March 31, 2000
Howard gets keys to vault; Lawmakers
accused of abdicating responsibility for deciding funding
Michael R. Wickline
BOISE -- In an unprecedented move, the legislative
budget committee Thursday opted to give Democratic public schools chief
Marilyn Howard authority to decide how
to spend more than $900 million in state support
for schools. The move came after the 20-member budget committee, composed
of 17 Republicans and three Democrats, couldn't agree on how to distribute
a $52 million increase in state general funds for the
schools. "It's unbelievable JFAC (the
Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee)
would ignore the germane committees of the
majority party and turn decisions over to the minority party," said Senate
Education Committee Chairman Gary Schroeder, R-Moscow. "It was an
unconscionable move. It may change in 24 hours when they
realize what they did." Yet Schroeder
said he has every confidence Howard, a former elementary school principal
in Moscow, will make wise decisions.
After Senate Republicans discussed the decision
in a closed-door caucus,
budget committee co-chairman Sen. Atwell Parry
of Melba said he doesn't intend to ask the committee this morning to reverse
its decision. "I'm not sure what is going to happen with this," said
House Education Committee Chairman Fred Tilman, R-Boise. "I don't have
a clue about what will happen on the floor." Schroeder said he and
Tilman would try to introduce legislation today to allow the education
committees to author mandates tied to the public school and higher education
appropriations and ban the budget committee from doing that. After
the budget committee rejected six proposals over how to spend the
$52 million hike in state general funds for
the schools, it voted 13-7 to allow Howard to make the decisions about
distributing the money at the suggestion of co-chairman Rep. Robert C.
Geddes, R-Preston.
The public schools would get $873 million in general funds and nearly $57 million in cash from other sources under the budget committee's recommendation. "It doesn't appear we can come to any agreement," Geddes said. The criticism the budget panel has received for making policy is probably valid, he said. The budget committee is offering the opportunity for Howard to decide how to distribute state aid to the schools and get the credit and/or blame, Geddes said.
Sen. Don Pischner, R-Coeur d'Alene, said he's
always accused of cutting
the public school budget But Sen. Robert Lee,
R-Rexburg, said he hates to see the budget committee abdicate its legislative
responsibility. "If you throw a football, it's nice to have a receiver,"
said Sen. Hal Bunderson, R-Meridian. "If she doesn't get a concussion running
down the field, this might be a worthwhile experiment for the future...
Let's see how that works out." Sen. Marguerite McLaughlin, D-Orofino,
voted against allowing Howard to decide how to distribute the fund. She
said she fears the budget committee is trying to force Howard to make a
decision about whether to fund hikes in base salaries for teachers or school
buildings.
The teachers could get one-time increases in
their base salaries, McLaughlin said, and that's not good for teachers
nor Howard. Rep. Frances Field, R-Grandview, believes Howard would
spend the money like she proposed after consultation with the House and
Senate education committees and Howard. In a tie vote, the budget
committee rejected Field's proposal to earmark $37.9 million of the
$52 million hike in the school budget to fund Howard's plan for a 5.5 percent
hike in base salaries for teachers. That would boost base pay for starting
teachers by about $1,100 to $22,000 a year. Howard said she would
stick with her two-pronged strategy of increasing teacher salaries and
discretionary funds for school districts and spend the increased state
aid in line with Field's proposal. "I believe when you give people
responsibility, they operate responsibly," she said. She also noted she
didn't seek state funding for school buildings in her budget request
for the public schools.
The budget panel rejected proposals to use
$4 million, $5 million, $7.5 million and $10 million of the 6.4 percent
hike in public school funding for a revolving loan fund for
districts to tap for fixing unsafe school
buildings. That's because the plans would reduce Howard's request to increase
base salaries for teachers. McLaughlin said the Legislature should
address what educational programs are being delivered to the children in
the school budget and provide adequate funding. "I don't understand
the thinking of putting facilities in the budget." Senate Finance
Committee Vice-Chair Dean Cameron, R-Rupert, said the Legislature has the
money to fund the revolving loan fund without tapping the school budget.
"We are seeing a real need, a real vacancy
in the number of people wanting to teach," he said. "Other states are doing
unbelievable things. I'm seeing us lose teachers to
(Nevada). We are going to have a real problem
if we don't address our salary competitiveness with our teachers." The
budget committee also killed the Senate Education Committee's plan to use
$1 million of the school budget to help districts declaring a financial
emergency and obtaining a loan through the revolving loan fund to pay interest.
