January 20, 2023 • 39 mins
This episode of IEA's HOTLINE Podcast discusses Jan. 16's 2023 IEA Lobby Day, IEA members’ annual opportunity talk directly with Idaho lawmakers about their legislative priorities for making Idaho public education the best it can possibly be for Idaho’s students and families.
This year, more than 150 IEA members came to Boise for this year’s event, which was one of the most successful ever. Our panel also discussed a new advocacy opportunity for individual local education associations to bring their members back to the Statehouse on a designated Monday later in the session — something we call Local Lobby Day.
Joining me for today’s conversation are:
- IEA Political Director Chris Parri
- IEA Organizer Eliza Walton
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Mike Journee (00:13):
Welcome to Idaho education Association's hotline
podcast, a weekly discussionabout what's happening at the
Idaho legislature or on publiceducation, and the policy
priorities of ies members. I EAAmembers or public school
educators from all over thestate. They're Idaho's most
important education experts, andthey use their influence to
fight for a free quality andequitable public education for
(00:34):
every student in the state. I'mMike journee, communications
director at the IEA and I'll beyour host for this episode of
hotline. Today, our topic isMondays 2023 IEA. Lobby Day, our
members annual opportunity totalk directly with Idaho
lawmakers about theirlegislative priorities for
making Idaho public education,the best it can possibly be for
(00:55):
Idaho students and families.
More than 150 IEA members cameto Boise for this year's event,
which was one of the mostsuccessful ever. Our panel also
discusses a new advocacyopportunity for all individual
local education associations tobring their members back to the
state house on a designatedMonday later in the session,
something we call local LobbyDay. joining me for today's
(01:17):
discussion are two of mycolleagues, political director
Chris Perry, and IEA organizer,Eliza Walton. Thanks for joining
me again for this episode ofhotline podcast. And like I
mentioned in the intro, we'regoing to be talking about a
really exciting day for ourmembers, the 2023 lobby day,
(01:39):
which happened on Monday. Youknow, Martin Luther King, Jr.
Holiday has become kind of thetraditional day set aside for
AAA members to come to thestatehouse, and advocate with
lawmakers on behalf of publiceducation in Idaho. And this
year, we had about 150, whoanswered that call. And Chris,
you know, as our politicaldirector, give us a little
(02:00):
perspective about why we doLobby Day.
Chris Parri (02:05):
So, Lobby Day is one of the like, most impactful
days during the session foreducation policy, I think in the
state, a big piece of it. Thereason it's so impactful is
because it's kind of like amutual demystification, between
educators and legislators where,you know, educators get in the
building, they start talking tothe legislators, and they're
(02:25):
like, Oh, these are people I canapproach and I can tell my story
to and will respond usuallypositively. And you will have
that like, you know, that touchpoint and this possibility of
impacting policy on the otherside legislators, some
legislators are demystified intheir impression of educators.
So those conversations are thatthe relationship is
(02:48):
relationships that are builtduring a lobby day. And the
stories that are told really domove the dial on Education
Policy, humanize the educator,humanize the students to that
the educators are often talkingabout. And you like we can see
policy change after lobby day.
And after the conversationscontinue to develop with with
(03:11):
different educators and theirlegislators. It really is
Mike Journee (03:15):
probably the most important advocacy day for
public education during thelegislative session. I don't
think it's a small stretch tosay that
Chris Parri (03:22):
definitely. Yeah, it's It's wild. I mean, we saw
votes change last year, on theheels of lobby day, whether it
was on, you know, vouchervoucher votes last session or
the litany of really bad billsthat were coming out of some of
these corners of thelegislature. We saw we saw a ton
of of legislators kind of circlethe wagons, essentially, and
(03:44):
stop these bad bills from comingin. Because of the conversations
that were had during Lobby Day,and that grew out of Lobby Day.
Mike Journee (03:52):
So Eliza, this was your first lobby day since we
were lucky enough to bring youon as a staff member here at the
Idaho Education Association.
What did you think about it?
Eliza Walton (04:00):
I so enjoyed being able to connect educators with
their lawmakers. I'm not new tothe state house. I've been a
lobbyist for three sessions. Andso I know the ins and the outs
of the statehouse. And so one ofthe things that I enjoyed most
was being able to encourageeducators to go and you know,
(04:21):
talk to a security guard andasked to get into a legislators
office to give tips on orientingyourself in the statehouse. It's
harder than you think. And justreally encouraging educators to
share their stories with theirlegislators.
Mike Journee (04:37):
Yeah, it's really interesting, and it's great. And
you know, you bring up a pointthat kind of segues into the
next one is educators typicallyaren't very comfortable with the
idea of lobbying, right. That'swhy it's really important for us
for our for our professionals tobe there to help them navigate
and understand what's going on.
But we also have a training anda dinner, traditionally on the
evening before that event. Andthat ended up in itself as be
(05:00):
kind of become really cool andkind of a hot ticket, you know,
not only for our members but forpolicymakers to they're excited
to come together and to breakbread and talk together. In
fact, we had 16 lawmakers joinus this year. Both Education
Committee chairpersons. Were atour Lobby Day dinner. And of
(05:20):
course, we had the governorthere. We had Lieutenant
Governor there. So it was areally powerful group of of
policymakers that were in theroom to meet with our members.
And I think our members reallyenjoyed it, don't you, Chris?
Chris Parri (05:34):
Yeah, I think it always blows my mind to think
about, like the possibility, thepossibilities that arise out of
the relationships that we'vebuilt at the IEA, between
educators between the IEA staffand legislators, Governor, you
know, you name it. And the, theidea that we had 16, or the fact
that we had 16 legislators fromboth parties, most of them were
(05:57):
Republicans in the room,discussing education with our
members and hearing them out andhaving a good time, like not
just doing it because they areobligated to choosing to be
there and to have fun and telltheir own stories and feel
welcome like i It's reallyinspiring to me, and it makes my
job that much more rewarding toknow that not only am I building
(06:19):
relationships, in my regular jobwhen I'm lobbying in the
statehouse, between me and thethe legislator, but I'm building
off of and hopefully helping outthe other relationships with
already have that, you know, Ihear about from educators and
legislators kind of organicallyas these come up, it's really
awesome. I love it's one of themost rewarding pieces of of
(06:40):
lobbying in the statehouse, forme, that's great.
Mike Journee (06:42):
And I and, you know, we did have Governor
little there he came in, heanswered questions about his
really impressive educationpolicy proposals that he brought
forward, the State of the Stateaddress, which really puts
educator pay squarely in thecenter of the session this year,
in a way that it really hasn'tever been, at least in recent
history. And, but for me, thehighlight on Sunday night was
(07:05):
was the speech given by theHouse chairwoman of the
Education Committee, and JulieYamamoto, she's a career
educator, and you could reallytell that she spent a lot of
time on her remarks and that shewanted to make a good impression
on our on our members. And Ireally enjoyed it. Her speech
(07:27):
was really, she used a metaphorabout a recent home improvement
project that she had, making theaquatic equivalent to the
improvements that we need tomake to the education system she
talked about it was a bathroomproject, where you know, they
they had a really had to focuson the budget, make sure they
had enough money brought in theprofessionals to do the the the
(07:48):
important work and at the end ofthe day, they came out with not
a Taj Mahal bathroom, but a anadequate bathroom that they
really enjoyed. And that thatprovided the right kind of of
things that they need in theirhome. So right
Chris Parri (08:04):
like, like a bathroom that meets its
constitutional obligations.
Mike Journee (08:09):
So listen to this clip from from her speech.
Julie Yamamoto (08:14):
So it's important to note here, we did
not burn the house down andstart over. We did permanently
close the downstairs bathroomand only use the two upstairs.
We didn't find a neighbor'sbathroom that we liked and asked
the insurance to pay for us touse it. We made a plan that
(08:35):
allowed us to do what wasfunctional of enduring quality
and within our budget eventhough it was above our coverage
we do not have a Taj Mahalbathroom but it's plenty nice
and thoroughly fulfills itspurpose you know where I'm going
(09:00):
here with the people I thinkeverybody in this room agrees
that education in Idaho is notperfect. But we do not need to
burn down the current system
Mike Journee (09:18):
so you could hear the enthusiasm for that and
Chris there is a not toodisguised point in there about
the need for completelyreplacing the public education
system and I think she went onto talk about vouchers and some
other things there that thatthat were important points to
(09:39):
make. And I but our and ourmembers saw it and really
appreciated what her messagewas.
