February 25, 2023 • 22 mins
In this episode of Idaho Education Association's HOTLINE Podcast, we discuss Week 6 of the Idaho Legislature’s 2023 session. Our panel's discussion centers on:
- The real fiscal impact of the session’s first voucher bill
- A bill requiring school districts to provide separate bathrooms and locker rooms based on students’ gender at birth
- A legislative committee’s rejection of expanded protections from abuse for school employees
- A popular parent’s rights bill, March 14’s bond and levy elections and the emergence of budget legislation.
Joining today’s conversation are:
- IEA President Layne McInelly
- IEA’s Associate Executive Director Matt Compton
- IEA Executive Director Paul Stark
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 around publiceducation and the policy
priorities of IEA members. IEAmembers are 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
(00:36):
director dia, and I'll be yourhost for this episode of
hotline. Today we discuss WeekSix of the Idaho legislators
2023 session. Our discussioncenters on the real fiscal
impact of the sessions firstvoucher bill, a bill requiring
school districts to provideseparate bathrooms and locker
rooms based on a student'sgender and birth. A legislative
(00:58):
committees rejection of expandedprotections from abuse for
school employees, a popularparents rights bill, march 14,
bond and levy elections and theemergence of budget legislation.
joining me for today'sconversation are IEA President
Layne McInelly IEA AssociateExecutive Director Matt Compton
(01:19):
and IEA executive director PaulStark.
Layne, Paul, Matt, thanks forjoining me today. And this
conversation. It's week six ofthe legislature in things have
really picked up the paces hasmoved quite a bit. There's a lot
of bills coming forward ineducation committees, a lot of
education bills and othercommittees as well. And so it's
(01:39):
it's been a busy time, I do wantto step back and revisit a bill
that we talked about last week,the the the bathroom bill 1038,
the, the the voucher bill fromTammy Nichols. And was which
cleared the Senate EducationCommittee last week.
Interestingly, this week, thenonpartisan Idaho center for
(02:02):
fiscal policy released a reportthat said that the actual cost
of this bill is going to be $368million at the year 2025. And
that's up from originally theysaid it was gonna be $20 million
bill, then they said there'sgonna be a $40 million bill. And
now this independent sourcessaying so and this is this
really is something that we knowPaul happens in other states to
(02:24):
where that where these kind ofhealth care bills come forward.
Paul Stark (02:26):
Yeah, that's one of the things that we walked in
knowing this is that this is nota light lift on the part of the
legislature financially. And wethat's one of the benefits
actually not having adoptedvouchers up to this point is we
can clearly see from otherstates that this is a massive
government program.
Mike Journee (02:44):
Yeah. And, and this bill, Layne is is exact
copy of what we see in Arizona,they've got a similar kind of
thing. This kind of this kind oflanguage, it's being copied and
pasted from all over the state.
So we see and kind of a nationalpush for this very specific
bill, as has started up here inour state, our members, they
(03:04):
don't like vouchers, and it'sbecause it takes public dollars
away from from public schoolclassrooms, right?
Layne McInelly (03:11):
That's exactly right. And like Paul said, there
are many states that we can lookto, to learn from, and we don't
want to make those same mistakesin Idaho. We have very educated
people. And so we should be ableto look at the case studies and
determine that this isn't whatIdahoans want. And like you
said, anytime we take publicfunds away from our public
schools, it's going to hurt oureducators and our students. And
(03:32):
we want the best education thatwe can provide possible. Right.
Mike Journee (03:35):
And so 1038 Matt is as passed, the Education
Committee is heading to thehouse or to the sorry, to the
Senate floor. And we're askingour members to stand up and be
counted and let let senatorsknow that they need to vote no
on this bill, because, frankly,it's it could be a tight vote.
Matt Compton (03:54):
Yeah, when this when this legislation was
actually heard in Senate Ed, theoverwhelmingly the testimony was
against Senate Bill 1038. And itwasn't just teachers or
educators or members. It waspeople from all walks of Idaho
there, everybody was coming outagainst this because they know
the value of public schools intheir community. So small rural
school districts will willsuffer from a voucher program
(04:18):
like this. So I it's not goingto just be our members who are
reaching out it's going to beparents and community members
across the state. That's
Mike Journee (04:26):
right. And so anybody who's listening, if you
if you sign up for our hotline,email, then there'll be a story
in this week's email about this,this bill, and there'll be an
opportunity link there for youto go and tell key lawmakers
about your opposition to thislegislation.
Paul Stark (04:44):
Also, I think our listeners should look up the
website, saveourschoolsidaho.
It's a it's a wonderful websitethat really discusses all the
details about what voucherschemes do to public education,
but in particular note, which Ilove on that website as you can
put in your zip code and you canHit, hit the fine button, and
it'll tell you how much yourdistrict itself is set to lose
if a bill like this were to goforward. And I think that's a
(05:07):
pretty, pretty interesting thingfor our listeners to check out.
