February 11, 2023 • 27 mins
In this episode of IEA's HOTLINE Podcast, we discuss Week 4 of the Idaho Legislature’s 2023 session. Our discussion centers around bond and levy elections on March 14 and proposed legislation to limit school district opportunities to put such measures before voters (House Bill 58). We also discuss legislation (House Bill 114) expanding protections for educators from physical violence — a problem educators face all to often — and IEA's coming testimony on Tuesday against the session's first voucher bill (Senate Bill 1038). We also discuss IEA Local Lobby Days, which last Monday included members from Vallivue Education Association and Caldwell Education Association.
Joining the conversation are:
- IEA’s Political Director Chris Parri
- IEA Executive Director Paul Stark
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Mike Journee (00:11):
Welcome to Idaho Education Association's hotline
podcast, a weekly discussionabout what's happening at the
Idaho legislature around publiceducation and the policy
priorities of ies members, IEAmembers 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
every student in the state. I'mMike journee, communications
(00:34):
director at the IEA and I'll beyour host for this episode of
hotline. Today we discuss weekfour of the Idaho legislature is
2023 session. Our discussioncenters around bond and levy
elections on March 14, and theproposed legislation to limit
school district opportunities toput such measures before voters.
We also discuss legislationexpanding protections for
educators from physicalviolence, a problem educators
(00:56):
face all too often. And nextweek's hearing on the sessions
first voucher bill. joining mefor today's conversation, our
IEA political director ChrisPerry, and IEA executive
director Paul Stark.
Chris, Paul, thanks for joiningus. For this discussion about
week four of the Idaholegislature. It's been things
are starting to pick up quite abit with the legislature, we've
(01:19):
got a couple bills that we wantto talk about today. And we want
to talk about them in context incontext, one, at least one of
them in context, what'shappening in the real world.
There's a bill that's come out,House Bill 58, to eliminate
March and August, schoolelection dates, traditionally,
there's been four days forschool districts can come before
(01:40):
taxpayers in their district andask them for bonds and levies.
We have a bill here that's goingto try to eliminate two of those
one in March one in August. Infact, we have an election set to
go this March March 14. And Idid a little bit of a little bit
of research around what's on theagenda for the for the ballots
around the state. And we've gotabout 16 districts that are
(02:03):
gonna be holding bond or levyelections, asking local
taxpayers for around $400million. Right, and we're gonna
and we can talk about, we cantalk about bonds and levies and
kind of the baked in nature.
They are have they have withschool districts, budgets these
days. But first and foremost,let's talk about this
legislation. Have you have youheard much about this bill? What
(02:23):
do you think about it, Chris?
Chris Parri (02:27):
So I'm not excited about it. So the representative,
his justification was that, youknow, elections cost a bunch of
taxpayer money, and why notconsolidate them all into the
ones that we have, you know,that are that everyone's most
familiar with the primaryelections on 11 years and the
general elections on an 11years. To me, I look at the kind
(02:47):
of the broader landscape ofgovernance in Idaho. And I look
at how folks feel about thelegislature, which is not great.
I think they have pretty, it's apretty low approval rating for
the Idaho legislature but thencontrasting that with how people
feel about their localgovernment. Those local
government elections are on oddyears, they're kind of they're
out of the scope of the the kindof more politically charged kind
(03:10):
of general elections nationalstate general elections. And
it's kind of similar with Ithink, school levies and bonds,
when you have these kind ofunique local elections. The
partisanship and the issue, theyou know, high level kind of
ideological back and forth, thatthat doesn't really filter down
to the taxpayer kind of getsfiltered away, and people have a
much more okay, the issue I'mvoting on is my public schools,
(03:34):
it's much more practical cutsthrough a lot of that other you
know, kind of, well, garbagereally, that we kind of deal
with in those more, those biggerelections where, you know, it is
super politically charged, andreally gets people focus on the
issue at hand school districts.
Paul Stark (03:50):
Yeah, there was a day that education was not
political, if we can imaginethat. But it has been so
politicized, remember, locallevies, local bonds, those are
local issues, and those areasking the community to support
their public schools.
Traditionally, of course,supplemental levies were to buy
a new band uniforms orinstruments, you know, bonds
were like what we needed to buy,you know, kind of work towards
(04:13):
in a new building or somethingof that sort. But now they've
become survival levees andsurvival bonds really, bonds are
to keep, you know, ceilings fromfalling in nowadays. And levees
are just to keep the lights onand really, when you when you
say that amount, 16. Mike withwhat 400 million? Is that what
you said? You know, that? Isn'tthat just a barometer on how how
(04:33):
the legislature has reallywalked away from their
constitutional responsibilities.
Mike Journee (04:42):
That's right.
We've talked about that a numberof times on this on this podcast
about about the fact that theythat local school districts rely
on this money and that's not theway supposed to be they were
they're originally intended tobe for emergencies. They're
really intended to be for shortterm needs, and things beyond
the scope of provide In anequitable and foundational
education for students, and butthey've turned into something
(05:05):
very different. And I think onereally good example that's on
the ballot this March is encoderlane. We've been hearing from
members there that are concernedabout that election up there,
they've got a bond measure on onthe ballot that's going to
they're asking the schooldistrict asking for it to be in
perpetuity for $25 million. Andthat's, that's, that's a quarter
(05:27):
of the school district's budget.
And if that doesn't pass, andthen if recent history is any
indication, it's going to be ait's going to be a tough one to
pass. There's going to besignificant programmatic cuts,
there's going to be significant,perhaps educator cuts, and also
salary cuts to those who don'tget laid off. So, you know, this
(05:50):
really, I think, underlines howmuch of a of a systemic and
endemic problem this is forschool districts. One thing I
often hear lawmakers talk aboutPaul is is how, and I think this
might be what this is aimed atis how school districts come
back for a second bites at theapple if they don't pass one
previously. But at the sametime, this is really about the
(06:13):
desperate need for this funding.
Paul Stark (06:14):
Yeah, that's right.