Chris Parri (09:45):
Yeah. And Representative Juliana moto just
for some background is anincredible legislator who she's
she's avidly against vouchersand the schemes that kind of
pump money out of publiceducation and we've supported
her in her elections and we lovegoing over there and chatting
with her over in Caldwell. Shethat I love that story, the the
(10:10):
shadow across the bow towardsvouchers where she talks about
we didn't you know, we didn'tlook at our neighbors bathroom
and have someone else pay forit. Great, you know, in the
eyes, of course our educatorsresponded well to that they I
don't think that many of themcome down here and expect such a
passionate and like deliberatelike endorsement of their work
(10:34):
and of their jobs and, and tohear it come from the chairwoman
of House Education. When in thepast, it has not been the same
right? Like House Education hasnot always been the friendliest
place for education policy, andto hear from such a leader. And
it wasn't just her it was alsoLori McCann, the vice chairwoman
of the House Education shewasn't present, and nodding and
clapping along along with theeducators. It was really
(10:57):
incredible. I was superimpressed by that speech, I'm
really glad that we, we wereable to get her to chat with our
educators that day.
Mike Journee (11:04):
So members are really excited for Lobby Day
this year, especially afterhearing the governor littles
proposals for Educator payduring the legislative session,
or during the State of the StateAddress 145 millions to boost
educator pay enough to put Idahointo top 10 among states for
teachers, beginning teachersalaries, and then 97 million
(11:28):
for classified education supportprofessionals. And, you know, I
will talk about this a littlebit later. But I've found that
our members were really moreexcited about that second bit,
even though most of them arecertified educators and are
going to benefit from the fromthe pay, I heard a lot from
educators about about the needfor classified pay.
Chris Parri (11:49):
Our members are such good people like what a
testament to their integritythat they you know, of course,
they were thrilled about theteacher pay but like the that
the classified pay was reallywhat their eyes were, like, you
know, wide and they werecheering and hollering and
everything, despite their youknow, almost everyone in the
room was a classified educatorwho would benefit from the 140 5
(12:10):
million just to be able to paythe classified staff that they
rub shoulders with every singleday, they know how important
that investment is, and howimportant those those folks are
to our schools.
Eliza Walton (12:22):
And I think this is just such a great testament
to the work that the IEA does.
One of the reasons why I'm soproud to work here is that I see
us as the primary organizationthat is changing the paradigm of
public education here in Idaho.
And that is just one of the manysuccesses that we that we've had
and that we'll continue to have.
And so when I'm when I'm outtalking with both members and as
(12:42):
well as their colleagues, thatis the thing that I stress,
right come be part of acommunity working to change
public education at the statelevel, so that we can improve
things at local levels as well.
Chris Parri (12:58):
Yeah, and very, like holistically to write like
it is not just we're out forourselves. And that's it. It's
we're out there for classifiedstaff, we you know, we we
partner often with school boardsand with administrators to when
our when our interests align.
And you know, it's just such avery supportive community. And
it is unique, I think, in theentire nation to have this such
(13:18):
a collaborative community ofpeople advocating for education
and having each other's backs.
It's really awesome.
Mike Journee (13:27):
It really is, you know, this the tag onto that a
little bit. Our President Leemakelele, he made some remarks
in both the House and SenateEducation committees on Monday
while our members were present.
And one of the things that hepointed out, he said, you know
that yeah, that the extrapaycheck is going to be great
for our members and theirfamilies. He said, but they're
but but in what they're reallyexcited about is the respect
(13:48):
that these proposals embody forthem and the work that they do.
And the fact that they feel likeit's okay now, here in Idaho,
because policymakers have theirback to be a public school
educator in the state. And thatgoes to kind of your point of
lies a little bit about aboutthe the work that goes into this
(14:11):
and and the the backing that ofour members, allow us to
advocate on their behalf, andallow them to advocate for
themselves and for theirstudents, and become and make
education stronger for us.
Eliza Walton (14:28):
Well, yes, absolutely. And when we talk
with our members, the threethings that we hear again and
again, of their top prioritiesis that they increase their pay,
protect their time and give thema voice. And I think kind of
going back to that that point,protecting their time, right? If
we are paying classifiededucators more they the school
(14:52):
districts will be able to hiremore and relieve some of that
overload that our educatorsexperience.
Mike Journee (14:59):
And maybe we should step back A little bit
for some of our listeners tomake the difference between a
certified educator and aclassified education support
professional education supportprofessionals are very important
to our public schools. They arethe they're the folks who make
it run. Well. They're thethey're the assistants in the in
the office. They're thecustodians. They're the bus
drivers. And and Chris, therewas a recent report that talked
(15:25):
about their pay and the gapbetween what what school
districts are currently payingthem and what the state gives
them for that those salaries.
Right.
Chris Parri (15:33):
Yeah. So a group of legislators asked the office of
performance evaluations to studyhow beat Yeah, essentially the
gap in in classified pay to keepIdaho competitive with
surrounding states and thenation at large. With how we pay
our, you know, cafeteriaworkers, bus drivers, all those
classified folks that youmentioned. And they found that
(15:55):
we were, we were under payingthem by $80 million,
essentially. So the governor sawthat and turn that back around
work with stakeholders to comeup with a plan that actually
increases classified pay by $97million. In recognition of we
don't just want to be hittingthe bare minimum, we don't want
to just be competitive, we wantto be a leader nationwide, in
(16:18):
our not only not only with howwe pay classified staff, not
only with how we pay teachers,or teachers, but with our entire
public education system, he'sbeing really like ambitious and
proactive in forging a newvision of what public education
Idaho can be. And that's, it'spretty awesome to be a part of
it. Well,
Eliza Walton (16:35):
and I think one more thing, when you think about
kind of the pipeline, to, forsomeone to become an educator,
in my everyday work, I talk witheducators who started out as
paraprofessionals, and ESPs. Andthey will, you know, gain
experience in a district andthen they'll go and they'll get
(16:56):
certified as an educator. And soI think, if we are not valuing
our ESPs, we're not going to seethat ability for them to
transition over and to get theircertification. And so, you know,
we hear about the lack ofeducators in Idaho. And so I
think that that's a reallyimportant point that that kind
of gets glossed over is thatmany educators start out as
(17:17):
ESPs, and to recognize the valuethat that they're putting in
there and the experience they'regaining in those districts.
Mike Journee (17:26):
I've got a really great clip here, a teacher from
Kimberly, Rochelle Mueller, shetalked a little bit about this
really important topic.
Rachelle Mueller (17:35):
For me in my district, classified staff has
been a huge issue, we are veryunderstaffed, which creates
bigger issues in our district,we cannot keep Perez in our
classroom, we cannot keepcustodian staff, because we're
just not paying enough. So I asa teacher, I'm sweeping and
vacuuming my own room, whichtakes away from my lesson
(17:58):
planning and migrating. And it'sjust becoming a bigger issue as
the pay gaps are basicallyincreasing in our area.
Mike Journee (18:08):
And, Chris, this is something we've heard from
members all across the state,this is the fact that they're
they're being asked to step up.
Because we have such a hugeeducator vacancy crisis in the
state, they're being asked tostep up and take on roles that
that that are left vacant withinthe school classroom. And every
time they have to attend to asick child, or every time there
(18:28):
is a behavioral problem. Andthere's not a professional staff
member to be able to train to tohandle that. Or anytime,
anything like that happens. Andthey have to deal with it
themselves. The learning lossfor the rest of the class is
something that that our memberstalk about a lot. And it can be
it can be a pretty significantproblem,
Chris Parri (18:49):
right? I mean, our educators are doing so much so
well, with so little right now.