Mike Journee (05:12):
Absolutely. So, Matt, we have, since we're
talking about vouchers, weunderstand that this next week,
we're likely going to have someother voucher bills come
forward. In the House EducationCommittee.
Matt Compton (05:27):
Yep. So we don't just have vouchers in the
Senate. The house is interestedin some some sort of voucher
scheme themselves. We understandthat there are three or four
proposals that will likely beentertained in House Education
sometime next week midweek. Andso we'll have this fight over
vouchers is certainly not over.
We're going to be continuingthis throughout this session,
(05:48):
and, and certainly in years tocome.
Mike Journee (05:52):
Okay, guys, let's talk about another another bill
that was up yesterday. And itwasn't easy, an easy debate to
listen to. There was what's kindof colloquially known as a
bathroom bill that came forwardin house and sorry, in the
Senate Education. And the billwas introduced by Senator Ben
Adams from Nampa. And, and itsays that schools must maintain
(06:13):
separate bathrooms, lockerrooms, showers, dressing areas,
and overnight accommodations forquote, biological boys, and
biological girls. And, and,Elaine, we submitted some a test
some testimony for this, this,this bill, and the upshot was,
we feel like this is an attackon LGBTQ plus students.
Layne McInelly (06:31):
You're exactly right, it is an attack on our
LGBTQIA plus students. And weknow as educators that we're
there to educate all students,not just a certain subsection of
students or abroad, we want tomake sure that we have safe just
schools for every student thatsteps into our classroom, and
they feel safe and comfortable.
Because we know if a studentdoesn't feel safe in a learning
environment, they're notlearning.
Mike Journee (06:55):
That's absolutely right. And it's a very
fundamental thing aroundpedagogy, right? I mean, we know
that this bill, it's gonna hurtpeople. But again, we know that
students who identifieddifferently than their gender,
their birth gender is are goingto be hurt by this. And we know
that the suicide rate amongamong these companies, students
(07:18):
is almost three times as high asit is, among others.
Layne McInelly (07:22):
The suicide rate in Idaho is astronomical, I
think we're first in the nation.
And this marginalized communityis one of the communities that
has the highest rate of suicide.
And so we as educators need tomake sure that they have that
safe environment where they cancome to school, and know that
they're there to learn. And thenthey can go use the restroom
that they need to go and use andthen get back to the classroom.
It's not about anything, butmaking sure that we have safe
(07:45):
environments for all students.
Mike Journee (07:46):
And it's really affirming who they are right,
giving them that foundation ofunderstanding that this adult
understands who I am. And theythey respect me for that. And
that that clears the deck thenfor them to be able to learn.
Matt Compton (07:58):
Alright, the sad irony here is that this
legislation was heard on suicideawareness.
Paul Stark (08:03):
I think we could say, you know, this is a
difficult issue. Obviously,there's passions, great
passions, really on both sidesof the issue. I do believe
there's an Idaho solution tothis, I do believe there's a way
forward. But going on the attackis not the way to do it.
Collaboration is the way to doand there is there will be a
good solution that does work.
It's just that this is the holythe wrong way to approach these
(08:23):
things.
Matt Compton (08:26):
And I don't I don't mean to be hyperbolic
here. I don't think I am beinghyperbolic. But it is just a
continuation of using schools asthe battleground for these
culture wars. We saw it with thecritical race theory arguments
of years past and then loopingin the social emotional attacks.
This is just another way forfolks to delegitimize public
(08:46):
schools. And that's where youthen hear the outcry of why,
quote unquote, school choice isso important so that we can get
students out of governmentschools and into some other form
of education, which simply meansvouchers for private schools.
Mike Journee (09:01):
That's right. And then kind of to the both of your
points. This is something that'skind of consumed the Caldwell
school district here over thepast several weeks. And this is
kind of I think this is thelegislature's attempt to kind of
get at that and take advantageof that controversy.
Matt Compton (09:18):
It's consumed the Caldwell school district and
several districts across thestate. And to be quite frank,
it's consumed this legislativesession, there hasn't been a
single piece of legislation thathas been proposed that would
help students in classrooms thisyear. This is it's all Attack,
attack, attack, or defund publicschools. All right.
Mike Journee (09:38):
So Paul, another bill that came forward this week
was House Bill 114, which waswhich was co sponsored by
Representative Chris Mathias,and democratic Boise and Sonia
gallery's, a member of the IEAand advice Education Committee
vice chairwoman worry McCann.
And this bill was intended toextend existing protections for
(10:02):
educators from abuse and assaultand all the other types of
things that we know our ourmembers endure in the classroom
and elsewhere, extended toeveryone who is an employee of a
school district, right?
Paul Stark (10:20):
Yeah, that's right.