Parry said the House and Senate education committees disagree about this
proposal. The budget committee is slated
to discuss how to fund the revolving loan
fund this morning, he said.
H0805.....................................................by
APPROPRIATIONS
APPROPRIATIONS - PUBLIC SCHOOLS - Provides
legislative intent regarding the
expenditures for the public schools; appropriates
$873,464,900 to the
Public School Income Fund for
fiscal year 2001; appropriates $930,364,900
for the Educational Support Program
for fiscal year 2000; provides
authority to the State Superintendent of
Public Instruction to determine
any base salary
changes for instructional, administrative and classified
staff; and expresses
intent regarding distributions and transfers. (THIS
CAN ALLOW THE ST. SUPT. TO USE ALL MONEY FOR SALARY INCREASES, WHICH WOULD
POTENTIALLY BOOST THE BASE MULTIPLER BY 6.4+5%. THAT WOULD BE A PERMANENT
PERPETUAL PAY INCREASE BY LAW OF ABOUT 11% PER YEAR. THE THOUGHT
OF THAT IS STAGGERING)
03/31 House
intro - 1st rdg - to printing
Rpt prt - to 2nd rdg
Rls susp - PASSED
- 49-17-4
AYES --
Alltus, Bieter, Black, Boe, Bruneel, Callister, Chase,
Cheirrett,
Crow, Cuddy, Deal, Denney, Ellsworth, Field(13),
Field(20),
Gagner, Hadley, Hansen(29), Henbest, Hornbeck, Jaquet,
Jones(Jones),
Judd, Kendell, Kunz, Lake, Mader, Marley, Meyer,
Montgomery,
Mortensen, Moss, Moyle, Pearce, Pischner, Pomeroy,
Reynolds, Ridinger,
Ringo, Robison, Sellman, Shepherd, Smith, Smylie,
Stoicheff,
Stone, Tilman, Trail, Zimmermann
NAYS
-- Barraclough, Barrett, Bell, Clark, Geddes,
Gould, Hansen(23),
Kempton, Linford,
McKague, Sali, Schaefer, Stevenson, Taylor,
Wheeler, Wood,
Mr Speaker (good guys)
Absent and
excused -- Campbell, Hammond, Kellogg, Loertscher
Floor Sponsor - Field(20)
Title apvd - to Senate
04/03 Senate
intro - 1st rdg - to 2nd rdg
Rls susp -
PASSED - 30-5-0
AYES--Andreason,
Boatright, Bunderson, Burtenshaw, Cameron, Crow,
Danielson,
Darrington, Davis, Deide, Dunklin, Frasure, Ingram, Ipsen,
Keough, King-Barrutia,
Lee, McLaughlin, Noh, Richardson, Riggs,
Risch, Sandy,
Sorensen, Stegner, Stennett, Thorne, Wheeler,
Whitworth,
Williams
NAYS--Geddes,
Hawkins, Parry, Schroeder, Walton (good guys)
Absent and
excused--None
Floor Sponsor - Sandy
Title apvd - to House
Thursday, March 23, 2000
Hello. This is the IEA’s Legislative Hotline
message for Thursday,
March 23rd.
We have great news this evening!
This morning the Joint Finance and Appropriations Committee voted to
recommend to the House and Senate the full amount proposed by the
governor for Idaho’s public schools. This amount—$811
million—will
fund all of the recommendations of State Superintendent Dr. Marilyn
Howard and the Education Coalition, of which the IEA is a part.
It is
the amount IEA members have been urging legislators to support for
several weeks, and it is gratifying to know that a majority of the JFAC
members listened and responded.
Here’s what happened.
The first motion the committee voted on this morning was for $10
million less than the governor’s recommendation. That
motion failed
on a vote of 8 in favor and 12 opposed. Those
voting to support this
motion, which the IEA opposed, were
Sen.'s Parry, Hawkins, and Lee
and Rep.s Geddes, Bell, Wood, Hansen, and Clark. Voting
against this
motion, and in support of the IEA’s position,
were Sen.s Cameron,
Richardson, Ingram, Bunderson, Boatright, Andreason, and McLaughlin
and Rep.s Pomeroy, Field, Pischner, Robison, and Marley.