And on top of that, so littletime, right. And as you heard in
that clip, this educator isdoing extra work on top of her
work as a public school teacherdoing the work of the custodian
that we couldn't retain becausethe pay was too low. Right. And
(19:09):
that's, that's illustrative ofthe entire problem with staffing
across the state. When we aren'table to staff public schools at
the right levels. It's not likepublic schools have a lot of
options for like cutting, youknow, a bunch of programs and
stuff, a lot of them will ifthey aren't able to staff those
places, but there's anobligation there to the taxpayer
(19:29):
to offer. You know, publiceducation, everybody. And that
means that this the classroomhas to get cleaned somehow right
or the the food has to getserved in the cafeteria somehow.
And a lot of times that'll fallonto the shoulders of an
educator and administrator.
Someone whose job descriptiondoesn't include that but out of
(19:49):
necessity has to wear that hat.
So as we invest in in botheducator pay to retain and
attract great educators, andclassified pay, we're hope then
we can alleviate that and leteveryone instead of doing you
know, you know, you can be doing100% Great work all the time.
Instead of, you know, spreadingyourself thin and doing all of
these different things, you canreally focus on educating,
(20:12):
writing great curriculum. Andyour lesson plan for that day
that week that month, and givesstudents a great experience,
which they already are doing, ofcourse, it but the the added
load, I think is really toughfor a lot of educators.
Mike Journee (20:29):
On top of that, with the modest pay that
neighboring states, unlessGovernor littles proposal comes
through the neighboring statespay much better and and and they
have more support staff, theyhave more people. So so it makes
a lot of sense for some of oureducators to go to other states.
And we're totally
Chris Parri (20:49):
I grew up on a border, on the border with
Wyoming out there. And we losteducators all the time to
Wyoming because they could payquite a bit more over there. So
narrowing that gap has like aimmediate effect on those,
particularly those bordercommunities where it is easy,
and you the grass is greener,just across the border. So I
(21:11):
mean, personally, I'm thrilledto buy this because I loved some
of those educators that we lostto Wyoming. And I don't blame
the educator for that, ofcourse, they're looking for the
right right place to start afamily and to live make a
living. And it's just reallytough in Idaho. We know it's
expensive here.
Mike Journee (21:26):
Rochelle was among a small group of members who met
directly with Governor Liddellto talk about student behavioral
health and well being and I waslucky enough to sit in on that
conversation. It was a reallygood governor is very eager to
address this issue and be partand part part of that
conversation on top of what he'salready doing, or through
through salaries. And as we'vebeen discussing. And while most
lawmakers agree that somethingneeds to be done, Christopher
(21:49):
Crozier, an AEA member from TwinFalls had this to say about his
conversation with lawmakers onthe topic.
Christopher Crozier (21:56):
There's some disagreement on how we
address mental health issueswith because, you know, there's
no set way to help peoplestruggling with mental health.
And I think there's just somedisagreement on how we can best
funnel those resources to eachof the schools,
Mike Journee (22:11):
the better educator pay should help with
the support educators have inthe school building, and in
turn, that might ease this issuea bit for him. But it sounds
like there's a lot of work to bedone on this. And,
Chris Parri (22:23):
yeah, I mean, it's not just school counselors, but
they're, you know, there's theneed for behavioral
interventionists. And like alitany of different kinds of
services that our schools needto provide adequate care to, to
our students. One stat that Ifound really eye opening was
(22:44):
that the American SchoolCounselors Association
recommends that there shouldthere be 250 students per school
counselor, and in Idaho, we havearound 500 students per school
counselor, so school counselorsare in Idaho are doing twice the
work for a state that is alsoreally rural. So they're, you
know, often they're splitbetween different schools that
(23:05):
are miles and miles apart,trying to treat twice the
workload or twice the caseloadfor the students. And that's
illustrative of kind of theentire kind of problem that we
have here, which is that a lotof people are doing a lot of
great work as best as they can.
But unless we work out thestaffing issues, you're not
getting the you're not going tosee the great outcomes that
(23:25):
could be happening if we weremeeting those staffing levels.
Unknown (23:30):
Yeah, and one of the things that I heard our members
tell lawmakers until thegovernor actually was was that
those counselors, staff that arein that are in our schools are
often drawn into administrativework that has nothing to do with
a student's mental well beingYeah, the and it goes the other
(23:51):
way too, right. Like you hire acareer counselor who should be
helping folks find, you know,find their dream career path,
whatever that looks like in highschool or in middle school. And
the they are being asked to stepinto the role of psychologists,
school psychologists, behavioralinterventionist,
Chris Parri (24:08):
all these things that they didn't sign up for
either. There's a lot of it'sexactly like the educator
cleaning their own classroom.
You have career counselorsbeing, you know, treating
students for their mental healthissues when we should be having
professional mental healthservices in our schools from the
get go.
Mike Journee (24:25):
So in my discussions with members on
Monday, other issues that theybrought up with lawmakers were
kindergarten vouchers. Wehaven't talked about vouchers
much here. But but that was akey a key topic for for many of
them. And then also funding forfacilities and you know, we
often talk about facilities interms of a building being
dilapidated, or the need orneeds to be updated or it's
(24:46):
overcrowded or something likethat. But Lisa Okafor who is
also from Twin Falls, took thistack when she was talking with
lawmakers.
Lisa Odafer (24:55):
Mine has mostly been facilities upgrading and
specifically safety. Not all ofthe schools are really have the
state of the art safety thingsthat, you know, I mean, we keep
having gun threats and bombthreats. And, you know, our
students are concerned and theteachers are concerned. Yeah.
(25:17):
And so that we need the funds tobe able to upgrade our buildings
so that they're more safe.
Mike Journee (25:24):
And so Lisa's take wellness was very important to
the government. In fact, he put$20 million into his budget
recommendations for securityupgrades, Chris and and, you
know, that's, that's a reallyimportant part of this, because
of the headlines that we see alltoo often coming across the,
from across the country aboutthis and about the shootings and
(25:45):
and the things that that thatLisa was talking about. And I
think that's an important thingfor many lawmakers, we're
probably going to see a prettyimportant discussion about this.
And as for the governor budget,I don't know what you think.
Yeah, I
Chris Parri (26:01):
mean, and not only in other parts of the country,
but we had a reallyheartbreaking incident in
eastern Idaho this past year aswell, with a student who brought
a gun to school. But yeah, sothey every couple of years,
there's a safety evaluation doneby the state of this of school
districts. And this, this 20million is an investment to help
bolster the improvementsrecommendation recommended by
(26:24):
those studies. So things likesecuring hard points in the
sorry, skip that I don't knowwhat a hardpoint is. So this
money could go towards ensuringthere's keycard access, single
point of entry, strong doors onthe schools, all those things
really keep the precious cargoinside of the school safe.
(26:47):
educators, students, staff,everybody's safe. So that's a
great investment. See, we'realso hoping that there could be
that this could be used to alsoaddress some of the Mental
Health gaps, as well. We knowmental health is also investing
in mental health and investmentin school safety, and community
safety. So we're hoping thatthis is a holistic approach to
(27:07):
school safety. That includesYes, the physical safety, making
sure that when you walk into aschool everyone feels safe and
able to learn, and also toprevent potential incidents of
violence and behavioral issuesin school. So yeah, it's a
really great investment. Itshows just how kind of dedicated
(27:28):
folks in the State Departmentand State Board and the
governor's office are all tomaking sure that the schools run
smoothly and without as withoutinterruptions and learning loss
as much as possible.
Mike Journee (27:41):
Now, last a year charge of a special group of
members during our during lobbyday, our ies, gems team, which
stands for growing engagemembers, and their their member
organizers that you've beenworking with a bit. Tell us a
little bit about the gemsprogram, and what our goals are
for those members going forward?
Eliza Walton (28:02):
Absolutely. So the greengage member program gems
for short, we are the gem stateis to grow membership and engage
current members in our union. Soone of the ways that we do that
is we provide training ontransformational versus
transactional conversations. Andso one of the ways that that
(28:23):
looks right is training them tohave conversations that build
ongoing relationships with theircolleagues, whether that's a
member, or just someone whoworks across the hall from them.
And, you know, one of thereasons why I'm so excited about
this program is I get to workwith them, I get to check in
with them once a week and sharewith them, you know, the
incredible work that ourgovernment relations team is
(28:45):
doing and ways that they can getthere. The members they know
whether they're in their local,their district or across Idaho
more engaged with, you know,legislative issues this session.