It's hard to say second bites ofthe apple. And when you when you
haven't had your dinner, youknow, of course, you want one
more more than one bite, you'regoing to try to because these
districts are starving thesupplemental levies or survival
levies, and in Cordyline, inparticular, any of the listeners
that are listening to thisshould wake up and pay attention
to this one because a failure topass this Levy and quarter lane
(06:34):
will likely mean some verydraconian things happening to
the school district. Cordylineis a fantastic school district
and has been for many years. Butthere are some outside of the
school district, some political,very politically charged
entities that are workingactively to defeat this Levy,
which will only result in adegradation of the services that
(06:58):
are provided to the students andthe opportunities to provide
these students remember, let'snot forget we're talking about
students here. We're talkingabout their the future of of the
United States, we're talkingabout, you know, who pays your
Social Security kind of thing.
This is very, very important. Wecannot neglect our kids.
Mike Journee (07:20):
Right. And and Chris, we've heard from from
members up there that that theyexpect if cuts do come we're
talking about importantprograms, like career technical
education, we're talking aboutspecial education, we're talking
about sports, sports, yeah.
Chris Parri (07:35):
I mean, music, art, all of that stuff is on the
chopping block in particular. Imean, this is a huge chunk of
their budget, they just, they'regonna have to, if it doesn't
pass, they're gonna have troublejust keeping the lights on, let
alone staffing art music. Band,well band is music, but sports
and all the things youmentioned, like, and that's
what's so kind of when I thinkabout bills like this one, going
(07:55):
back to that one, like, if thisis what it looks like when
things become political, youliterally have folks advocating
for the destruction of art,music, sports programs, imagine
what's going to look like ifthey if they consolidate all of
these issues into the Mayprimary in the November general
election, imagine them all ofthat.
Paul Stark (08:15):
Well, the issue becomes a lot less local,
doesn't it? Right? I mean, theseare local, this is a local
community saying we're going toas a community, support our
school districts, well, nowthey're getting all tied in to
all of the national politics,all of the other statewide
politics. And it becomes verymuch not a local issue at that
point.
Chris Parri (08:34):
And that's kind of what I mean that that's kind of
what they want, right? Like theyanything they can do to put
distance between a schooldistrict and the needs of the
students there. And the voter,they they want that they do want
to see public funding go downfor public education. We know
that. And this is just a furtherkind of extension of another
scheme to try and do that.
Matt Compton (08:55):
And for anybody who wants to follow along, it's
it's House Bill 58. It wasbrought forward by
Representative Alfieri. And ityou know, this quick rundown of
some of the other items that aregoing to be on the ballot, you
know, we have Kuna. They'regoing to be going and asking for
$111 million dollars. This year,one of the fastest growing
districts cities in the statewith the fast one of the fastest
(09:17):
growing districts and they havefacility needs that they need to
get get out. And this is part ofthe start of a 10 year
apparently a 10 year strategythat they have for funding their
growth out there. We also haveNampa, who is asking for 200
million for new schools andrepairs of aging buildings. So
again, you know this these arefundamental costs for operating
(09:38):
a school district not nice tohave.
Paul Stark (09:41):
What are the issue we should talk about really is
that a few years back, thelegislature put in some laws
that really kind of put a gagorder on school districts on
their abilities to discuss withthe public the need for these
levies. And so what we have iswe have districts just dying for
survival. I mean really lowLooking at cutting just all of
(10:01):
these programs, these importantstudent programs, and they can't
say very much at all about it.
And then on the other hand, wehave some groups, some
politically motivated,politically funded groups out
there that are hardcore fightingagainst it. And it's not really
a fair fight. It's not a levelplaying ground at that point,
when there's people that canjust throw out any kind of
allegation. And the district isjust extremely limited on what
(10:25):
they can even say they can'teven respond to some of those
allegations. And this is, again,why I think the community really
has to wake up and take a lookat these things. Because if they
really come see what's happeningto districts, they'll realize
some of the propaganda isabsolutely unfounded. And then
they'll also realize the hardwork that these public educators
are doing in their localdistrict, and how much the
(10:46):
students that are benefiting byit.
Chris Parri (10:50):
Yeah, all we got, you know, our competitive
advantage in these fights ispeople that's what we got, the
other side has enough money topepper the whole district with
mail and lies and all thatstuff. We all we have is our
members and the folks in thecommunity who care about their
public schools. So it's, it'scritically important that
members can be that first. Frontin this fight for our school,
(11:13):
fundings, and our public schoolstudents. I mean, it's, it's
wild to think that art musicsports are on the chopping block
like this,
Paul Stark (11:19):
And educators need to talk about it. Yeah, that's
what I mean, like, like, thetime to be passive or the time
for apathy is long past. Theyneed to talk about with their
family members, with theirneighbors, with their parents,
and really let them know what'sat stake.
Mike Journee (11:34):
And going back to this legislation that's here,
it's going to limit our, ourschool districts ability to come
forward and ask members, or askthe public about, about taxing
themselves for their schools.
And so we want to make sure thatthat this bill goes down. We're
working on that and we will keepfolks informed about where where
(11:54):
it stands. Let's move on then,guys. So another legend. Another
bill that we want to talk about,is a bill about violence against
teachers and was brought forwardby Representative Chris Mathias,
and it's co sponsored by theVice Chair of the House
Education Committee, LoriMcCann, as well as IEA member so
many modalities whoserepresentative from the Boise
(12:18):
area and and this bill is goingto expand protections to cover
all public school employees whowho experience violence
currently, teachers are the oneseducators are the ones who are
certified educators are the oneswho are protected by this.
Anyone who abuses a schooldistrict school teacher in the
presence can be charged with amisdemeanor, this expands it a
(12:40):
little bit. And, and it alsozeroes in on definition about
what this abuse could be. And itsays to willfully and
maliciously threaten, harass orcoerce or intimidate. And
Representative Matthias made apoint of saying, you know, the
current legislation is a littlemore vague about what that even
means. So he's clearing that up.
(13:01):
Chris, what are your thoughtsabout this situation?
Chris Parri (13:03):
Represent Matthias is a great, great ally to public
educators. And so So is LorieMcCann represented Lorie McCann
and Representative galleries.
