|
LEGISLATIVE NEWSLETTER IX -- MARCH 14-18/2011
Constituents:
It has been a busy week in Boise.
Here are some of the highlights. Predictions are that we should finish business by April 1st.
1. Thought for the Day -- Why is it that so many people are uptight about labor unions,
collective bargaining, and union members earning $50,000/year when no one seems concerned about the robber barons and bankers on Wall Street and CEO getting $5 million bonuses?
Not one banker on Wall Street has been indicted over the economic scandals that took place there the past several years. To find out the full story I recommend the book, "13 Bankers".
2. HB222
-- HB222 which passed the House and now moves on to the Senate would strip colleges and universities of the current right to ban firearms on their campuses except in undergraduate dorms. The bill would not include private colleges. The bill would allow guns to be carried into sports venues and arenas on campuses plus for those attending tail gate parties. The State Board of Education and Presidents of all State Universities opposed the bill. There was concern that this new policy would eliminate many outside events from coming on campus. The sponsors of the bill claim that the Idaho Constitution is very clear on the subject: "The people have the right to bear arms, which right shall not be abridged." Supporters argue that the right is held by the state only and not the universities that currently make policy. Fifteen Republicans voted against the bill including a member of leadership.
A thoughtful letter to the editor on the subject of guns on college campuses was recently published in the New York Times. The writers are professors at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and Co-editors of "Mental Health Care in the College Community. While there have been a few highly publicized tragic shooting on college campuses in recent years, over the last 10 years the average rate of homicide on college campuses has been approximately 1 per 1 million students. Colleges are extraordinarily safe places. In contrast, suicide is 100 times as common--and suicide attempts 10,000 times as common--as homicides on campus. We know that suicide attempts involving firearms are dramatically more likely to result in death to the attempter and potentially other than those made by other means, like drug overdoses. Finally, 40 percent of college students report bingeing on alcohol in any two week period, a behavior associated with both suicide and homicide risk. Advocates of arming more college students are therefore trying to protect against an extremely rare event while potentially putting guns into hands of large numbers of depressed, suicidal or intoxicated students who will be at increased risk, and put others at risk too." Former Speaker of the House, Bruce Newcomb, came out strongly against the bill.
3. HCR25 -- A plan to delay expansion of Idaho's grocery tax credit for one year to help balance the state budget cleared the Idaho House. After a legislative compromise in 2008, the grocery tax
credit was due to rise annually in $10 increments. The break for the lowest income residents is now $70 and most others $50.
I joined six other Republicans in opposing the legislation viewing this as a tax increase for the very poorest of our citizens.
4. SB1184 -- This is the rewrite of SB1113. The new bill gives
districts more flexibility with reduced funding either through employing fewer teachers, increasing class sizes, reducing salaries or shifting funding. Districts will have to use a combination of factors to deal with the
lower funding amount. Senator Bart Davis, Senate Majority Leader, said that the impact of the bill is basically allocating funds to technology which will take away from employing teachers in the classroom.
It also, in a sense, will directly put the blame for teachers laid off on the districts instead of the SPI and the Legislature as one public school administrator put it. The new bill:
1) allows districts
flexibility to spend decreased funding in more ways, giving them more leeway each year for three years,
2) provides high school teachers with mobile computing devices first in the 2012 school year, and then begin
expanding the devices to all students by 2015,
3) provides $10 million a year for instructional technology in Idaho's classrooms as well as $3 million for professional development of teachers,
4)
raises the minimum salary for new teachers to $30,000 (one should note that the minimum salary for new teachers was $30,000 four years ago),
5) creates a task force for implementing of mobile devices and on line courses,
6) provides for a provision that registration for online courses is done through the district's normal registration process,
and
7) requires that each school post its budget in a fiscal report card. The bill will be introduced in the Senate Ed Committee on Tuesday.
5. HB260 -- Medicaid Cuts of $35 million
are expected to be saved. The bill passed the House and is on the way to the Senate. Frankly, I think that the cuts were too extreme and will leave many Idaho citizens to face bleak medical futures without the coverage, and as
one legislator predicted, over 1,000 health providers will lose jobs if the cuts go through. Do we need another 1,000 Idaho citizens on the unemployment rolls?
6. Study indicates that the U.S. must raise teachers' status
-- The basic essence is that countries whose students score highest recruit top college graduates as teachers and pay more. The study indicates that countries like South Korea, Singapore and Finland recruit only high performing college graduates for teaching positions, support them with mentoring and other help in the classroom, pay them accordingly, and take steps to raise respect for the profession. The report also indicated "Teaching in the U.S. is unfortunately no longer a high status occupation," said Dr. Schleicher in his report. He noted that "Despite the characterization that teaching is an easy job with short hours and summers off the fact is that successful, dedicated teachers in the U.S. work long hours for little pay and, in many cases, insufficient support from their leadership."
President Obama noted that "In South Korea, teachers are known as 'nation builders", and I think it's time that we treated our teachers with the same level of respect." The report concludes that "five things U.S. education reformers could learn" from the high performing countries, the report says, includes adopting common academic standards, developing better tests for use by teacher in diagnosing students' day to day learning needs and training more effective school leaders. It was also of interest that a leading country like Finland requires very little in terms of national testing. There is certainly food for thought in this report.
I'll finish with this link to story that should be sent to all teachers and all legislators:
http://www.cleveland.com/schultz/index.ssf/2011/03/apology_to_a_cleveland_teacher.html
Well, that is all for this week. I'd like to receive your comments and recommendations.
My e mail is ttrail@house.idaho.gov
My phone (208) 332-1184.
Rep. Tom Trail
You can also view my updates on www.infotrail.com/idaho
|