Mike Journee (28:59):
And Lobby Day is a perfect place for those kinds of
skill sets and the and that theythat we want them to build. And
so they came in, they took partand you you help them start
those conversations, right.
Eliza Walton (29:13):
Yeah, so one of the big projects that the gym
team is working on is reachingout to educators across the
state to attend their localLobby Day. So there'll be local
lobby days throughout thesession, I'm sure that we've
spoken and we've sent stuff outabout this. You know, we're very
excited to talk about a littlebit more here. No, that's
(29:33):
fantastic. So one of the reasonswhy I'm excited about this is
because there was so much energyand excitement and momentum
built on the 16th When we wereall in that building together. I
think I stepped I had 1500 stepsthat day. I'm just going back
and forth, you know, acrossacross the building and so the
(29:55):
local lobby days will beprimarily to maintain that
momentum and Keep thatexcitement going and, and
reminding legislators that oureducators have stories that they
need to hear when they'reconsidering policy discussions.
But one thing that I really wantto make sure all of our members
that are that are listening tothis know, if you're considering
(30:16):
attending lobbied local lobbydays is that you don't need to
understand the policy backwardsand forwards. You know, our
incredible government relationsteam created a policy guide
based upon the priorities thatour members set for this
legislative session. And so youcan use that guide to tailor the
stories that you tell to whenyou're when you're having
(30:39):
conversations with legislators.
And so one of the one of the bigthings that drives me is
creating opportunities for folksto engage with that with their
elected representatives. And soI just want you to know that
come and share your stories. Andthat is really what's going to
make the difference in policy.
Mike Journee (31:00):
And we want the our gems to be a central part of
these local lobby days, they'regoing to be engaging with
members and getting them helpinghelping get members now that
they've got a lobby day undertheir belt, they know what's
gonna be happening, right. Andso they'll be able to relay that
to the members that we weretrying to recruit to get engaged
in the local updates, whichwe'll talk about a little bit
more in a second.
Eliza Walton (31:21):
Absolutely.
Lobbying is an intimidatingthing, right? You go into that
building, you don't know whichrooms you have access to which
ones you don't, you don't alwaysknow how to find the offices or
even which floor something ison. And one of the great things
about the gym team is that wehave provided training for them
to understand that and so theycan act as a liaison with
legislators and members comingin on local lobby day.
Mike Journee (31:47):
Right. Now, local lobby day is a new thing for us
guys, we we've we haven't hadthis opportunity. And basically
what it is is an opportunity fora Local Education Association,
to bring members their ownmembers individually,
individually as a as their localeducation association, to the
(32:07):
statehouse and continue the workof the the main lobby day that
we had on Monday. And and it's areally great opportunity for
them to focus specifically ontheir lawmakers and on issues
specific to their schooldistrict. Right, Chris?
Chris Parri (32:22):
That's right. Yeah.
I've already started kind of thefollow up meetings that I want
to have with with legislatorsafter they've spoken to our
educators. This past Lobby Day.
And this is an those are reallyvaluable conversations just for
me for my job. But it'simmensely more valuable and more
impactful to have thoseeducators come back around a
(32:42):
couple of weeks after lobby day,month after Lobby Day and check
in with the priorities thatthey've they were talking about
with that legislator on LobbyDay, the big Lobby Day. So these
little lobby days kind of locallobby days, give the present a
great opportunity for folks toswing back around to the
statehouse, talk to thoselegislators about this
priorities and basically trackthe momentum right
Mike Journee (33:04):
and and bring more of their their colleagues into
the fold and get them engaged inthis in this important work that
that we do down at theStatehouse on behalf of
education policy, right?
Chris Parri (33:15):
And maybe even like scold a few people at play, do
you even do it now? Right? Justkidding, don't do that. Don't do
it, no scolding. How about thatfor local? That's the only rule.
But yeah, there's reallyvaluable conversations that we
had, just following up withfolks and maintain that
relationship.
Mike Journee (33:29):
And engagement is really the bread and butter of
the association without engagedmembers. We don't really have a
robust organization that's goingto be out making positive
changes on behalf of studentsand families through the public
education system. And so that'sthat's a big part of why the the
gyms program started.
Absolutely. And
Eliza Walton (33:51):
one of the key distinctions that we make in the
training that we provide for thegym team, is the difference
between a transactional andtransformational conversation.
And so the way I kind of like tolook at it is that transactional
conversation is join, join ourunion so that you can get
benefits, you can get a discounthere there and you can get
(34:13):
liability insurance versus comejoin a community that is working
to improve public education atthe state level. If we're not
the organization doing it, noone is and we are working
tirelessly to improve publiceducation
Mike Journee (34:29):
and our members right along with us. Right
that's it's such an importantthing to do.
Chris Parri (34:35):
Another really great thing that happened on
Lobby Day was a lunch that I andabout eight educators were able
to have with with DebbieCrutchfield and the new
superintendent of publicinstruction. We all got Panera
and sat in a conference room inthe State Department. And we
chatted mostly actually abouther interest in in professional
(34:57):
development and meeting theneeds of educators and there was
a great He's just such a goodconversation about professional
development opportunities,things that educators ought to
know during school as well. Sowhat we can add to curriculum or
change about what educatorslearn in, in their in university
before they become educators.
And how that could help, youknow, further down the road and
(35:20):
prepare educators even betterfor what they they're actually
going to face in the classroom.
Just really great conversations,I was really impressed by both
the superintendent and by thethe educators and the way they
were able to really just have areally candid and great
conversation reallycollaborative conversation about
professional development andways that the state board of
education might be able to helpour State Department of
(35:41):
Education might be will help outwith that.
Mike Journee (35:43):
And that's, that's such an important part of what
we do for educators through ourCenter for Teaching and
Learning. Summer Institute isone of the great opportunities
for educators to, to come freeof charge to come to a great
three or four day conferencewhere there's all kinds of
public, sorry, professionaldevelopment, put on by members.
(36:05):
And it's it was really excitingthing for me to participate in
last last summer, so
Eliza Walton (36:11):
and you can find more information on local lobby
days on our website, and you'llsee a list of different locals
that are attending on differentweeks. And if you don't see your
local there, reach out to yourPresident and they can schedule
a time for your local to comeout for local lobby days. The
sooner that you get this on thecalendar, the better, because we
(36:33):
want to make sure that everyoneis able to attend those local
lobby days. So check ourwebsite. If you're if you're
locals in there, reach out toyour President and if it is
there, sign up.
Mike Journee (36:44):
That's right.
Idaho eaa.org Is theassociation's website and
there's there's opportunitiesthere to take take a look at. In
addition to that to that is aspecial signup spot for this for
to get an email when we have anew episode of hotline podcast
shameless plug like so take atake a moment to sign up and
(37:05):
we'll send you an email since wehave a new episode out. You can
also listen Of course, anywhereyou listen to your other
podcast. So Well, guys, thanks.
We think we can all agree that IEAS 2023 lobby day was a huge
success. And anyone who wants toget a better feel for what it
was all about. can check out oursocial media feeds, there was a
(37:26):
ton of photos that are that ourmembers took while they were
having their meetings and, andyou can also search for more
information about things. Andwhen you search, the hashtag we
put out there hashtag Idaho I'msorry, hashtag IEA Lobby Day
2023. So thanks for muchdiscussion, guys.
Chris Parri (37:44):
Just one more thing. I just want to thank all
of the legislators or all of theeducators who came down to you
know, spend that day and a halfwith us in the legislature and
for dinner and everything it wasit really put a bunch of wind in
my sails for sure. But I thinkthe entire IAEA staff is getting
a lot of it, it's reallyheartening to know that we're
(38:05):
that supported by our ourmembers and that they're that
our members are so effectivethat they have our back and we
have their back. It's reallyencouraging particularly going
into what we know is going to bea pretty dramatic legislative
session this year for sure.
Mike Journee (38:20):
And their presidents put a lot of wind
into the policies the that wereally want to get get through
the legislature to That's right,it was it was important part of
that. Thanks for that editionChris. Thanks, Eliza. Chris.
Thanks a lot. Thanks, Mike.
Eliza Walton (38:33):
Thanks for having us.
Mike Journee (38:35):
Thank you for listening to Idaho education
Association's hotline podcast.