And this is a good I think,starting place for a bigger
discussion about kind of deescalating some of the behaviors
that we've seen, both fromoutside of schools and within
(13:23):
schools to obviously, ourmember. This is unfortunately,
not news to our members, butteachers across the state face
abuse from students and frommembers of the public,
particularly when educationbecomes the crosshairs for
political opportunistsnationwide, statewide. So I
really liked this bill. It'salso nice and short, which, as
(13:46):
far as education policy goes,thank goodness. And it does kind
of expand the protections to allschool employees,
administrators, classifiedstaff, including teachers, and
cleans up that definition ofabuse. And I think it's a good
foundation for for morelegislation on this subject.
Paul Stark (14:03):
Yeah. You know, on a quick note to how refreshing it
is to see Democrats andRepublicans working together. I
mean, I mean, we need more ofthat, like the country is way
too divided. And to finally seethis kind of thing happening.
It's just so refreshing,especially to in this notion,
like, I'm curious how the votesare gonna go on this because who
would be in favor of abuse andintimidation and harassment of
(14:27):
anybody? Like who would beopposed to this bill? That seems
like so natural, like, yes, ofcourse, we don't want educators
to be abused. Of course, wedon't want educators to be
intimidated, you know, so it's,it's remarkable that we would
see any opposition whatsoever tothis. But I'm just I'm just I'm
pleased as punch to see thatwe're finally hopefully in Idaho
(14:50):
getting past these partisantribalism and we're working
towards a place where a sensiblerational, good for people good
for students legislation and cancome forward.
Mike Journee (15:01):
Yeah, it's also kind of a shame that it has to
happen too, because it'ssomething that we've that we see
too many headlines in theheadlines are simply the ones
that we know about. And we hearabout on a daily basis, we've
talked about it on this, on thisshow on this podcast before,
where this is really, for mostof our members, this is really
about educating kids in theclassroom and the disruptions
(15:23):
that happen as a result of it.
Often, we also, I think, I wantto bring in the educator vacancy
crisis that that Idaho iscurrently experiencing. And one
of the ways that we often talkabout this issue is around
around the vacancy. Crisis isthe pay situation and how little
pay they get. This is this isreally, but it's really about
(15:45):
the amount of pay they get forthe for the things that they
have to do. And, and that'simportant. And so this brings
back comes back to thegovernor's pay package that he
brought forward for the state ofthe at the state of the state,
and the importance of investingin all of our educators and the
pay that we offer them so thatwe can bring more adults into
the building, as Matt Comptonlikes to say, and and have them
(16:07):
there and to help help whenthere is a crisis around
behavior. Yeah,
Chris Parri (16:16):
I think we've long heard from members about the two
sides of the scale, kind of likeyou mentioned, right? There's,
there's the pay and benefits andstuff on one side of the scale.
On the other side of the scale,it's usually in the terms we we
hear from members is respect,right? Respect. And in that is
includes things like abuse of ofeducators, and harassment and
(16:36):
all that stuff. And I think,like you said, they're just not
getting paid enough to deal withthe stuff they have to so
there's the governor side, raisethe pay, and on the other side,
start making sure they'reprotected and giving classified
staff to the same same access tothose protections. So I'm hoping
we're moving forward on bothsides of that scale.
Paul Stark (16:56):
The abuses crossed the line, frankly, it is it is
long past the day to to look outfor the type of abuse that is
happening to educators every dayin the districts. And that's
that's, that's, that's somethingthat absolutely needs to be
addressed. But you're right,Mike, the the amount of pay
you're given is commensuratewith the duties you're asked to
(17:20):
do. And it was hard enoughalready, as an educator to
educate kids, which is achallenging task, anybody who
doesn't think so take a day as asubstitute teacher, would you
please just one day go in andoffered a substitute and you'll
find out exactly what this kindof job does. But the abuse needs
to be stopped. And it needs tobe stopped immediately. What we
(17:43):
find is not only are educatorsabused, but certainly the
administrators and even theschool board members are really
abused when it comes to anyattempt to say this behavior is
not acceptable. And somehowwe've got we've got ourselves to
a place where educators areexpected to tolerate any and
(18:03):
every behavior no matter how badit is, and take it with a smile
on their face for less than youcan make at McDonald's. And
that's just, frankly, a badplace to be. So I'm really happy
to see this coming about. And myhope is this will encourage our
educators to stay in theprofession.
Mike Journee (18:22):
Alright guys, so let's talk a little bit more
about vouchers. We're going tohave Tammy Nichols was the
voucher bill is before us. Thisweek. There was a hearing set
for Tuesday. And we've talkedabout this bill pretty
significantly. We talked aboutvouchers pretty significantly.
The sponsors of thislegislation, like to call it an
education savings account, whichwe all know is is codeword for a
(18:45):
voucher. And so, Paul, you'regoing to be you're going to be
testifying on behalf of ourmembers on Tuesday during this
hearing. And what are you goingto tell him?
Paul Stark (18:53):
Well, absolutely.
It's it is a voucher. And that'sthe thing is, is the proponents
of this bill know full well,what the terminology means and
they're trying their best to,you know, it's voucher
proponents try not to use theword voucher. But anytime that
you see taxpayer dollars beingfunneled, even if it's through a
third party, it's been funneledto pay tuition at private
(19:16):
schools, ding, ding, ding, ding.
That's a voucher. And let's notbe dissuaded by the talk of
those proponents. But mostly,I'm going to talk about
accountability. And that'sreally a huge issue that
everybody needs to understand isthese taxpayer dollars have
essentially zero accountability.
It is a handout, mostly towealthy individuals, mostly to
(19:38):
those that live in in urbanareas. The rural districts don't
see any of this money. In fact,they'll see a drain from their
districts that will flow andwe've talked about this before.
But accountability means thatthere's not an elected official
that can be hold accountable ifthese monies are spent
improperly. We see that intraditional schools. We see that
in charter schools, we see thateverywhere. But in this
(19:59):
instance, it is the proverbialblank check. And once that money
goes, guess what you taxpayers,you have no clue how it's being
used or why it's being used. Youdon't get to understand if
they're meeting any kind ofparticular criteria or
curriculum or standards areanything. And this legislature
has been hardcore about teacheraccountability about school
(20:23):
district accountability for agesnow for a decade, more or more,
and all of a sudden, we're readyto write the blank check. It
just makes no sense.