It's so already on the books inIdaho, there is some protection
for teachers, it's titled abuseof teachers. And this was simply
an attempt to recognize thatthere are many in the school
setting school employees thathave suffered from abuse,
intimidation, you know, shoutedat and that sort of thing. And
this was simply to extend thatout to include all school
(10:42):
employees, but also to make thedefinitions a little bit more
certain, and less ambiguous.
Looks like a really great billto me. We testified on it and
like it narrowly,
Mike Journee (10:54):
And the committee voted it down. I was pretty, I
was pretty surprised by theconversation that to be had
around that bill, I did not seemto be going in that it was
seemed like a kind of a simplething to do. And they, but they
really, they stepped up and inyou and Representative Mathias
for really kind of put in thecrosshairs with some questions
(11:15):
around this bill. You did a finejob, by the way, in responding
to them, but but they ended upvoting it down. And so I think
our you know, I think it'simportant for our educators to
understand who was on thatcommittee and what they were
saying about the needs the lackof a need for for protections
for them.
Paul Stark (11:32):
Yeah, they were.
Some of the legislators said,Why should we have a special
carve out? And I think theanswer to that is clear is that
individuals working in a schoolsetting have had special
treatment in the sense ofabusive treatment in
particularly over the last fewyears. We also have particular
heightened protections forpolice officers, firefighters,
(11:52):
health care workers, and thisseemed to fit and I for the life
of me, I can't understand whyanybody would be anti protection
of educators, all educators, andbut yet they've voted it down.
So yes, it'd be good to lookthat up and know who your
legislators are, so you can letthem know that you support
protecting school employees.
Mike Journee (12:15):
So again, in this week's hotline email, we will
have a whole story about aboutthis, this, this bill and, and a
full accounting of the votecount. So folks can go and check
that out if they would like todo so. Alright, so another bill
that came for guys, this week,that that kind of received rave
reviews from everyone was aparental rights rights bill that
(12:38):
came forward from and it was itwas sponsored by Representative
Judy Boyle out of Midvale. Andthen the superintendent of
public instruction, DebbieCrutchfield, and, and this
parents rights bill, man, I'veheard you say this is this is
the parents rights bill of theof the session, probably. And it
does a number of things. Itthere's a whole list of things
(12:58):
that it allows parents to do.
But kind of the upshot is, isthat these are things that most
school districts in our stateare probably already doing this.
It's things like, parents get toreview curricular materials. And
if they want to withdraw theirchild from a class, if they
don't agree with thosematerials, notify parents of
changes in their child's mentalemotional health. Notifying
parents about surveys thatthey're going to administer,
(13:21):
notify parents, when a studenthas been questioned by law
enforcement, allow parents toobserve classes and other school
activities. And then opencommunication about the
student's health and wellness.
And I know Matt and Layne, Idon't know of any, I mean, I
know my my schools, our schools,the schools that my kids gonna
(13:41):
go to, they spend a lot of timecommunicating with us about
what's going on. And I've neverfound any problem with any of
these issues.
Layne McInelly (13:49):
As an educator, and all the educators that are
listening, I think they knowthat in order to have a
successful classroom and asuccessful learning environment
for our students. It's apartnership between the teacher
between the paraprofessionals,the parents, and the student.
Without one of those components,they're not going to be as
successful. And so we want tohave that partnership with
parents, we want to make surethat the parents are involved
(14:11):
and engaged in their studentsand their child's learning, so
that they can have thoseconversations around the dinner
table or they can help them withtheir homework or they can come
in and have a conversation withme. But we know that it's a
partnership and when thatpartnership is successful, the
student will be successful.
Mike Journee (14:25):
And, and this really just kind of codifies a
lot of things that educators arealready doing so we've heard
Matt Compton (14:30):
reaffirms rights and responsibilities and the
greater degree that we can haveparents engaged in their stupid
the child's education thebetter.
Mike Journee (14:41):
And Sonia Galaviz again, a member of the IEA and a
member of this committee alsovoted in favor when she said the
exact same thing you did Layneabout about this is a
partnership. We want to bepartners. And that's why this is
this is a good bill.
Layne McInelly (14:55):
So and I just want to make sure that people
are clear that this is aparental rights bill, but
Ultimately, it's about theguardianship. It's a guardian
bill because we want to makesure that whoever is helping
raise that child has theopportunity to be successful
with them and partner witheducator, whether it is a
parent, grandparent, legalguardian of any kind we're
willing to partner with with andwork with.