Thanks as well to my colleaguesChris Perry and Eliza Walton.
Please watch for future updatesabout new episodes on IEA social
media channels, or sign up foremail updates on our website and
Idaho eaa.org. I'm Mike journee.
And as always, I hope you'lljoin me in thanking Idaho's
(38:56):
public school educators foreverything that they do for our
State students, families andpublic schools.
Welcome to Idaho education Association's hotline
podcast, a weekly discussionabout what's happening at the
Idaho legislature or on publiceducation, and the policy
priorities of ies members. I EAAmembers or public school
educators from all over thestate. They're Idaho's most
important education experts, andthey use their influence to
fight for a free quality andequitable public education for
(00:34):
every student in the state. I'mMike journee, communications
director at the IEA and I'll beyour host for this episode of
hotline. Today, our topic isMondays 2023 IEA. Lobby Day, our
members annual opportunity totalk directly with Idaho
lawmakers about theirlegislative priorities for
making Idaho public education,the best it can possibly be for
(00:55):
Idaho students and families.
More than 150 IEA members cameto Boise for this year's event,
which was one of the mostsuccessful ever. Our panel also
discusses a new advocacyopportunity for all individual
local education associations tobring their members back to the
state house on a designatedMonday later in the session,
something we call local LobbyDay. joining me for today's
(01:17):
discussion are two of mycolleagues, political director
Chris Perry, and IEA organizer,Eliza Walton. Thanks for joining
me again for this episode ofhotline podcast. And like I
mentioned in the intro, we'regoing to be talking about a
really exciting day for ourmembers, the 2023 lobby day,
(01:39):
which happened on Monday. Youknow, Martin Luther King, Jr.
Holiday has become kind of thetraditional day set aside for
AAA members to come to thestatehouse, and advocate with
lawmakers on behalf of publiceducation in Idaho. And this
year, we had about 150, whoanswered that call. And Chris,
you know, as our politicaldirector, give us a little
(02:00):
perspective about why we doLobby Day.
Chris Parri (02:05):
So, Lobby Day is one of the like, most impactful
days during the session foreducation policy, I think in the
state, a big piece of it. Thereason it's so impactful is
because it's kind of like amutual demystification, between
educators and legislators where,you know, educators get in the
building, they start talking tothe legislators, and they're
(02:25):
like, Oh, these are people I canapproach and I can tell my story
to and will respond usuallypositively. And you will have
that like, you know, that touchpoint and this possibility of
impacting policy on the otherside legislators, some
legislators are demystified intheir impression of educators.
So those conversations are thatthe relationship is
(02:48):
relationships that are builtduring a lobby day. And the
stories that are told really domove the dial on Education
Policy, humanize the educator,humanize the students to that
the educators are often talkingabout. And you like we can see
policy change after lobby day.
And after the conversationscontinue to develop with with
(03:11):
different educators and theirlegislators. It really is
Mike Journee (03:15):
probably the most important advocacy day for
public education during thelegislative session. I don't
think it's a small stretch tosay that
Chris Parri (03:22):
definitely. Yeah, it's It's wild. I mean, we saw
votes change last year, on theheels of lobby day, whether it
was on, you know, vouchervoucher votes last session or
the litany of really bad billsthat were coming out of some of
these corners of thelegislature. We saw we saw a ton
of of legislators kind of circlethe wagons, essentially, and
(03:44):
stop these bad bills from comingin. Because of the conversations
that were had during Lobby Day,and that grew out of Lobby Day.
Mike Journee (03:52):
So Eliza, this was your first lobby day since we
were lucky enough to bring youon as a staff member here at the
Idaho Education Association.
What did you think about it?
Eliza Walton (04:00):
I so enjoyed being able to connect educators with
their lawmakers. I'm not new tothe state house. I've been a
lobbyist for three sessions. Andso I know the ins and the outs
of the statehouse. And so one ofthe things that I enjoyed most
was being able to encourageeducators to go and you know,
(04:21):
talk to a security guard andasked to get into a legislators
office to give tips on orientingyourself in the statehouse. It's
harder than you think. And justreally encouraging educators to
share their stories with theirlegislators.
Mike Journee (04:37):
Yeah, it's really interesting, and it's great. And
you know, you bring up a pointthat kind of segues into the
next one is educators typicallyaren't very comfortable with the
idea of lobbying, right. That'swhy it's really important for us
for our for our professionals tobe there to help them navigate
and understand what's going on.
But we also have a training anda dinner, traditionally on the
evening before that event. Andthat ended up in itself as be
(05:00):
kind of become really cool andkind of a hot ticket, you know,
not only for our members but forpolicymakers to they're excited
to come together and to breakbread and talk together. In
fact, we had 16 lawmakers joinus this year. Both Education
Committee chairpersons. Were atour Lobby Day dinner. And of
(05:20):
course, we had the governorthere. We had Lieutenant
Governor there. So it was areally powerful group of of
policymakers that were in theroom to meet with our members.
And I think our members reallyenjoyed it, don't you, Chris?
Chris Parri (05:34):
Yeah, I think it always blows my mind to think
about, like the possibility, thepossibilities that arise out of
the relationships that we'vebuilt at the IEA, between
educators between the IEA staffand legislators, Governor, you
know, you name it. And the, theidea that we had 16, or the fact
that we had 16 legislators fromboth parties, most of them were
(05:57):
Republicans in the room,discussing education with our
members and hearing them out andhaving a good time, like not
just doing it because they areobligated to choosing to be
there and to have fun and telltheir own stories and feel
welcome like i It's reallyinspiring to me, and it makes my
job that much more rewarding toknow that not only am I building
(06:19):
relationships, in my regular jobwhen I'm lobbying in the
statehouse, between me and thethe legislator, but I'm building
off of and hopefully helping outthe other relationships with
already have that, you know, Ihear about from educators and
legislators kind of organicallyas these come up, it's really
awesome. I love it's one of themost rewarding pieces of of
(06:40):
lobbying in the statehouse, forme, that's great.
Mike Journee (06:42):
And I and, you know, we did have Governor
little there he came in, heanswered questions about his
really impressive educationpolicy proposals that he brought
forward, the State of the Stateaddress, which really puts
educator pay squarely in thecenter of the session this year,
in a way that it really hasn'tever been, at least in recent
history. And, but for me, thehighlight on Sunday night was
(07:05):
was the speech given by theHouse chairwoman of the
Education Committee, and JulieYamamoto, she's a career
educator, and you could reallytell that she spent a lot of
time on her remarks and that shewanted to make a good impression
on our on our members. And Ireally enjoyed it. Her speech
(07:27):
was really, she used a metaphorabout a recent home improvement
project that she had, making theaquatic equivalent to the
improvements that we need tomake to the education system she
talked about it was a bathroomproject, where you know, they
they had a really had to focuson the budget, make sure they
had enough money brought in theprofessionals to do the the the
(07:48):
important work and at the end ofthe day, they came out with not
a Taj Mahal bathroom, but a anadequate bathroom that they
really enjoyed. And that thatprovided the right kind of of
things that they need in theirhome. So right
Chris Parri (08:04):
like, like a bathroom that meets its
constitutional obligations.
Mike Journee (08:09):
So listen to this clip from from her speech.
Julie Yamamoto (08:14):
So it's important to note here, we did
not burn the house down andstart over. We did permanently
close the downstairs bathroomand only use the two upstairs.
We didn't find a neighbor'sbathroom that we liked and asked
the insurance to pay for us touse it. We made a plan that
(08:35):
allowed us to do what wasfunctional of enduring quality
and within our budget eventhough it was above our coverage
we do not have a Taj Mahalbathroom but it's plenty nice
and thoroughly fulfills itspurpose you know where I'm going
(09:00):
here with the people I thinkeverybody in this room agrees
that education in Idaho is notperfect. But we do not need to
burn down the current system
Mike Journee (09:18):
so you could hear the enthusiasm for that and
Chris there is a not toodisguised point in there about
the need for completelyreplacing the public education
system and I think she went onto talk about vouchers and some
other things there that thatthat were important points to
(09:39):
make. And I but our and ourmembers saw it and really
appreciated what her messagewas.