Mike Journee (20:33):
And even if taxpayers could understand
what's happening with this tax,these tax dollars, and if they
decide they don't like it, theyhave no recourse whatsoever. i
There's no way to unelectsomebody, there's no way to deal
with it. Unless they're unlessthey go after state lawmakers
who decide that they vouchersare a good idea. There's not
really any recourse recourse forthem at all.
Chris Parri (20:53):
So it's never been repealed thus far in any of the
states that have passed it evenwhen the budgets explode. I
mean, Arizona is, is a testamentto this Wisconsin as well,
Wisconsin, we got the oldestvoucher program in the country,
the tax property tax dollarshave gone through the roof. And
so I mean, we've talked aboutthis before, but like it's, it's
wild to talk with one side ofyour mouth about property tax
(21:15):
relief, and then the other withvouchers. These are these are
mutually exclusive programs. Onecauses property taxes go up, no
matter. However you square it,it's gone up every state that
passes vouchers, and every statethat passes vouchers, the
ratchet goes one direction, andthat's bigger, bigger, bigger,
bigger, and less funding forpublic schools that the local
communities have to pick up thetab for and most of those local
(21:36):
communities that are picking upthe tab, rural, already
underfunded, same problem we
Paul Stark (21:41):
Absolutely. I've I was speaking to someone
yesterday who was telling meabout Arizona, and the amount of
tax increases that they aregoing to experience just to fund
their voucher programs isphenomenal. And there's some
that estimate it could be closeto a billion dollars here very
soon in Arizona to pay for theirvoucher program. I mean, that's
(22:02):
the that's the exact opposite ofwhat most of our legislators
talked about, which is lowertaxes and lower government, what
we're creating is a bureaucracyand a tax scheme that we will
never get out of.
Mike Journee (22:14):
And you juxtapose that against the earlier
conversation about bonds andlevies and Coeur d'Alene looking
for survival money, right,versus this kind of a program
that's going to take even moremoney away from public school.
Chris Parri (22:25):
We have this awesome college student in the
office doing work for us througha fellowship program and the way
she put it this morning was youknow, so you got a pothole and
we keep on through these bondand levy elections we keep on
just replacing tires constantly,constantly, constantly make the
car run. And what if we justfilled the pothole? What if we
just funded our public schools?
Sheesh, I get fired up guys. Idon't know.
Mike Journee (22:50):
So Nichols' bill is going to be up on Tuesday.
We'll be there to register...
Paul S (22:57):
Happy Valentine's Day...
Chris Parri (22:59):
Romantic...
Mike Journee (23:00):
...our discontent, our members discontent with such
legislation that our members arevehemently opposed to any
voucher bill. And so they'regoing to be it'd be well
represented by by Mr. Starkhere. So. So Chris, we wanted to
before we locked off, we want totalk a little bit about local
lobby days. On on the on thesixth, we had Valleyview and
Calwell. at the statehouse,talking with lawmakers, I
(23:22):
believe you had an opportunityto spend some time with them.
Tell us a little bit about whatthey did what who they talked to
what were they talking about?
Chris Parri (23:28):
Yep. So they were they were talking quite a bit
about vouchers. They they got toquite a few of their senators
and representatives from thatarea. And some really great
conversations happened. I mean,they talked to some of the most
conservative people in thatarea. And now those folks, those
same senators are, they're stillkind of on the train of some of
these social issues. But they'rekind of also talking about how
(23:50):
cool the Valley View andCaldwell teachers are because
they are extremely cool. And,yeah, we got some really great
feedback from the educators andfrom the legislators that I've
spoken to and follow upconversations and stuff. So
yeah, I couldn't be prouder ofthose educators, they're doing a
great job up there.
Mike Journee (24:07):
So these local lobby days are are working,
they're hit. And that's youknow, that's the whole intent is
to get educators in front oflawmakers so that they can talk
about their day to day, and whathow the issues and the policies
that the legislature isconsidering impact them in the
classroom.
Paul Stark (24:22):
I would like to say to that one of the most powerful
tools that those that arelistening to this have is to
tell your real life stories, youknow, the propaganda out there
and the speculation and all thatwe've seen that over and over
and over again, just dogwhistles about social issues and
things like that, that have nobasis in reality, certainly not
in Idaho. But you educators thatare listening, please tell your
(24:45):
story. And that means getting onyour social media account and
telling your actual story.
Obviously, you don't includestudent names and things like
that. But what you do is you saythis is the reality I faced
these are the kinds of thingsI'm looking at. These are the
kinds of things I'm funding outof my own pocket. These are the
textbooks that I'm using that areference to the, you know,
George W. Bush administration asthe current administration. This
(25:08):
is the kind of stories you needto tell, because you're you're
working so hard out there,you're doing your best and
you're doing a great job. Butthe general public doesn't
understand exactly what what'swhat's happening. And so we need
you to tell your stories. So anyof those that are inclined to do
so that are listening, please,please, please tell your story.
We need that.
Mike Journee (25:29):
And if you and if you're you're interested in
having your local come, we stillhave time, probably in some
vacancies here later in thesession, Chris, for oh, yeah,
for for any of the IEA localsthat want to come for a local
lobby day, on March 28. We haveJim County Education Association
and the Kashi County EducationAssociation, that are going to
be here. And also Idaho FallsEducation Association as well.
(25:52):
So we've got three that aregoing to be here on the 20th.
That'll be a great opportunity.
And but if you're interested,and our members are listening,
talk to your local localpresident and it's on this is
something that your local shouldbe doing.
Chris Parri (26:07):
Absolutely. It's such a good opportunity to, I
mean, some of these extremelyconservative legislators that I
mentioned, like, I do want tomeet with them. But there's a
herder curdle there, and to haveeducators kind of get in there
and to share their stories andstart like actually relating to
these folks and having goodconversations and building good
relationships, makes my job wayeasier and helps education
(26:29):
policy. get better over time.
Yeah.
Mike Journee (26:32):
Well, gentlemen, thank you once again for joining
us for this for this episode ofthe hotline podcast. Thanks,
Mikey rock. Yep. Thanks.
Thank you for listening to Idahoeducation Association's hotline
podcast and this discussionabout week four of the 2023
legislature. Thanks as well tomy colleagues, Chris Perry and
Paul Stark for joining me.
