Idaho law favors tech over teacher salaries
Governor signs final Idaho education reform bill
From staff and wire reports
Read more by staff and wire services reports
The measure won lawmakers' approval despite opposition from schools and the teachers union.
The governor signed into law Friday the centerpiece of a major education reform plan that shifts money from salaries to fund new technology and teacher merit pay.
The final piece of the plan authored by schools chief Tom Luna also bumps up the minimum salary of teachers from $29,655 to $30,000 a year. Read “Ed tech vs. larger class sizes: Worth the trade-off?“
Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter hailed Republican lawmakers who helped secure passage of the biggest piece of the reform effort.
“I just want to thank everybody that has worked so hard, withstood the onslaught of misinformation that got out there, and kept their eye on the ball,” said Otter, also a Republican.
The sweeping changes were surrounded by contentious debate during the 2011 session, with teachers and students protesting in and around the Capitol. The reforms are now the target of a referendum campaign led by parents and representatives from the statewide teachers union who want to overturn the changes.
“There are a lot of people that still need to be convinced and still need to understand why this reform is so important,” Otter said. “There are those that want us to fail. We’re not going to fail. We’re going to push this education package, this reform, until it meets the needs of our future work force.”
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The reform measure won lawmakers’ approval despite opposition from school trustees, administrators and the teachers union over the provision that shifts money from salaries.
clerk
April 11, 2011 at 1:43 pm
The group behind the referendum campaign has to collect 47,432 signatures from Idaho voters within 60 days after the end of the legislative session.——–And we will get it done!!!!
clerk
April 11, 2011 at 1:43 pm
The group behind the referendum campaign has to collect 47,432 signatures from Idaho voters within 60 days after the end of the legislative session.——–And we will get it done!!!!
the_hill1962
April 12, 2011 at 11:40 am
clerk: If I lived in Idaho, I would not sign the referendum. It wouldn’t matter anyway because, as “clerk” states, it will get done (the 47,432 signatures). They will probably allow cats’ paw-prints to be counted.
Of course I am being sarcastic but surely they will find a way to get it done no matter if the signature are real or not. It is easy to forge a signature of someone that has refused to sign the petition. Hopefully they will mail out letters to all the people whose name appears on the petition. However, I doubt if that happens.
the_hill1962
April 12, 2011 at 11:40 am
clerk: If I lived in Idaho, I would not sign the referendum. It wouldn’t matter anyway because, as “clerk” states, it will get done (the 47,432 signatures). They will probably allow cats’ paw-prints to be counted.
Of course I am being sarcastic but surely they will find a way to get it done no matter if the signature are real or not. It is easy to forge a signature of someone that has refused to sign the petition. Hopefully they will mail out letters to all the people whose name appears on the petition. However, I doubt if that happens.
the_hill1962
April 12, 2011 at 12:37 pm
The reason that I am in agreement with the reform plan is that we have an opportunity to increase the educational use of technology at schools. Face it, technology has replaced lots of factory jobs. One computer with good software can teach more children faster than one teacher. Of course there will still need to be teachers just like there still needs to be people employed at factories.
Technology is part of our lives. Technology does help make things easier (including teaching!). Just like we have moved on from the days of one teacher having a class of 30 children in 3rd through 8th grade in one room all day, we need to move on from our current situation of having only one teacher in the room. Surely we can’t hire more teachers (unless the average salary is drastically cut for each one), so let’s have technology help out.
Sure, the fear of technology replacing teachers comes to mind just like technology has replaced many other jobs. However, there are just some teachers that do need to be replaced with technology plain and simple.
the_hill1962
April 12, 2011 at 12:37 pm
The reason that I am in agreement with the reform plan is that we have an opportunity to increase the educational use of technology at schools. Face it, technology has replaced lots of factory jobs. One computer with good software can teach more children faster than one teacher. Of course there will still need to be teachers just like there still needs to be people employed at factories.
Technology is part of our lives. Technology does help make things easier (including teaching!). Just like we have moved on from the days of one teacher having a class of 30 children in 3rd through 8th grade in one room all day, we need to move on from our current situation of having only one teacher in the room. Surely we can’t hire more teachers (unless the average salary is drastically cut for each one), so let’s have technology help out.
Sure, the fear of technology replacing teachers comes to mind just like technology has replaced many other jobs. However, there are just some teachers that do need to be replaced with technology plain and simple.