Mike Journee (15:17):
That's a fantastic point. There's another bill that
we've talked about a couple oftimes this, there are a couple
of bills here that deal withschool board elections, Mat,
house, Bill 58, and House Bill71. And altogether, these these
bills are intended to eliminateone of the two or the election
days that school districts cancome forward and have bond or
(15:39):
levy elections or school boardelections. And then another bill
that that would require partisandeclaration by candidates. So
these bills, but but we'vetalked about this a couple of
times on the podcast already,but one of the reasons why I
wanted to talk about this, againis is the importance of these
election dates became evidentand clear from a an Idaho
(16:02):
education news story that wasout just yesterday, I believe,
that outlined all of the bondand levy elections in the state
that are up on the ballot onMarch 14. And 48 school
districts in all are going to berunning bond or levy elections
on March 14, and it's well overa billion dollars in just as one
(16:24):
single day. And if that doesn'tshow the need, not only for, for
these dates for school districtsbe able to pay the bills, but it
also shows a need for reform ofhow we fund our schools.
Matt Compton (16:36):
It shines a pretty significant bright light on how
the legislature has historicallyunderfunded schools year over
year over year and why continuedinvestments in public education
is so important. These areschool districts that have to go
out for supplemental levies thatare no longer supplemental
their, their operational leviesand the bonds that they need to
(16:59):
build new schools or repairexisting schools. These are
these are significantinvestments that that the I all
education stakeholders have beentalking about for for a decade
now. And this is probably goingto be the single most expensive
education. Election Day in Idahohistory.
Mike Journee (17:19):
Yeah, just for comparison, the same amount,
roughly, was voted on throughthe entire calendar year last
year. And now on one day, over abillion dollars last year for
the calendar year 2020, to abouta billion dollars was was voted
(17:39):
on by education by education orby voters Excuse me. And this
year in one election, that'sgoing to be out there.
Matt Compton (17:46):
And you can see that the legislature is is
keenly aware of the cost thatthis is placing directly on
taxpayers at the local district.
They're seeking to do away witha couple of election dates, to
make it more difficult fordistricts to pass these sort of
levies, they want to put them onon the partisan ballots. And
they say it's for increasedparticipation. But this is not
(18:11):
the first time they've donethis. Many lawmakers have talked
about how this is just peopleknow, the district's begging,
you know, they're begging theirtaxpayers over and over and over
again. And it's not aboutbegging it's it's really about
me the constitutional mandate ofinvestments and public schools.
Paul Stark (18:33):
I think it's particularly important to note
the strain this puts on propertytax owners, you know, because
there are those on fixed incomesthat are seeing their property
taxes go up and up and up. Andit's a direct result. We have
legislators that campaign on howmuch they cut taxes, and they
cut taxes, but honestly, they'rejust shifting the burden the
taxing burden over to the localproperty owners, and not really
(18:55):
doing their job of funding thepublic education system in the
first instance.
Mike Journee (19:00):
Right, it comes back to that decades long
chronic underfunding of publiceducation that we talk about,
right. It's it's and the factthat that school districts in
order to pay the bills in orderto fix leaky roofs and in order
to pay for education supportprofessionals, and, and and in
some cases, pagan teachers. Theyhave to run these levees. And
(19:24):
and that's because the state'snot meeting its constitutional
obligation. So, Matt, tell usreal quickly a little bit about
what's going on with JFAC, andthe budgets. We've talked in the
past about how, you know,there's a lot of crazy bills
that are coming out right now.
And anybody who's been payingattention closely might might
feel kind of bad about what'sgoing on. But, but I've been
(19:45):
saying that, you know, the goodnews should be coming later in
the session when the JFAC startstalking about budgets, and
they're starting to do that.
Matt Compton (19:55):
They are. They're starting to talk about budgets.
Interestingly, I was lookingback at a Last session as to
when Jay fac put out theeducation appropriations and it
was March 7, and we're slowlycreeping up on March 7 This
year, and haven't seen anydrafts or, or any communication
really about the educationappropriations, I anticipate
(20:19):
that we're going to see the someof those education budgets set
here pretty soon. And that'swhere we'll see whether or not J
fac or the legislature takes thethe nod from the governor for
that extra $6,300 For everyeducator, and what increased
salaries for classifiedemployees is going to look like.
(20:41):
But I think we still have acouple of weeks until that
becomes a little clearer.
Mike Journee (20:47):
It's interesting.
We don't we came into thesession, talking all about the
September one special sessionand a 330 million they set aside
for K through 12. And we reallyhaven't even it's we're almost
we're six weeks in thelegislature. I really haven't
dealt with that hardly at all atthis point. And but but it's
coming.
Matt Compton (21:02):
Yeah, yep. We'll be talking about that in future
podcasts.
Mike Journee (21:06):
All right, gentlemen. That's that's all I
have for today. So thank you forjoining and, and having this
conversation. Thanks, Mike.
Thanks, Mike. Thanks.
Thank you for listening to Idahoeducation Association's hotline
podcast, and this discussionabout week six of the 2023
legislature. Thanks as well tolane McAnally, Matt Compton and
Paul Stark for joining me.
Please watch for future updatesabout new episodes on a social
(21:28):
media channels or sign up foremail updates on our website at
Idaho eaa.org. I'm Mike journee.