Please watch for future updatesabout new episodes on IEA social
(26:54):
media channels, or sign up foremail updates on our website at
Idaho eaa.org. I'm Mike journee.
And as always, I hope you joinme in thanking Idaho's public
school educators for everythingthey do for a State students,
families and public schools.
Welcome to Idaho Education Association's hotline
podcast, a weekly discussionabout what's happening at the
Idaho legislature around publiceducation and the policy
priorities of ies members, IEAmembers 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
every student in the state. I'mMike journee, communications
(00:34):
director at the IEA and I'll beyour host for this episode of
hotline. Today we discuss weekfour of the Idaho legislature is
2023 session. Our discussioncenters around bond and levy
elections on March 14, and theproposed legislation to limit
school district opportunities toput such measures before voters.
We also discuss legislationexpanding protections for
educators from physicalviolence, a problem educators
(00:56):
face all too often. And nextweek's hearing on the sessions
first voucher bill. joining mefor today's conversation, our
IEA political director ChrisPerry, and IEA executive
director Paul Stark.
Chris, Paul, thanks for joiningus. For this discussion about
week four of the Idaholegislature. It's been things
are starting to pick up quite abit with the legislature, we've
(01:19):
got a couple bills that we wantto talk about today. And we want
to talk about them in context incontext, one, at least one of
them in context, what'shappening in the real world.
There's a bill that's come out,House Bill 58, to eliminate
March and August, schoolelection dates, traditionally,
there's been four days forschool districts can come before
(01:40):
taxpayers in their district andask them for bonds and levies.
We have a bill here that's goingto try to eliminate two of those
one in March one in August. Infact, we have an election set to
go this March March 14. And Idid a little bit of a little bit
of research around what's on theagenda for the for the ballots
around the state. And we've gotabout 16 districts that are
(02:03):
gonna be holding bond or levyelections, asking local
taxpayers for around $400million. Right, and we're gonna
and we can talk about, we cantalk about bonds and levies and
kind of the baked in nature.
They are have they have withschool districts, budgets these
days. But first and foremost,let's talk about this
legislation. Have you have youheard much about this bill? What
(02:23):
do you think about it, Chris?
Chris Parri (02:27):
So I'm not excited about it. So the representative,
his justification was that, youknow, elections cost a bunch of
taxpayer money, and why notconsolidate them all into the
ones that we have, you know,that are that everyone's most
familiar with the primaryelections on 11 years and the
general elections on an 11years. To me, I look at the kind
(02:47):
of the broader landscape ofgovernance in Idaho. And I look
at how folks feel about thelegislature, which is not great.
I think they have pretty, it's apretty low approval rating for
the Idaho legislature but thencontrasting that with how people
feel about their localgovernment. Those local
government elections are on oddyears, they're kind of they're
out of the scope of the the kindof more politically charged kind
(03:10):
of general elections nationalstate general elections. And
it's kind of similar with Ithink, school levies and bonds,
when you have these kind ofunique local elections. The
partisanship and the issue, theyou know, high level kind of
ideological back and forth, thatthat doesn't really filter down
to the taxpayer kind of getsfiltered away, and people have a
much more okay, the issue I'mvoting on is my public schools,
(03:34):
it's much more practical cutsthrough a lot of that other you
know, kind of, well, garbagereally, that we kind of deal
with in those more, those biggerelections where, you know, it is
super politically charged, andreally gets people focus on the
issue at hand school districts.
Paul Stark (03:50):
Yeah, there was a day that education was not
political, if we can imaginethat. But it has been so
politicized, remember, locallevies, local bonds, those are
local issues, and those areasking the community to support
their public schools.
Traditionally, of course,supplemental levies were to buy
a new band uniforms orinstruments, you know, bonds
were like what we needed to buy,you know, kind of work towards
(04:13):
in a new building or somethingof that sort. But now they've
become survival levees andsurvival bonds really, bonds are
to keep, you know, ceilings fromfalling in nowadays. And levees
are just to keep the lights onand really, when you when you
say that amount, 16. Mike withwhat 400 million? Is that what
you said? You know, that? Isn'tthat just a barometer on how how
(04:33):
the legislature has reallywalked away from their
constitutional responsibilities.
Mike Journee (04:42):
That's right.
We've talked about that a numberof times on this on this podcast
about about the fact that theythat local school districts rely
on this money and that's not theway supposed to be they were
they're originally intended tobe for emergencies. They're
really intended to be for shortterm needs, and things beyond
the scope of provide In anequitable and foundational
education for students, and butthey've turned into something
(05:05):
very different. And I think onereally good example that's on
the ballot this March is encoderlane. We've been hearing from
members there that are concernedabout that election up there,
they've got a bond measure on onthe ballot that's going to
they're asking the schooldistrict asking for it to be in
perpetuity for $25 million. Andthat's, that's, that's a quarter
(05:27):
of the school district's budget.
And if that doesn't pass, andthen if recent history is any
indication, it's going to be ait's going to be a tough one to
pass. There's going to besignificant programmatic cuts,
there's going to be significant,perhaps educator cuts, and also
salary cuts to those who don'tget laid off. So, you know, this
(05:50):
really, I think, underlines howmuch of a of a systemic and
endemic problem this is forschool districts. One thing I
often hear lawmakers talk aboutPaul is is how, and I think this
might be what this is aimed atis how school districts come
back for a second bites at theapple if they don't pass one
previously. But at the sametime, this is really about the
(06:13):
desperate need for this funding.
Paul Stark (06:14):
Yeah, that's right.
It's hard to say second bites ofthe apple. And when you when you
haven't had your dinner, youknow, of course, you want one
more more than one bite, you'regoing to try to because these
districts are starving thesupplemental levies or survival
levies, and in Cordyline, inparticular, any of the listeners
that are listening to thisshould wake up and pay attention
to this one because a failure topass this Levy and quarter lane
(06:34):
will likely mean some verydraconian things happening to
the school district. Cordylineis a fantastic school district
and has been for many years. Butthere are some outside of the
school district, some political,very politically charged
entities that are workingactively to defeat this Levy,
which will only result in adegradation of the services that
(06:58):
are provided to the students andthe opportunities to provide
these students remember, let'snot forget we're talking about
students here. We're talkingabout their the future of of the
United States, we're talkingabout, you know, who pays your
Social Security kind of thing.