Chris Parri (09:45):
Yeah. And Representative Juliana moto just
for some background is anincredible legislator who she's
she's avidly against vouchersand the schemes that kind of
pump money out of publiceducation and we've supported
her in her elections and we lovegoing over there and chatting
with her over in Caldwell. Shethat I love that story, the the
(10:10):
shadow across the bow towardsvouchers where she talks about
we didn't you know, we didn'tlook at our neighbors bathroom
and have someone else pay forit. Great, you know, in the
eyes, of course our educatorsresponded well to that they I
don't think that many of themcome down here and expect such a
passionate and like deliberatelike endorsement of their work
(10:34):
and of their jobs and, and tohear it come from the chairwoman
of House Education. When in thepast, it has not been the same
right? Like House Education hasnot always been the friendliest
place for education policy, andto hear from such a leader. And
it wasn't just her it was alsoLori McCann, the vice chairwoman
of the House Education shewasn't present, and nodding and
clapping along along with theeducators. It was really
(10:57):
incredible. I was superimpressed by that speech, I'm
really glad that we, we wereable to get her to chat with our
educators that day.
Mike Journee (11:04):
So members are really excited for Lobby Day
this year, especially afterhearing the governor littles
proposals for Educator payduring the legislative session,
or during the State of the StateAddress 145 millions to boost
educator pay enough to put Idahointo top 10 among states for
teachers, beginning teachersalaries, and then 97 million
(11:28):
for classified education supportprofessionals. And, you know, I
will talk about this a littlebit later. But I've found that
our members were really moreexcited about that second bit,
even though most of them arecertified educators and are
going to benefit from the fromthe pay, I heard a lot from
educators about about the needfor classified pay.
Chris Parri (11:49):
Our members are such good people like what a
testament to their integritythat they you know, of course,
they were thrilled about theteacher pay but like the that
the classified pay was reallywhat their eyes were, like, you
know, wide and they werecheering and hollering and
everything, despite their youknow, almost everyone in the
room was a classified educatorwho would benefit from the 140 5
(12:10):
million just to be able to paythe classified staff that they
rub shoulders with every singleday, they know how important
that investment is, and howimportant those those folks are
to our schools.
Eliza Walton (12:22):
And I think this is just such a great testament
to the work that the IEA does.
One of the reasons why I'm soproud to work here is that I see
us as the primary organizationthat is changing the paradigm of
public education here in Idaho.
And that is just one of the manysuccesses that we that we've had
and that we'll continue to have.
And so when I'm when I'm outtalking with both members and as
(12:42):
well as their colleagues, thatis the thing that I stress,
right come be part of acommunity working to change
public education at the statelevel, so that we can improve
things at local levels as well.
Chris Parri (12:58):
Yeah, and very, like holistically to write like
it is not just we're out forourselves. And that's it. It's
we're out there for classifiedstaff, we you know, we we
partner often with school boardsand with administrators to when
our when our interests align.
And you know, it's just such avery supportive community. And
it is unique, I think, in theentire nation to have this such
(13:18):
a collaborative community ofpeople advocating for education
and having each other's backs.
It's really awesome.
Mike Journee (13:27):
It really is, you know, this the tag onto that a
little bit. Our President Leemakelele, he made some remarks
in both the House and SenateEducation committees on Monday
while our members were present.
And one of the things that hepointed out, he said, you know
that yeah, that the extrapaycheck is going to be great
for our members and theirfamilies. He said, but they're
but but in what they're reallyexcited about is the respect
(13:48):
that these proposals embody forthem and the work that they do.
And the fact that they feel likeit's okay now, here in Idaho,
because policymakers have theirback to be a public school
educator in the state. And thatgoes to kind of your point of
lies a little bit about aboutthe the work that goes into this
(14:11):
and and the the backing that ofour members, allow us to
advocate on their behalf, andallow them to advocate for
themselves and for theirstudents, and become and make
education stronger for us.
Eliza Walton (14:28):
Well, yes, absolutely. And when we talk
with our members, the threethings that we hear again and
again, of their top prioritiesis that they increase their pay,
protect their time and give thema voice. And I think kind of
going back to that that point,protecting their time, right? If
we are paying classifiededucators more they the school
(14:52):
districts will be able to hiremore and relieve some of that
overload that our educatorsexperience.
Mike Journee (14:59):
And maybe we should step back A little bit
for some of our listeners tomake the difference between a
certified educator and aclassified education support
professional education supportprofessionals are very important
to our public schools. They arethe they're the folks who make
it run. Well. They're thethey're the assistants in the in
the office. They're thecustodians. They're the bus
drivers. And and Chris, therewas a recent report that talked
(15:25):
about their pay and the gapbetween what what school
districts are currently payingthem and what the state gives
them for that those salaries.
Right.
Chris Parri (15:33):
Yeah. So a group of legislators asked the office of
performance evaluations to studyhow beat Yeah, essentially the
gap in in classified pay to keepIdaho competitive with
surrounding states and thenation at large. With how we pay
our, you know, cafeteriaworkers, bus drivers, all those
classified folks that youmentioned. And they found that
(15:55):
we were, we were under payingthem by $80 million,
essentially. So the governor sawthat and turn that back around
work with stakeholders to comeup with a plan that actually
increases classified pay by $97million. In recognition of we
don't just want to be hittingthe bare minimum, we don't want
to just be competitive, we wantto be a leader nationwide, in
(16:18):
our not only not only with howwe pay classified staff, not
only with how we pay teachers,or teachers, but with our entire
public education system, he'sbeing really like ambitious and
proactive in forging a newvision of what public education
Idaho can be. And that's, it'spretty awesome to be a part of
it. Well,
Eliza Walton (16:35):
and I think one more thing, when you think about
kind of the pipeline, to, forsomeone to become an educator,
in my everyday work, I talk witheducators who started out as
paraprofessionals, and ESPs. Andthey will, you know, gain
experience in a district andthen they'll go and they'll get
(16:56):
certified as an educator. And soI think, if we are not valuing
our ESPs, we're not going to seethat ability for them to
transition over and to get theircertification. And so, you know,
we hear about the lack ofeducators in Idaho. And so I
think that that's a reallyimportant point that that kind
of gets glossed over is thatmany educators start out as
(17:17):
ESPs, and to recognize the valuethat that they're putting in
there and the experience they'regaining in those districts.
Mike Journee (17:26):
I've got a really great clip here, a teacher from
Kimberly, Rochelle Mueller, shetalked a little bit about this
really important topic.
Rachelle Mueller (17:35):
For me in my district, classified staff has
been a huge issue, we are veryunderstaffed, which creates
bigger issues in our district,we cannot keep Perez in our
classroom, we cannot keepcustodian staff, because we're
just not paying enough. So I asa teacher, I'm sweeping and
vacuuming my own room, whichtakes away from my lesson
(17:58):
planning and migrating. And it'sjust becoming a bigger issue as
the pay gaps are basicallyincreasing in our area.
Mike Journee (18:08):
And, Chris, this is something we've heard from
members all across the state,this is the fact that they're
they're being asked to step up.
Because we have such a hugeeducator vacancy crisis in the
state, they're being asked tostep up and take on roles that
that that are left vacant withinthe school classroom. And every
time they have to attend to asick child, or every time there
(18:28):
is a behavioral problem. Andthere's not a professional staff
member to be able to train to tohandle that. Or anytime,
anything like that happens. Andthey have to deal with it
themselves. The learning lossfor the rest of the class is
something that that our memberstalk about a lot. And it can be
it can be a pretty significantproblem,
Chris Parri (18:49):
right? I mean, our educators are doing so much so
well, with so little right now.
And on top of that, so littletime, right. And as you heard in
that clip, this educator isdoing extra work on top of her
work as a public school teacherdoing the work of the custodian
that we couldn't retain becausethe pay was too low. Right. And
(19:09):
that's, that's illustrative ofthe entire problem with staffing
across the state. When we aren'table to staff public schools at
the right levels. It's not likepublic schools have a lot of
options for like cutting, youknow, a bunch of programs and
stuff, a lot of them will ifthey aren't able to staff those
places, but there's anobligation there to the taxpayer
(19:29):
to offer. You know, publiceducation, everybody. And that
means that this the classroomhas to get cleaned somehow right
or the the food has to getserved in the cafeteria somehow.