And as always, I hope you'lljoin me in thanking Idaho's
public school educators foreverything they do for our State
students, families and publicschools.
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 IEA members. IEAmembers are 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
(00:36):
director dia, and I'll be yourhost for this episode of
hotline. Today we discuss WeekSix of the Idaho legislators
2023 session. Our discussioncenters on the real fiscal
impact of the sessions firstvoucher bill, a bill requiring
school districts to provideseparate bathrooms and locker
rooms based on a student'sgender and birth. A legislative
(00:58):
committees rejection of expandedprotections from abuse for
school employees, a popularparents rights bill, march 14,
bond and levy elections and theemergence of budget legislation.
joining me for today'sconversation are IEA President
Layne McInelly IEA AssociateExecutive Director Matt Compton
(01:19):
and IEA executive director PaulStark.
Layne, Paul, Matt, thanks forjoining me today. And this
conversation. It's week six ofthe legislature in things have
really picked up the paces hasmoved quite a bit. There's a lot
of bills coming forward ineducation committees, a lot of
education bills and othercommittees as well. And so it's
(01:39):
it's been a busy time, I do wantto step back and revisit a bill
that we talked about last week,the the the bathroom bill 1038,
the, the the voucher bill fromTammy Nichols. And was which
cleared the Senate EducationCommittee last week.
Interestingly, this week, thenonpartisan Idaho center for
(02:02):
fiscal policy released a reportthat said that the actual cost
of this bill is going to be $368million at the year 2025. And
that's up from originally theysaid it was gonna be $20 million
bill, then they said there'sgonna be a $40 million bill. And
now this independent sourcessaying so and this is this
really is something that we knowPaul happens in other states to
(02:24):
where that where these kind ofhealth care bills come forward.
Paul Stark (02:26):
Yeah, that's one of the things that we walked in
knowing this is that this is nota light lift on the part of the
legislature financially. And wethat's one of the benefits
actually not having adoptedvouchers up to this point is we
can clearly see from otherstates that this is a massive
government program.
Mike Journee (02:44):
Yeah. And, and this bill, Layne is is exact
copy of what we see in Arizona,they've got a similar kind of
thing. This kind of this kind oflanguage, it's being copied and
pasted from all over the state.
So we see and kind of a nationalpush for this very specific
bill, as has started up here inour state, our members, they
(03:04):
don't like vouchers, and it'sbecause it takes public dollars
away from from public schoolclassrooms, right?
Layne McInelly (03:11):
That's exactly right. And like Paul said, there
are many states that we can lookto, to learn from, and we don't
want to make those same mistakesin Idaho. We have very educated
people. And so we should be ableto look at the case studies and
determine that this isn't whatIdahoans want. And like you
said, anytime we take publicfunds away from our public
schools, it's going to hurt oureducators and our students. And
(03:32):
we want the best education thatwe can provide possible. Right.
Mike Journee (03:35):
And so 1038 Matt is as passed, the Education
Committee is heading to thehouse or to the sorry, to the
Senate floor. And we're askingour members to stand up and be
counted and let let senatorsknow that they need to vote no
on this bill, because, frankly,it's it could be a tight vote.
Matt Compton (03:54):
Yeah, when this when this legislation was
actually heard in Senate Ed, theoverwhelmingly the testimony was
against Senate Bill 1038. And itwasn't just teachers or
educators or members. It waspeople from all walks of Idaho
there, everybody was coming outagainst this because they know
the value of public schools intheir community. So small rural
school districts will willsuffer from a voucher program
(04:18):
like this. So I it's not goingto just be our members who are
reaching out it's going to beparents and community members
across the state. That's
Mike Journee (04:26):
right. And so anybody who's listening, if you
if you sign up for our hotline,email, then there'll be a story
in this week's email about this,this bill, and there'll be an
opportunity link there for youto go and tell key lawmakers
about your opposition to thislegislation.
Paul Stark (04:44):
Also, I think our listeners should look up the
website, saveourschoolsidaho.
It's a it's a wonderful websitethat really discusses all the
details about what voucherschemes do to public education,
but in particular note, which Ilove on that website as you can
put in your zip code and you canHit, hit the fine button, and
it'll tell you how much yourdistrict itself is set to lose
if a bill like this were to goforward. And I think that's a
(05:07):
pretty, pretty interesting thingfor our listeners to check out.
Mike Journee (05:12):
Absolutely. So, Matt, we have, since we're
talking about vouchers, weunderstand that this next week,
we're likely going to have someother voucher bills come
forward. In the House EducationCommittee.
Matt Compton (05:27):
Yep. So we don't just have vouchers in the
Senate. The house is interestedin some some sort of voucher
scheme themselves. We understandthat there are three or four
proposals that will likely beentertained in House Education
sometime next week midweek. Andso we'll have this fight over
vouchers is certainly not over.
We're going to be continuingthis throughout this session,
(05:48):
and, and certainly in years tocome.
