State schools superintendent Tom Luna is an experienced enough politician to try to sidestep a public feud with a fellow Republican, Gov. Butch Otter.
Luna goes out of his way to downplay his differences with Otter, over $19.4 million in teacher pay. Luna wants to put the money back into the salary pool, to offset a 2.38 percent salary cut planned for 2012-13. Otter didn’t budget the $19.4 million.
In a Statesman editorial board meeting last week, Luna couched it as a matter of priorities. “We end up spending the same amount of money.” But Luna wants to backfill the salary pool first, then plug any remaining money into the state’s public schools budget reserves. Otter prefers to put money into savings first.
If it is as simple as Luna wants it to sound, then we’ll side with Luna. Pay the teachers first.
Idaho’s teachers have borne the brunt from several years of state budget cuts. When school districts cut their classroom staff — as was the case in Meridian, which let go of 62 teachers last year after voters rejected a two-year, $37 million levy — the remaining teachers have to deal with the inevitable increase in class sizes. These same teachers, however reluctantly, are on the front lines of implementing Luna’s Students Come First public education overhaul.
Reinvesting in Idaho’s talented and dedicated teachers — reversing the $19.4 million salary cut originally contemplated in Students Come First — is simply the right thing to do. It also happens to be the politically savvy thing to do.
In November, the three Students Come First laws will go before Idaho voters. This rare series of referenda will uphold, or overturn, Luna’s signature legislative initiative. Otter has a considerable stake in the outcome, as well; he emphatically supports the laws, and has publicly stated that he will do everything in his power to convince voters to keep them on the books.
On the other side of what figures to be a high-profile debate is the Idaho Education Association, which represents 13,000 teachers statewide. One of the most persuasive arguments on the IEA’s side is the fact that, as passed in 2011, Students Come First shifts millions of education dollars away from teacher salaries. This would happen, to the tune of $19.4 million, unless this year’s Legislature reverses course.
Backfilling $19.4 million in salaries will not buy Luna or Otter the IEA’s support. The union will continue to fight these three education laws — especially the law that essentially rewrites the collective bargaining rules for teacher contracts. But the $19.4 million would make it tougher for the IEA to argue to voters that the Luna laws are being implemented at the expense of teachers.
Yes, there are political overtones looming on the horizon. Aren’t there always? But first things first. Let’s take this $19.4 million and do right by Idaho’s teachers.
“Our View” is the editorial position of the Idaho Statesman. It is an unsigned opinion expressing the consensus of the Statesman’s editorial board. To comment on an editorial or suggest a topic, email editorial@idahostatesman.com.