This is very, very important. Wecannot neglect our kids.
Mike Journee (07:20):
Right. And and Chris, we've heard from from
members up there that that theyexpect if cuts do come we're
talking about importantprograms, like career technical
education, we're talking aboutspecial education, we're talking
about sports, sports, yeah.
Chris Parri (07:35):
I mean, music, art, all of that stuff is on the
chopping block in particular. Imean, this is a huge chunk of
their budget, they just, they'regonna have to, if it doesn't
pass, they're gonna have troublejust keeping the lights on, let
alone staffing art music. Band,well band is music, but sports
and all the things youmentioned, like, and that's
what's so kind of when I thinkabout bills like this one, going
(07:55):
back to that one, like, if thisis what it looks like when
things become political, youliterally have folks advocating
for the destruction of art,music, sports programs, imagine
what's going to look like ifthey if they consolidate all of
these issues into the Mayprimary in the November general
election, imagine them all ofthat.
Paul Stark (08:15):
Well, the issue becomes a lot less local,
doesn't it? Right? I mean, theseare local, this is a local
community saying we're going toas a community, support our
school districts, well, nowthey're getting all tied in to
all of the national politics,all of the other statewide
politics. And it becomes verymuch not a local issue at that
point.
Chris Parri (08:34):
And that's kind of what I mean that that's kind of
what they want, right? Like theyanything they can do to put
distance between a schooldistrict and the needs of the
students there. And the voter,they they want that they do want
to see public funding go downfor public education. We know
that. And this is just a furtherkind of extension of another
scheme to try and do that.
Matt Compton (08:55):
And for anybody who wants to follow along, it's
it's House Bill 58. It wasbrought forward by
Representative Alfieri. And ityou know, this quick rundown of
some of the other items that aregoing to be on the ballot, you
know, we have Kuna. They'regoing to be going and asking for
$111 million dollars. This year,one of the fastest growing
districts cities in the statewith the fast one of the fastest
(09:17):
growing districts and they havefacility needs that they need to
get get out. And this is part ofthe start of a 10 year
apparently a 10 year strategythat they have for funding their
growth out there. We also haveNampa, who is asking for 200
million for new schools andrepairs of aging buildings. So
again, you know this these arefundamental costs for operating
(09:38):
a school district not nice tohave.
Paul Stark (09:41):
What are the issue we should talk about really is
that a few years back, thelegislature put in some laws
that really kind of put a gagorder on school districts on
their abilities to discuss withthe public the need for these
levies. And so what we have iswe have districts just dying for
survival. I mean really lowLooking at cutting just all of
(10:01):
these programs, these importantstudent programs, and they can't
say very much at all about it.
And then on the other hand, wehave some groups, some
politically motivated,politically funded groups out
there that are hardcore fightingagainst it. And it's not really
a fair fight. It's not a levelplaying ground at that point,
when there's people that canjust throw out any kind of
allegation. And the district isjust extremely limited on what
(10:25):
they can even say they can'teven respond to some of those
allegations. And this is, again,why I think the community really
has to wake up and take a lookat these things. Because if they
really come see what's happeningto districts, they'll realize
some of the propaganda isabsolutely unfounded. And then
they'll also realize the hardwork that these public educators
are doing in their localdistrict, and how much the
(10:46):
students that are benefiting byit.
Chris Parri (10:50):
Yeah, all we got, you know, our competitive
advantage in these fights ispeople that's what we got, the
other side has enough money topepper the whole district with
mail and lies and all thatstuff. We all we have is our
members and the folks in thecommunity who care about their
public schools. So it's, it'scritically important that
members can be that first. Frontin this fight for our school,
(11:13):
fundings, and our public schoolstudents. I mean, it's, it's
wild to think that art musicsports are on the chopping block
like this,
Paul Stark (11:19):
And educators need to talk about it. Yeah, that's
what I mean, like, like, thetime to be passive or the time
for apathy is long past. Theyneed to talk about with their
family members, with theirneighbors, with their parents,
and really let them know what'sat stake.
Mike Journee (11:34):
And going back to this legislation that's here,
it's going to limit our, ourschool districts ability to come
forward and ask members, or askthe public about, about taxing
themselves for their schools.
And so we want to make sure thatthat this bill goes down. We're
working on that and we will keepfolks informed about where where
(11:54):
it stands. Let's move on then,guys. So another legend. Another
bill that we want to talk about,is a bill about violence against
teachers and was brought forwardby Representative Chris Mathias,
and it's co sponsored by theVice Chair of the House
Education Committee, LoriMcCann, as well as IEA member so
many modalities whoserepresentative from the Boise
(12:18):
area and and this bill is goingto expand protections to cover
all public school employees whowho experience violence
currently, teachers are the oneseducators are the ones who are
certified educators are the oneswho are protected by this.
Anyone who abuses a schooldistrict school teacher in the
presence can be charged with amisdemeanor, this expands it a
(12:40):
little bit. And, and it alsozeroes in on definition about
what this abuse could be. And itsays to willfully and
maliciously threaten, harass orcoerce or intimidate. And
Representative Matthias made apoint of saying, you know, the
current legislation is a littlemore vague about what that even
means. So he's clearing that up.
(13:01):
Chris, what are your thoughtsabout this situation?
Chris Parri (13:03):
Represent Matthias is a great, great ally to public
educators. And so So is LorieMcCann represented Lorie McCann
and Representative galleries.
And this is a good I think,starting place for a bigger
discussion about kind of deescalating some of the behaviors
that we've seen, both fromoutside of schools and within
(13:23):
schools to obviously, ourmember. This is unfortunately,
not news to our members, butteachers across the state face
abuse from students and frommembers of the public,
particularly when educationbecomes the crosshairs for
political opportunistsnationwide, statewide. So I
really liked this bill. It'salso nice and short, which, as
(13:46):
far as education policy goes,thank goodness. And it does kind
of expand the protections to allschool employees,
administrators, classifiedstaff, including teachers, and
cleans up that definition ofabuse. And I think it's a good
foundation for for morelegislation on this subject.