Mike Journee (05:52):
Okay, guys, let's talk about another another bill
that was up yesterday. And itwasn't easy, an easy debate to
listen to. There was what's kindof colloquially known as a
bathroom bill that came forwardin house and sorry, in the
Senate Education. And the billwas introduced by Senator Ben
Adams from Nampa. And, and itsays that schools must maintain
(06:13):
separate bathrooms, lockerrooms, showers, dressing areas,
and overnight accommodations forquote, biological boys, and
biological girls. And, and,Elaine, we submitted some a test
some testimony for this, this,this bill, and the upshot was,
we feel like this is an attackon LGBTQ plus students.
Layne McInelly (06:31):
You're exactly right, it is an attack on our
LGBTQIA plus students. And weknow as educators that we're
there to educate all students,not just a certain subsection of
students or abroad, we want tomake sure that we have safe just
schools for every student thatsteps into our classroom, and
they feel safe and comfortable.
Because we know if a studentdoesn't feel safe in a learning
environment, they're notlearning.
Mike Journee (06:55):
That's absolutely right. And it's a very
fundamental thing aroundpedagogy, right? I mean, we know
that this bill, it's gonna hurtpeople. But again, we know that
students who identifieddifferently than their gender,
their birth gender is are goingto be hurt by this. And we know
that the suicide rate amongamong these companies, students
(07:18):
is almost three times as high asit is, among others.
Layne McInelly (07:22):
The suicide rate in Idaho is astronomical, I
think we're first in the nation.
And this marginalized communityis one of the communities that
has the highest rate of suicide.
And so we as educators need tomake sure that they have that
safe environment where they cancome to school, and know that
they're there to learn. And thenthey can go use the restroom
that they need to go and use andthen get back to the classroom.
It's not about anything, butmaking sure that we have safe
(07:45):
environments for all students.
Mike Journee (07:46):
And it's really affirming who they are right,
giving them that foundation ofunderstanding that this adult
understands who I am. And theythey respect me for that. And
that that clears the deck thenfor them to be able to learn.
Matt Compton (07:58):
Alright, the sad irony here is that this
legislation was heard on suicideawareness.
Paul Stark (08:03):
I think we could say, you know, this is a
difficult issue. Obviously,there's passions, great
passions, really on both sidesof the issue. I do believe
there's an Idaho solution tothis, I do believe there's a way
forward. But going on the attackis not the way to do it.
Collaboration is the way to doand there is there will be a
good solution that does work.
It's just that this is the holythe wrong way to approach these
(08:23):
things.
Matt Compton (08:26):
And I don't I don't mean to be hyperbolic
here. I don't think I am beinghyperbolic. But it is just a
continuation of using schools asthe battleground for these
culture wars. We saw it with thecritical race theory arguments
of years past and then loopingin the social emotional attacks.
This is just another way forfolks to delegitimize public
(08:46):
schools. And that's where youthen hear the outcry of why,
quote unquote, school choice isso important so that we can get
students out of governmentschools and into some other form
of education, which simply meansvouchers for private schools.
Mike Journee (09:01):
That's right. And then kind of to the both of your
points. This is something that'skind of consumed the Caldwell
school district here over thepast several weeks. And this is
kind of I think this is thelegislature's attempt to kind of
get at that and take advantageof that controversy.
Matt Compton (09:18):
It's consumed the Caldwell school district and
several districts across thestate. And to be quite frank,
it's consumed this legislativesession, there hasn't been a
single piece of legislation thathas been proposed that would
help students in classrooms thisyear. This is it's all Attack,
attack, attack, or defund publicschools. All right.
Mike Journee (09:38):
So Paul, another bill that came forward this week
was House Bill 114, which waswhich was co sponsored by
Representative Chris Mathias,and democratic Boise and Sonia
gallery's, a member of the IEAand advice Education Committee
vice chairwoman worry McCann.
And this bill was intended toextend existing protections for
(10:02):
educators from abuse and assaultand all the other types of
things that we know our ourmembers endure in the classroom
and elsewhere, extended toeveryone who is an employee of a
school district, right?
Paul Stark (10:20):
Yeah, that's right.
It's so already on the books inIdaho, there is some protection
for teachers, it's titled abuseof teachers. And this was simply
an attempt to recognize thatthere are many in the school
setting school employees thathave suffered from abuse,
intimidation, you know, shoutedat and that sort of thing. And
this was simply to extend thatout to include all school
(10:42):
employees, but also to make thedefinitions a little bit more
certain, and less ambiguous.