With that motion defeated, the next vote came on a motion for $5
million less than the governor’s recommendation. That,
too, was
defeated; but this time the vote was a bit closer—9 in favor and 11
against. All those voting for the first motion voted for this
one, and
Sen. Richardson added his support.
Then a motion was made to provide funding to match
the governor’s
recommendation. That motion passed
13-7. Voting to support this
motion, and with the IEA’s position, were
Sen.s Cameron, Hawkins,
Richardson, Ingram, Bunderson, Boatright, Andreason and McLaughlin
and Rep.s Pomeroy, Field, Pischner, Robison, and Marley.
Voting
against this motion and the IEA's position
were Sen.s Parry and Lee and
Rep.s Geddes, Bell, Wood, Hansen, and Clark.
Special appreciation goes to Rep. Francis
Field and Sen. John
Andreason who were the sponsors of the motion that passed.
Both
had worked for several weeks to help bring about this result, and we
encourage IEA members to send both of them a note of thanks.
Thanks should also be sent to all the others who voted in support of
the IEA’s position. In addition to the votes,
speeches in favor of the
$811 million level and against the other motions were made by Sen.s
Cameron, Andreason, McLaughlin, and Bunderson and Rep.s Robison,
Pischner, and Field. Sen. Cameron
captured the sense of most IEA
members when he told the committee that this is the time to give
schools the money they need.
Historically, immediately following the vote on the total amount of the
appropriation, JFAC begins making motions on what programs should
be paid for out of this money. However, in a remarkable break from
tradition, JFAC has asked the House and Senate Education
Committees to provide it with recommendations for these
expenditures. Their recommendations must be to JFAC by next
Monday, so the next couple of days will be critical. The IEA, along
with the organizations representing school trustees, school
administrators, and the PTA, sent a joint letter this afternoon to each
member of the House and Senate Education Committees urging them
to follow the line-item recommendations originally proposed by Dr.
Howard. Those include increases in the salary
allocation formula of
7.8% for ESP’s, 5.2% for teachers, and 4.6% for administrators.
The
House committee began its discussion late this afternoon and will
continue in the morning. The Senate committee will tackle these
issues tomorrow.
While there is still much to do and
there are still several other
important issues to resolve by the end of this session, we want to
take a moment and relish this
very important victory for our state’s
public schools and our students. Thanks go to all of you who took
the time to meet personally with your legislators during the past few
weeks, send them an e-mail, or give them a call. It proves that your
involvement works, and our public schools’ future will be the better for
it.
In sum, great job!
****************************************************
This is from JFAC, with the actual funding
amounts. You will notice there is another $56,900,000
that education gets from the "Land Board," and other money, like
substance abuse money. Then you need to add
Federal Money, and Property Taxes.
Below is a copy of the ballot sheets for the PUBLIC SCHOOLS Appropriation, Public School Support:
Carried Original Motion (this is what passed)
Moved By Field, seconded by Andreason, to approve for introduction
$873,464,900 General Funds,
$56,900,000 Dedicated Funds,
for a total of
$930,364,900
Budget will remain open
Ayes: 13
Cameron, Hawkins, Richardson, Ingram, Bunderson, Boatright, Andreason,
McLaughlin, Pomeroy, Field, Pischner, Robison, Marley
Nays: 7
Parry, Lee, Geddes, Bell, Wood, Hansen, Clark
Ab/Ex: 0
________________________
Failed Substitute Motion
Moved By Bell, seconded by Richardson, to approve for introduction
$868,357,400 General Funds,
$56,900,000 Dedicated Funds,
for a total of
$925,257,400
Ayes: 9
Parry, Hawkins, Richardson, Lee, Geddes, Bell, Wood, Hansen, Clark
Nays: 11
Cameron, Ingram, Bunderson, Boatright, Andreason, McLaughlin, Pomeroy,
Field,
Pischner, Robison, Marley
Ab/Ex: 0
__________________________
Failed Amended Substitute Motion
Moved By Parry, seconded by Hansen, to approve for introduction
$863,357,400 General Funds,
$56,900,000 Dedicated Funds,
for a total of
$920,257,400
Ayes: 8
Parry, Hawkins, Lee, Geddes, Bell, Wood, Hansen, Clark
Nays: 12
Cameron, Richardson, Ingram, Bunderson, Boatright, Andreason, McLaughlin,
Pomeroy, Field, Pischner, Robison, Marley
Ab/Ex: 0
Hope this fills the "bill."