minutes each to testify on Tuesday afternoon. With this email this evening, I want to do several things:

· Provide a link to the actual bill and attach a document that outlines the five-year funding strategy

· Provide a synopsis of the five-year funding strategy

· Provide a synopsis of the bill

· Explain what we have been told the consequences will be should we oppose the bill

· Discuss some steps that each of you might want to take

· Provide email addresses for the Region Chairs

Link to the Bill:

http://www.legislature.idaho.gov/legislation/2011/S1184.htm

Synopsis of the Five-Year Funding Strategy:

There are several new line items in the budget as well as four items that will fund the plan. Please understand that this is NOT the entire K12 budget but only how this bill will be managed and funded. As you can see from the attached document, some of the line item amounts vary from year to year while others remain constant so I will only outline below what those elements are. You will need to review the document in order to determine the amounts in each line item. I will note that the bulk of the necessary costs are related to Pay for Performance while the bulk of the funding comes from an “adjustment” to salary based apportionment (the teacher funding grid).

What is NOT funded:

· $35,000,000 hole created by the use of one-time monies from last year

· Restore state maintenance funds

· Increase the base/minimum salary

Elements/Costs:

· Laptops for high school teachers and students

· Laptop maintenance, repair, and support

· Teacher professional development and curriculum integration

· School technology upgrades

· Bring salary grid back to current (not a new line item in the K12 budget but included here)

· Increase minimum salary to $30,000

· Increased math and science requirements

· Senior year dual credit for early graduates

· Pay for Performance (Majority of the costs are in the line item)

How is all of this funded?

While many of the funds are forwarded to school districts with flexibility at that level, they still must be used on technology and pay for performance. The reductions are as follows:

· Adjusting (reducing) the salary-based apportionment (Majority of the savings are in this line item)

· Reducing funding to IDLA

· Eliminating the 99% protection

· Funding the seven “least efficient counties” as if they were consolidated. They are Shoshone, Payette, Canyon, Gooding, Twin Falls, Lincoln, and Bingham counties

Synopsis of the Legislation:

· Section 33-135 – The State Department of Education will post a fiscal report card on their website.

· Section 33-357 – Each school district/charter school will post their annual budget and current master agreement on their webpage

· Section 33-1002 – Allows for funding of dual credit courses, increased match and science requirements, severance payments for teachers who are let go in the fall, mobile computing devices, teaching training/professional development, and pay for performance.

· Section 33-1002A – A new section that institutes fractional ADA. This is the section that creates the payment formula for online education providers.

· Section 33-1004 – Provides relief on the use-it-or-lose it provision. Maxes out at 10% in FY14 and thereafter

· Section 33-1004A – Unfreezes the teacher salary grid

· Section 33-1004E – Creates the percentages by which the salary based apportionment is adjusted each fiscal year

· Section 33-1004F – Removes the early retirement provision for teachers

· Section 33-1020 – Changes the manner in which IDLA is funded

· Section 33-1021 – Provides a funding formula for increased math and science requirements

· Section 33-1022 – Sets out the mechanisms and percentages for how technology funds will be distributed; sets out the membership of the technology task force and their requirements

· Section 33-1626 – Sets out requirements for dual credit early completers

· Section 33-1627 – Sets out the requirements for mobile computing devices and teacher training

· Section 33-5216 – Allows postsecondary institutions to authorize public charter schools

Consequences:

As you can imagine we have been working with legislators and the Governor’s staff non-stop since we received a copy of the legislation this morning. There are many legislators and others who are supportive of the bill. While we are not trying to change your opinion of the bill or discourage you from taking any action you feel is necessary, we want you to know that we have been warned that school districts will face some consequences should we work to kill this bill. Some of the likely consequences are as follows:

· Loss of the 99% protection (we were able to negotiate an agreement where school districts would receive half of the original 99% and hoped to see that as a trailer bill early next week)

· Loss of funding for increased math and science requirements

· Loss of the relief for use-it-or-lose it

· Additional decreases in funding for IDLA

· Forced consolidation of school districts

So What Should We Do?

Timing is an issue on many fronts. As noted above, this legislation will move quickly. Therefore, we encourage you to do the same:

· Contact us if you have more questions

· Discuss the legislation with your superintendent, administrators, and fellow board members

· Contact your local legislators and express your opinion on the legislation. Here is a link to all legislator email addresses:

http://legislature.idaho.gov/howtocontactlegislators.htm

· Mobilize your local parent group

· Email your ISBA Region Chair and tell them what action you think ISBA should take

Region Chair Names and Email Addresses

Note: - Region 2 and Region 7 will need to contact Vice Chairs whose email addresses are included below:

Region 1 – Larry Brown – 2brownz@gmail.com

Region 2 – John Menter – jmenter@tds.net

Region 3 – Jackie Hopper – jhopper@caldwellschools.org

Region 4 – Todd Wells – tgwells@filertel.com

Region 5 – Susan Fletcher – sueflet29@msn.com

Region 6 – Nancy Arnold – arnonanc@silverstar.com

Region 7 – Deb Foster – fosterdrill@centurytel.net

Region 8 – Barb Dixon – bada2@cwomc.com

Again, I know this email is long and complicated. I appreciate the time you have taken to dig through it all. I encourage you again to contact your region chairs with your thoughts so they can speak on your behalf at the GAC meeting on Monday. I also encourage you to contact your legislator this weekend while they are back home. I know I have told you many times but you are the strongest resource we have, especially in times like these. In the mean time, we will continue to do what we can from our end.

I hope you have a good weekend. Thanks, Karen

Karen L. Echeverria

Executive Director

Idaho School Boards Association