Looks like a really great billto me. We testified on it and
like it narrowly,
Mike Journee (10:54):
And the committee voted it down. I was pretty, I
was pretty surprised by theconversation that to be had
around that bill, I did not seemto be going in that it was
seemed like a kind of a simplething to do. And they, but they
really, they stepped up and inyou and Representative Mathias
for really kind of put in thecrosshairs with some questions
(11:15):
around this bill. You did a finejob, by the way, in responding
to them, but but they ended upvoting it down. And so I think
our you know, I think it'simportant for our educators to
understand who was on thatcommittee and what they were
saying about the needs the lackof a need for for protections
for them.
Paul Stark (11:32):
Yeah, they were.
Some of the legislators said,Why should we have a special
carve out? And I think theanswer to that is clear is that
individuals working in a schoolsetting have had special
treatment in the sense ofabusive treatment in
particularly over the last fewyears. We also have particular
heightened protections forpolice officers, firefighters,
(11:52):
health care workers, and thisseemed to fit and I for the life
of me, I can't understand whyanybody would be anti protection
of educators, all educators, andbut yet they've voted it down.
So yes, it'd be good to lookthat up and know who your
legislators are, so you can letthem know that you support
protecting school employees.
Mike Journee (12:15):
So again, in this week's hotline email, we will
have a whole story about aboutthis, this, this bill and, and a
full accounting of the votecount. So folks can go and check
that out if they would like todo so. Alright, so another bill
that came for guys, this week,that that kind of received rave
reviews from everyone was aparental rights rights bill that
(12:38):
came forward from and it was itwas sponsored by Representative
Judy Boyle out of Midvale. Andthen the superintendent of
public instruction, DebbieCrutchfield, and, and this
parents rights bill, man, I'veheard you say this is this is
the parents rights bill of theof the session, probably. And it
does a number of things. Itthere's a whole list of things
(12:58):
that it allows parents to do.
But kind of the upshot is, isthat these are things that most
school districts in our stateare probably already doing this.
It's things like, parents get toreview curricular materials. And
if they want to withdraw theirchild from a class, if they
don't agree with thosematerials, notify parents of
changes in their child's mentalemotional health. Notifying
parents about surveys thatthey're going to administer,
(13:21):
notify parents, when a studenthas been questioned by law
enforcement, allow parents toobserve classes and other school
activities. And then opencommunication about the
student's health and wellness.
And I know Matt and Layne, Idon't know of any, I mean, I
know my my schools, our schools,the schools that my kids gonna
(13:41):
go to, they spend a lot of timecommunicating with us about
what's going on. And I've neverfound any problem with any of
these issues.
Layne McInelly (13:49):
As an educator, and all the educators that are
listening, I think they knowthat in order to have a
successful classroom and asuccessful learning environment
for our students. It's apartnership between the teacher
between the paraprofessionals,the parents, and the student.
Without one of those components,they're not going to be as
successful. And so we want tohave that partnership with
parents, we want to make surethat the parents are involved
(14:11):
and engaged in their studentsand their child's learning, so
that they can have thoseconversations around the dinner
table or they can help them withtheir homework or they can come
in and have a conversation withme. But we know that it's a
partnership and when thatpartnership is successful, the
student will be successful.
Mike Journee (14:25):
And, and this really just kind of codifies a
lot of things that educators arealready doing so we've heard
Matt Compton (14:30):
reaffirms rights and responsibilities and the
greater degree that we can haveparents engaged in their stupid
the child's education thebetter.
Mike Journee (14:41):
And Sonia Galaviz again, a member of the IEA and a
member of this committee alsovoted in favor when she said the
exact same thing you did Layneabout about this is a
partnership. We want to bepartners. And that's why this is
this is a good bill.
Layne McInelly (14:55):
So and I just want to make sure that people
are clear that this is aparental rights bill, but
Ultimately, it's about theguardianship. It's a guardian
bill because we want to makesure that whoever is helping
raise that child has theopportunity to be successful
with them and partner witheducator, whether it is a
parent, grandparent, legalguardian of any kind we're
willing to partner with with andwork with.
Mike Journee (15:17):
That's a fantastic point. There's another bill that
we've talked about a couple oftimes this, there are a couple
of bills here that deal withschool board elections, Mat,
house, Bill 58, and House Bill71. And altogether, these these
bills are intended to eliminateone of the two or the election
days that school districts cancome forward and have bond or
(15:39):
levy elections or school boardelections. And then another bill
that that would require partisandeclaration by candidates. So
these bills, but but we'vetalked about this a couple of
times on the podcast already,but one of the reasons why I
wanted to talk about this, againis is the importance of these
election dates became evidentand clear from a an Idaho
(16:02):
education news story that wasout just yesterday, I believe,
that outlined all of the bondand levy elections in the state
that are up on the ballot onMarch 14. And 48 school
districts in all are going to berunning bond or levy elections
on March 14, and it's well overa billion dollars in just as one
(16:24):
single day. And if that doesn'tshow the need, not only for, for
these dates for school districtsbe able to pay the bills, but it
also shows a need for reform ofhow we fund our schools.