And a lot of times that'll fallonto the shoulders of an
educator and administrator.
Someone whose job descriptiondoesn't include that but out of
(19:49):
necessity has to wear that hat.
So as we invest in in botheducator pay to retain and
attract great educators, andclassified pay, we're hope then
we can alleviate that and leteveryone instead of doing you
know, you know, you can be doing100% Great work all the time.
Instead of, you know, spreadingyourself thin and doing all of
these different things, you canreally focus on educating,
(20:12):
writing great curriculum. Andyour lesson plan for that day
that week that month, and givesstudents a great experience,
which they already are doing, ofcourse, it but the the added
load, I think is really toughfor a lot of educators.
Mike Journee (20:29):
On top of that, with the modest pay that
neighboring states, unlessGovernor littles proposal comes
through the neighboring statespay much better and and and they
have more support staff, theyhave more people. So so it makes
a lot of sense for some of oureducators to go to other states.
And we're totally
Chris Parri (20:49):
I grew up on a border, on the border with
Wyoming out there. And we losteducators all the time to
Wyoming because they could payquite a bit more over there. So
narrowing that gap has like aimmediate effect on those,
particularly those bordercommunities where it is easy,
and you the grass is greener,just across the border. So I
(21:11):
mean, personally, I'm thrilledto buy this because I loved some
of those educators that we lostto Wyoming. And I don't blame
the educator for that, ofcourse, they're looking for the
right right place to start afamily and to live make a
living. And it's just reallytough in Idaho. We know it's
expensive here.
Mike Journee (21:26):
Rochelle was among a small group of members who met
directly with Governor Liddellto talk about student behavioral
health and well being and I waslucky enough to sit in on that
conversation. It was a reallygood governor is very eager to
address this issue and be partand part part of that
conversation on top of what he'salready doing, or through
through salaries. And as we'vebeen discussing. And while most
lawmakers agree that somethingneeds to be done, Christopher
(21:49):
Crozier, an AEA member from TwinFalls had this to say about his
conversation with lawmakers onthe topic.
Christopher Crozier (21:56):
There's some disagreement on how we
address mental health issueswith because, you know, there's
no set way to help peoplestruggling with mental health.
And I think there's just somedisagreement on how we can best
funnel those resources to eachof the schools,
Mike Journee (22:11):
the better educator pay should help with
the support educators have inthe school building, and in
turn, that might ease this issuea bit for him. But it sounds
like there's a lot of work to bedone on this. And,
Chris Parri (22:23):
yeah, I mean, it's not just school counselors, but
they're, you know, there's theneed for behavioral
interventionists. And like alitany of different kinds of
services that our schools needto provide adequate care to, to
our students. One stat that Ifound really eye opening was
(22:44):
that the American SchoolCounselors Association
recommends that there shouldthere be 250 students per school
counselor, and in Idaho, we havearound 500 students per school
counselor, so school counselorsare in Idaho are doing twice the
work for a state that is alsoreally rural. So they're, you
know, often they're splitbetween different schools that
(23:05):
are miles and miles apart,trying to treat twice the
workload or twice the caseloadfor the students. And that's
illustrative of kind of theentire kind of problem that we
have here, which is that a lotof people are doing a lot of
great work as best as they can.
But unless we work out thestaffing issues, you're not
getting the you're not going tosee the great outcomes that
(23:25):
could be happening if we weremeeting those staffing levels.
Unknown (23:30):
Yeah, and one of the things that I heard our members
tell lawmakers until thegovernor actually was was that
those counselors, staff that arein that are in our schools are
often drawn into administrativework that has nothing to do with
a student's mental well beingYeah, the and it goes the other
(23:51):
way too, right. Like you hire acareer counselor who should be
helping folks find, you know,find their dream career path,
whatever that looks like in highschool or in middle school. And
the they are being asked to stepinto the role of psychologists,
school psychologists, behavioralinterventionist,
Chris Parri (24:08):
all these things that they didn't sign up for
either. There's a lot of it'sexactly like the educator
cleaning their own classroom.
You have career counselorsbeing, you know, treating
students for their mental healthissues when we should be having
professional mental healthservices in our schools from the
get go.
Mike Journee (24:25):
So in my discussions with members on
Monday, other issues that theybrought up with lawmakers were
kindergarten vouchers. Wehaven't talked about vouchers
much here. But but that was akey a key topic for for many of
them. And then also funding forfacilities and you know, we
often talk about facilities interms of a building being
dilapidated, or the need orneeds to be updated or it's
(24:46):
overcrowded or something likethat. But Lisa Okafor who is
also from Twin Falls, took thistack when she was talking with
lawmakers.
Lisa Odafer (24:55):
Mine has mostly been facilities upgrading and
specifically safety. Not all ofthe schools are really have the
state of the art safety thingsthat, you know, I mean, we keep
having gun threats and bombthreats. And, you know, our
students are concerned and theteachers are concerned. Yeah.
(25:17):
And so that we need the funds tobe able to upgrade our buildings
so that they're more safe.
Mike Journee (25:24):
And so Lisa's take wellness was very important to
the government. In fact, he put$20 million into his budget
recommendations for securityupgrades, Chris and and, you
know, that's, that's a reallyimportant part of this, because
of the headlines that we see alltoo often coming across the,
from across the country aboutthis and about the shootings and
(25:45):
and the things that that thatLisa was talking about. And I
think that's an important thingfor many lawmakers, we're
probably going to see a prettyimportant discussion about this.
And as for the governor budget,I don't know what you think.
Yeah, I
Chris Parri (26:01):
mean, and not only in other parts of the country,
but we had a reallyheartbreaking incident in
eastern Idaho this past year aswell, with a student who brought
a gun to school. But yeah, sothey every couple of years,
there's a safety evaluation doneby the state of this of school
districts. And this, this 20million is an investment to help
bolster the improvementsrecommendation recommended by
(26:24):
those studies. So things likesecuring hard points in the
sorry, skip that I don't knowwhat a hardpoint is. So this
money could go towards ensuringthere's keycard access, single
point of entry, strong doors onthe schools, all those things
really keep the precious cargoinside of the school safe.
(26:47):
educators, students, staff,everybody's safe. So that's a
great investment. See, we'realso hoping that there could be
that this could be used to alsoaddress some of the Mental
Health gaps, as well. We knowmental health is also investing
in mental health and investmentin school safety, and community
safety. So we're hoping thatthis is a holistic approach to
(27:07):
school safety. That includesYes, the physical safety, making
sure that when you walk into aschool everyone feels safe and
able to learn, and also toprevent potential incidents of
violence and behavioral issuesin school. So yeah, it's a
really great investment. Itshows just how kind of dedicated
(27:28):
folks in the State Departmentand State Board and the
governor's office are all tomaking sure that the schools run
smoothly and without as withoutinterruptions and learning loss
as much as possible.
Mike Journee (27:41):
Now, last a year charge of a special group of
members during our during lobbyday, our ies, gems team, which
stands for growing engagemembers, and their their member
organizers that you've beenworking with a bit. Tell us a
little bit about the gemsprogram, and what our goals are
for those members going forward?
Eliza Walton (28:02):
Absolutely. So the greengage member program gems
for short, we are the gem stateis to grow membership and engage
current members in our union. Soone of the ways that we do that
is we provide training ontransformational versus
transactional conversations. Andso one of the ways that that
(28:23):
looks right is training them tohave conversations that build
ongoing relationships with theircolleagues, whether that's a
member, or just someone whoworks across the hall from them.
And, you know, one of thereasons why I'm so excited about
this program is I get to workwith them, I get to check in
with them once a week and sharewith them, you know, the
incredible work that ourgovernment relations team is
(28:45):
doing and ways that they can getthere. The members they know
whether they're in their local,their district or across Idaho
more engaged with, you know,legislative issues this session.
Mike Journee (28:59):
And Lobby Day is a perfect place for those kinds of
skill sets and the and that theythat we want them to build. And
so they came in, they took partand you you help them start
those conversations, right.