Paul Stark (14:03):
Yeah. You know, on a quick note to how refreshing it
is to see Democrats andRepublicans working together. I
mean, I mean, we need more ofthat, like the country is way
too divided. And to finally seethis kind of thing happening.
It's just so refreshing,especially to in this notion,
like, I'm curious how the votesare gonna go on this because who
would be in favor of abuse andintimidation and harassment of
(14:27):
anybody? Like who would beopposed to this bill? That seems
like so natural, like, yes, ofcourse, we don't want educators
to be abused. Of course, wedon't want educators to be
intimidated, you know, so it's,it's remarkable that we would
see any opposition whatsoever tothis. But I'm just I'm just I'm
pleased as punch to see thatwe're finally hopefully in Idaho
(14:50):
getting past these partisantribalism and we're working
towards a place where a sensiblerational, good for people good
for students legislation and cancome forward.
Mike Journee (15:01):
Yeah, it's also kind of a shame that it has to
happen too, because it'ssomething that we've that we see
too many headlines in theheadlines are simply the ones
that we know about. And we hearabout on a daily basis, we've
talked about it on this, on thisshow on this podcast before,
where this is really, for mostof our members, this is really
about educating kids in theclassroom and the disruptions
(15:23):
that happen as a result of it.
Often, we also, I think, I wantto bring in the educator vacancy
crisis that that Idaho iscurrently experiencing. And one
of the ways that we often talkabout this issue is around
around the vacancy. Crisis isthe pay situation and how little
pay they get. This is this isreally, but it's really about
(15:45):
the amount of pay they get forthe for the things that they
have to do. And, and that'simportant. And so this brings
back comes back to thegovernor's pay package that he
brought forward for the state ofthe at the state of the state,
and the importance of investingin all of our educators and the
pay that we offer them so thatwe can bring more adults into
the building, as Matt Comptonlikes to say, and and have them
(16:07):
there and to help help whenthere is a crisis around
behavior. Yeah,
Chris Parri (16:16):
I think we've long heard from members about the two
sides of the scale, kind of likeyou mentioned, right? There's,
there's the pay and benefits andstuff on one side of the scale.
On the other side of the scale,it's usually in the terms we we
hear from members is respect,right? Respect. And in that is
includes things like abuse of ofeducators, and harassment and
(16:36):
all that stuff. And I think,like you said, they're just not
getting paid enough to deal withthe stuff they have to so
there's the governor side, raisethe pay, and on the other side,
start making sure they'reprotected and giving classified
staff to the same same access tothose protections. So I'm hoping
we're moving forward on bothsides of that scale.
Paul Stark (16:56):
The abuses crossed the line, frankly, it is it is
long past the day to to look outfor the type of abuse that is
happening to educators every dayin the districts. And that's
that's, that's, that's somethingthat absolutely needs to be
addressed. But you're right,Mike, the the amount of pay
you're given is commensuratewith the duties you're asked to
(17:20):
do. And it was hard enoughalready, as an educator to
educate kids, which is achallenging task, anybody who
doesn't think so take a day as asubstitute teacher, would you
please just one day go in andoffered a substitute and you'll
find out exactly what this kindof job does. But the abuse needs
to be stopped. And it needs tobe stopped immediately. What we
(17:43):
find is not only are educatorsabused, but certainly the
administrators and even theschool board members are really
abused when it comes to anyattempt to say this behavior is
not acceptable. And somehowwe've got we've got ourselves to
a place where educators areexpected to tolerate any and
(18:03):
every behavior no matter how badit is, and take it with a smile
on their face for less than youcan make at McDonald's. And
that's just, frankly, a badplace to be. So I'm really happy
to see this coming about. And myhope is this will encourage our
educators to stay in theprofession.
Mike Journee (18:22):
Alright guys, so let's talk a little bit more
about vouchers. We're going tohave Tammy Nichols was the
voucher bill is before us. Thisweek. There was a hearing set
for Tuesday. And we've talkedabout this bill pretty
significantly. We talked aboutvouchers pretty significantly.
The sponsors of thislegislation, like to call it an
education savings account, whichwe all know is is codeword for a
(18:45):
voucher. And so, Paul, you'regoing to be you're going to be
testifying on behalf of ourmembers on Tuesday during this
hearing. And what are you goingto tell him?
Paul Stark (18:53):
Well, absolutely.
It's it is a voucher. And that'sthe thing is, is the proponents
of this bill know full well,what the terminology means and
they're trying their best to,you know, it's voucher
proponents try not to use theword voucher. But anytime that
you see taxpayer dollars beingfunneled, even if it's through a
third party, it's been funneledto pay tuition at private
(19:16):
schools, ding, ding, ding, ding.
That's a voucher. And let's notbe dissuaded by the talk of
those proponents. But mostly,I'm going to talk about
accountability. And that'sreally a huge issue that
everybody needs to understand isthese taxpayer dollars have
essentially zero accountability.
It is a handout, mostly towealthy individuals, mostly to
(19:38):
those that live in in urbanareas. The rural districts don't
see any of this money. In fact,they'll see a drain from their
districts that will flow andwe've talked about this before.
But accountability means thatthere's not an elected official
that can be hold accountable ifthese monies are spent
improperly. We see that intraditional schools. We see that
in charter schools, we see thateverywhere. But in this
(19:59):
instance, it is the proverbialblank check. And once that money
goes, guess what you taxpayers,you have no clue how it's being
used or why it's being used. Youdon't get to understand if
they're meeting any kind ofparticular criteria or
curriculum or standards areanything. And this legislature
has been hardcore about teacheraccountability about school
(20:23):
district accountability for agesnow for a decade, more or more,
and all of a sudden, we're readyto write the blank check. It
just makes no sense.
Mike Journee (20:33):
And even if taxpayers could understand
what's happening with this tax,these tax dollars, and if they
decide they don't like it, theyhave no recourse whatsoever. i
There's no way to unelectsomebody, there's no way to deal
with it. Unless they're unlessthey go after state lawmakers
who decide that they vouchersare a good idea. There's not
really any recourse recourse forthem at all.