Matt Compton (16:36):
It shines a pretty significant bright light on how
the legislature has historicallyunderfunded schools year over
year over year and why continuedinvestments in public education
is so important. These areschool districts that have to go
out for supplemental levies thatare no longer supplemental
their, their operational leviesand the bonds that they need to
(16:59):
build new schools or repairexisting schools. These are
these are significantinvestments that that the I all
education stakeholders have beentalking about for for a decade
now. And this is probably goingto be the single most expensive
education. Election Day in Idahohistory.
Mike Journee (17:19):
Yeah, just for comparison, the same amount,
roughly, was voted on throughthe entire calendar year last
year. And now on one day, over abillion dollars last year for
the calendar year 2020, to abouta billion dollars was was voted
(17:39):
on by education by education orby voters Excuse me. And this
year in one election, that'sgoing to be out there.
Matt Compton (17:46):
And you can see that the legislature is is
keenly aware of the cost thatthis is placing directly on
taxpayers at the local district.
They're seeking to do away witha couple of election dates, to
make it more difficult fordistricts to pass these sort of
levies, they want to put them onon the partisan ballots. And
they say it's for increasedparticipation. But this is not
(18:11):
the first time they've donethis. Many lawmakers have talked
about how this is just peopleknow, the district's begging,
you know, they're begging theirtaxpayers over and over and over
again. And it's not aboutbegging it's it's really about
me the constitutional mandate ofinvestments and public schools.
Paul Stark (18:33):
I think it's particularly important to note
the strain this puts on propertytax owners, you know, because
there are those on fixed incomesthat are seeing their property
taxes go up and up and up. Andit's a direct result. We have
legislators that campaign on howmuch they cut taxes, and they
cut taxes, but honestly, they'rejust shifting the burden the
taxing burden over to the localproperty owners, and not really
(18:55):
doing their job of funding thepublic education system in the
first instance.
Mike Journee (19:00):
Right, it comes back to that decades long
chronic underfunding of publiceducation that we talk about,
right. It's it's and the factthat that school districts in
order to pay the bills in orderto fix leaky roofs and in order
to pay for education supportprofessionals, and, and and in
some cases, pagan teachers. Theyhave to run these levees. And
(19:24):
and that's because the state'snot meeting its constitutional
obligation. So, Matt, tell usreal quickly a little bit about
what's going on with JFAC, andthe budgets. We've talked in the
past about how, you know,there's a lot of crazy bills
that are coming out right now.
And anybody who's been payingattention closely might might
feel kind of bad about what'sgoing on. But, but I've been
(19:45):
saying that, you know, the goodnews should be coming later in
the session when the JFAC startstalking about budgets, and
they're starting to do that.
Matt Compton (19:55):
They are. They're starting to talk about budgets.
Interestingly, I was lookingback at a Last session as to
when Jay fac put out theeducation appropriations and it
was March 7, and we're slowlycreeping up on March 7 This
year, and haven't seen anydrafts or, or any communication
really about the educationappropriations, I anticipate
(20:19):
that we're going to see the someof those education budgets set
here pretty soon. And that'swhere we'll see whether or not J
fac or the legislature takes thethe nod from the governor for
that extra $6,300 For everyeducator, and what increased
salaries for classifiedemployees is going to look like.
(20:41):
But I think we still have acouple of weeks until that
becomes a little clearer.
Mike Journee (20:47):
It's interesting.
We don't we came into thesession, talking all about the
September one special sessionand a 330 million they set aside
for K through 12. And we reallyhaven't even it's we're almost
we're six weeks in thelegislature. I really haven't
dealt with that hardly at all atthis point. And but but it's
coming.
Matt Compton (21:02):
Yeah, yep. We'll be talking about that in future
podcasts.
Mike Journee (21:06):
All right, gentlemen. That's that's all I
have for today. So thank you forjoining and, and having this
conversation. Thanks, Mike.
Thanks, Mike. Thanks.
Thank you for listening to Idahoeducation Association's hotline
podcast, and this discussionabout week six of the 2023
legislature. Thanks as well tolane McAnally, Matt Compton and
Paul Stark for joining me.
Please watch for future updatesabout new episodes on a social
(21:28):
media channels or sign up foremail updates on our website at
Idaho eaa.org. I'm Mike journee.
And as always, I hope you'lljoin me in thanking Idaho's
public school educators foreverything they do for our State
students, families and publicschools.
Popular Podcasts
Bookmarked by Reese's Book Club
Welcome to Bookmarked by Reese’s Book Club — the podcast where great stories, bold women, and irresistible conversations collide! Hosted by award-winning journalist Danielle Robay, each week new episodes balance thoughtful literary insight with the fervor of buzzy book trends, pop culture and more. Bookmarked brings together celebrities, tastemakers, influencers and authors from Reese's Book Club and beyond to share stories that transcend the page. Pull up a chair. You’re not just listening — you’re part of the conversation.
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
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