Eliza Walton (29:13):
Yeah, so one of the big projects that the gym
team is working on is reachingout to educators across the
state to attend their localLobby Day. So there'll be local
lobby days throughout thesession, I'm sure that we've
spoken and we've sent stuff outabout this. You know, we're very
excited to talk about a littlebit more here. No, that's
(29:33):
fantastic. So one of the reasonswhy I'm excited about this is
because there was so much energyand excitement and momentum
built on the 16th When we wereall in that building together. I
think I stepped I had 1500 stepsthat day. I'm just going back
and forth, you know, acrossacross the building and so the
(29:55):
local lobby days will beprimarily to maintain that
momentum and Keep thatexcitement going and, and
reminding legislators that oureducators have stories that they
need to hear when they'reconsidering policy discussions.
But one thing that I really wantto make sure all of our members
that are that are listening tothis know, if you're considering
(30:16):
attending lobbied local lobbydays is that you don't need to
understand the policy backwardsand forwards. You know, our
incredible government relationsteam created a policy guide
based upon the priorities thatour members set for this
legislative session. And so youcan use that guide to tailor the
stories that you tell to whenyou're when you're having
(30:39):
conversations with legislators.
And so one of the one of the bigthings that drives me is
creating opportunities for folksto engage with that with their
elected representatives. And soI just want you to know that
come and share your stories. Andthat is really what's going to
make the difference in policy.
Mike Journee (31:00):
And we want the our gems to be a central part of
these local lobby days, they'regoing to be engaging with
members and getting them helpinghelping get members now that
they've got a lobby day undertheir belt, they know what's
gonna be happening, right. Andso they'll be able to relay that
to the members that we weretrying to recruit to get engaged
in the local updates, whichwe'll talk about a little bit
more in a second.
Eliza Walton (31:21):
Absolutely.
Lobbying is an intimidatingthing, right? You go into that
building, you don't know whichrooms you have access to which
ones you don't, you don't alwaysknow how to find the offices or
even which floor something ison. And one of the great things
about the gym team is that wehave provided training for them
to understand that and so theycan act as a liaison with
legislators and members comingin on local lobby day.
Mike Journee (31:47):
Right. Now, local lobby day is a new thing for us
guys, we we've we haven't hadthis opportunity. And basically
what it is is an opportunity fora Local Education Association,
to bring members their ownmembers individually,
individually as a as their localeducation association, to the
(32:07):
statehouse and continue the workof the the main lobby day that
we had on Monday. And and it's areally great opportunity for
them to focus specifically ontheir lawmakers and on issues
specific to their schooldistrict. Right, Chris?
Chris Parri (32:22):
That's right. Yeah.
I've already started kind of thefollow up meetings that I want
to have with with legislatorsafter they've spoken to our
educators. This past Lobby Day.
And this is an those are reallyvaluable conversations just for
me for my job. But it'simmensely more valuable and more
impactful to have thoseeducators come back around a
(32:42):
couple of weeks after lobby day,month after Lobby Day and check
in with the priorities thatthey've they were talking about
with that legislator on LobbyDay, the big Lobby Day. So these
little lobby days kind of locallobby days, give the present a
great opportunity for folks toswing back around to the
statehouse, talk to thoselegislators about this
priorities and basically trackthe momentum right
Mike Journee (33:04):
and and bring more of their their colleagues into
the fold and get them engaged inthis in this important work that
that we do down at theStatehouse on behalf of
education policy, right?
Chris Parri (33:15):
And maybe even like scold a few people at play, do
you even do it now? Right? Justkidding, don't do that. Don't do
it, no scolding. How about thatfor local? That's the only rule.
But yeah, there's reallyvaluable conversations that we
had, just following up withfolks and maintain that
relationship.
Mike Journee (33:29):
And engagement is really the bread and butter of
the association without engagedmembers. We don't really have a
robust organization that's goingto be out making positive
changes on behalf of studentsand families through the public
education system. And so that'sthat's a big part of why the the
gyms program started.
Absolutely. And
Eliza Walton (33:51):
one of the key distinctions that we make in the
training that we provide for thegym team, is the difference
between a transactional andtransformational conversation.
And so the way I kind of like tolook at it is that transactional
conversation is join, join ourunion so that you can get
benefits, you can get a discounthere there and you can get
(34:13):
liability insurance versus comejoin a community that is working
to improve public education atthe state level. If we're not
the organization doing it, noone is and we are working
tirelessly to improve publiceducation
Mike Journee (34:29):
and our members right along with us. Right
that's it's such an importantthing to do.
Chris Parri (34:35):
Another really great thing that happened on
Lobby Day was a lunch that I andabout eight educators were able
to have with with DebbieCrutchfield and the new
superintendent of publicinstruction. We all got Panera
and sat in a conference room inthe State Department. And we
chatted mostly actually abouther interest in in professional
(34:57):
development and meeting theneeds of educators and there was
a great He's just such a goodconversation about professional
development opportunities,things that educators ought to
know during school as well. Sowhat we can add to curriculum or
change about what educatorslearn in, in their in university
before they become educators.
And how that could help, youknow, further down the road and
(35:20):
prepare educators even betterfor what they they're actually
going to face in the classroom.
Just really great conversations,I was really impressed by both
the superintendent and by thethe educators and the way they
were able to really just have areally candid and great
conversation reallycollaborative conversation about
professional development andways that the state board of
education might be able to helpour State Department of
(35:41):
Education might be will help outwith that.
Mike Journee (35:43):
And that's, that's such an important part of what
we do for educators through ourCenter for Teaching and
Learning. Summer Institute isone of the great opportunities
for educators to, to come freeof charge to come to a great
three or four day conferencewhere there's all kinds of
public, sorry, professionaldevelopment, put on by members.
(36:05):
And it's it was really excitingthing for me to participate in
last last summer, so
Eliza Walton (36:11):
and you can find more information on local lobby
days on our website, and you'llsee a list of different locals
that are attending on differentweeks. And if you don't see your
local there, reach out to yourPresident and they can schedule
a time for your local to comeout for local lobby days. The
sooner that you get this on thecalendar, the better, because we
(36:33):
want to make sure that everyoneis able to attend those local
lobby days. So check ourwebsite. If you're if you're
locals in there, reach out toyour President and if it is
there, sign up.
Mike Journee (36:44):
That's right.
Idaho eaa.org Is theassociation's website and
there's there's opportunitiesthere to take take a look at. In
addition to that to that is aspecial signup spot for this for
to get an email when we have anew episode of hotline podcast
shameless plug like so take atake a moment to sign up and
(37:05):
we'll send you an email since wehave a new episode out. You can
also listen Of course, anywhereyou listen to your other
podcast. So Well, guys, thanks.
We think we can all agree that IEAS 2023 lobby day was a huge
success. And anyone who wants toget a better feel for what it
was all about. can check out oursocial media feeds, there was a
(37:26):
ton of photos that are that ourmembers took while they were
having their meetings and, andyou can also search for more
information about things. Andwhen you search, the hashtag we
put out there hashtag Idaho I'msorry, hashtag IEA Lobby Day
2023. So thanks for muchdiscussion, guys.
Chris Parri (37:44):
Just one more thing. I just want to thank all
of the legislators or all of theeducators who came down to you
know, spend that day and a halfwith us in the legislature and
for dinner and everything it wasit really put a bunch of wind in
my sails for sure. But I thinkthe entire IAEA staff is getting
a lot of it, it's reallyheartening to know that we're
(38:05):
that supported by our ourmembers and that they're that
our members are so effectivethat they have our back and we
have their back. It's reallyencouraging particularly going
into what we know is going to bea pretty dramatic legislative
session this year for sure.
Mike Journee (38:20):
And their presidents put a lot of wind
into the policies the that wereally want to get get through
the legislature to That's right,it was it was important part of
that. Thanks for that editionChris. Thanks, Eliza. Chris.
Thanks a lot. Thanks, Mike.
Eliza Walton (38:33):
Thanks for having us.
Mike Journee (38:35):
Thank you for listening to Idaho education
Association's hotline podcast.
Thanks as well to my colleaguesChris Perry and Eliza Walton.
Please watch for future updatesabout new episodes on IEA social
media channels, or sign up foremail updates on our website and
Idaho eaa.org. I'm Mike journee.
And as always, I hope you'lljoin me in thanking Idaho's
(38:56):
public school educators foreverything that they do for our
State students, families andpublic schools.
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