Chris Parri (20:53):
So it's never been repealed thus far in any of the
states that have passed it evenwhen the budgets explode. I
mean, Arizona is, is a testamentto this Wisconsin as well,
Wisconsin, we got the oldestvoucher program in the country,
the tax property tax dollarshave gone through the roof. And
so I mean, we've talked aboutthis before, but like it's, it's
wild to talk with one side ofyour mouth about property tax
(21:15):
relief, and then the other withvouchers. These are these are
mutually exclusive programs. Onecauses property taxes go up, no
matter. However you square it,it's gone up every state that
passes vouchers, and every statethat passes vouchers, the
ratchet goes one direction, andthat's bigger, bigger, bigger,
bigger, and less funding forpublic schools that the local
communities have to pick up thetab for and most of those local
(21:36):
communities that are picking upthe tab, rural, already
underfunded, same problem we
Paul Stark (21:41):
Absolutely. I've I was speaking to someone
yesterday who was telling meabout Arizona, and the amount of
tax increases that they aregoing to experience just to fund
their voucher programs isphenomenal. And there's some
that estimate it could be closeto a billion dollars here very
soon in Arizona to pay for theirvoucher program. I mean, that's
(22:02):
the that's the exact opposite ofwhat most of our legislators
talked about, which is lowertaxes and lower government, what
we're creating is a bureaucracyand a tax scheme that we will
never get out of.
Mike Journee (22:14):
And you juxtapose that against the earlier
conversation about bonds andlevies and Coeur d'Alene looking
for survival money, right,versus this kind of a program
that's going to take even moremoney away from public school.
Chris Parri (22:25):
We have this awesome college student in the
office doing work for us througha fellowship program and the way
she put it this morning was youknow, so you got a pothole and
we keep on through these bondand levy elections we keep on
just replacing tires constantly,constantly, constantly make the
car run. And what if we justfilled the pothole? What if we
just funded our public schools?
Sheesh, I get fired up guys. Idon't know.
Mike Journee (22:50):
So Nichols' bill is going to be up on Tuesday.
We'll be there to register...
Paul S (22:57):
Happy Valentine's Day...
Chris Parri (22:59):
Romantic...
Mike Journee (23:00):
...our discontent, our members discontent with such
legislation that our members arevehemently opposed to any
voucher bill. And so they'regoing to be it'd be well
represented by by Mr. Starkhere. So. So Chris, we wanted to
before we locked off, we want totalk a little bit about local
lobby days. On on the on thesixth, we had Valleyview and
Calwell. at the statehouse,talking with lawmakers, I
(23:22):
believe you had an opportunityto spend some time with them.
Tell us a little bit about whatthey did what who they talked to
what were they talking about?
Chris Parri (23:28):
Yep. So they were they were talking quite a bit
about vouchers. They they got toquite a few of their senators
and representatives from thatarea. And some really great
conversations happened. I mean,they talked to some of the most
conservative people in thatarea. And now those folks, those
same senators are, they're stillkind of on the train of some of
these social issues. But they'rekind of also talking about how
(23:50):
cool the Valley View andCaldwell teachers are because
they are extremely cool. And,yeah, we got some really great
feedback from the educators andfrom the legislators that I've
spoken to and follow upconversations and stuff. So
yeah, I couldn't be prouder ofthose educators, they're doing a
great job up there.
Mike Journee (24:07):
So these local lobby days are are working,
they're hit. And that's youknow, that's the whole intent is
to get educators in front oflawmakers so that they can talk
about their day to day, and whathow the issues and the policies
that the legislature isconsidering impact them in the
classroom.
Paul Stark (24:22):
I would like to say to that one of the most powerful
tools that those that arelistening to this have is to
tell your real life stories, youknow, the propaganda out there
and the speculation and all thatwe've seen that over and over
and over again, just dogwhistles about social issues and
things like that, that have nobasis in reality, certainly not
in Idaho. But you educators thatare listening, please tell your
(24:45):
story. And that means getting onyour social media account and
telling your actual story.
Obviously, you don't includestudent names and things like
that. But what you do is you saythis is the reality I faced
these are the kinds of thingsI'm looking at. These are the
kinds of things I'm funding outof my own pocket. These are the
textbooks that I'm using that areference to the, you know,
George W. Bush administration asthe current administration. This
(25:08):
is the kind of stories you needto tell, because you're you're
working so hard out there,you're doing your best and
you're doing a great job. Butthe general public doesn't
understand exactly what what'swhat's happening. And so we need
you to tell your stories. So anyof those that are inclined to do
so that are listening, please,please, please tell your story.
We need that.
Mike Journee (25:29):
And if you and if you're you're interested in
having your local come, we stillhave time, probably in some
vacancies here later in thesession, Chris, for oh, yeah,
for for any of the IEA localsthat want to come for a local
lobby day, on March 28. We haveJim County Education Association
and the Kashi County EducationAssociation, that are going to
be here. And also Idaho FallsEducation Association as well.
(25:52):
So we've got three that aregoing to be here on the 20th.
That'll be a great opportunity.
And but if you're interested,and our members are listening,
talk to your local localpresident and it's on this is
something that your local shouldbe doing.
Chris Parri (26:07):
Absolutely. It's such a good opportunity to, I
mean, some of these extremelyconservative legislators that I
mentioned, like, I do want tomeet with them. But there's a
herder curdle there, and to haveeducators kind of get in there
and to share their stories andstart like actually relating to
these folks and having goodconversations and building good
relationships, makes my job wayeasier and helps education
(26:29):
policy. get better over time.
Yeah.
Mike Journee (26:32):
Well, gentlemen, thank you once again for joining
us for this for this episode ofthe hotline podcast. Thanks,
Mikey rock. Yep. Thanks.
Thank you for listening to Idahoeducation Association's hotline
podcast and this discussionabout week four of the 2023
legislature. Thanks as well tomy colleagues, Chris Perry and
Paul Stark for joining me.
Please watch for future updatesabout new episodes on IEA social
(26:54):
media channels, or sign up foremail updates on our website at
Idaho eaa.org. I'm Mike journee.
And as always, I hope you joinme in thanking Idaho's public
school educators for everythingthey do for a State students,
families and public schools.
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I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com