[Vision2020] Fwd: The Past Week in the Legislature
RingoShirl@aol.com
RingoShirl@aol.com
Mon, 19 Jan 2004 19:41:11 -0500
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Date: Mon, 19 Jan 2004 17:38:11 -0700
From: "Shirley Ringo" <sringo@house.state.id.us>
To: <RingoShirl@aol.com>
Subject: The Past Week in the Legislature
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With one week of the legislative session behind us, money issues are
huge. I think our handling of these issues gives a big glimpse of our
values. A person can get a notion of how citizens and legislators care
for people, the importance attached to education, whether or not people
are entitled to healthcare, etc.
I am on the Commerce and Human Resources Committee, which deals with
public employees pay and benefits. We met January 8 and 9 to hear
testimony and begin discussion of these issues. Policy is that state
employee pay should reflect the market value of such services. We are
currently more than 14% behind on that level. Also, all raises are
based upon merit. Most public employees received their last raise in
2001. Last year, the state funded some, but not all, increases in
health insurance benefits.
Most of the testimony was on two levels. First, young people who come
to work as state employees in Idaho will leave for higher pay. We spend
money giving people training, only to lose them to higher paying jobs.
We lose university professors who take millions of research dollars with
them. Second, there are many state employees who must take a second
job, or live on food stamps. Much of the testimony from them was
heart-breaking. The governor's proposed budget will help with benefits
and give about a 2% raise. Is it acceptable to avoid raising additional
revenue, and to balance our budget by holding down pay?
The education budget is also sparse. There is not enough for higher
education, particularly in view of past hold backs. The problem is
compounded by insufficient funds for employee pay. For public schools,
there is essentially nothing for increasing pay. There is $10,000,000
in "discretionary" money, that could be used for raises. It will be a
hard call whether or not to build this into local salary schedules,
which must be on-going. The technology money is $5,000,000 below that
requested by Marilyn Howard. Most school districts hire a technology
specialist, and may have to tap into the "discretionary" salary money to
afford this person. The support for public education this year is less
than that for last year, if the governor's plan is adopted.
The school facility issue is still not resolved. I will be one of the
sponsors of legislation to eliminate the law passed last session that
resulted in the state suing its districts. I find that law more than a
little embarrassing. I'm working to propose a more positive solution to
the school facilities problem.
The governor has recommended that the Whitepine district receive
$377,000 to address school building issues. Whitepine's patrons
completed steps to receive this money the same year as Troy High School
received its assistance, but the fund had been depleted. We will really
appreciate seeing Whitepine receive these funds.
The State Board has approved the ABCTE (American Board for
Certification of Teacher Excellence) test, which will offer teacher
certification to certain people who "pass" the test. Research shows
that the most important factor in successful education is the teacher.
The only other US state to adopt this test is Pennsylvania, where
legislators have or will challenge it.
Among my priorities for this session are: tax fairness, better pay for
state employees, school facilities issues, University of Idaho issues,
and a number of concerns raised by individuals from our district. If
there is some way I can help any of you, my e-mail at the statehouse is:
sringo@house.state.id.us. My home phone is 883-1005, and I periodically
listen to messages.
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<DIV>With one week of the legislative session behind us, money issues are huge. I think our handling of these issues gives a big glimpse of our values. A person can get a notion of how citizens and legislators care for people, the importance attached to education, whether or not people are entitled to healthcare, etc. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>I am on the Commerce and Human Resources Committee, which deals with public employees pay and benefits. We met January 8 and 9 to hear testimony and begin discussion of these issues. Policy is that state employee pay should reflect the market value of such services. We are currently more than 14% behind on that level. Also, all raises are based upon merit. Most public employees received their last raise in 2001. Last year, the state funded some, but not all, increases in health insurance benefits.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Most of the testimony was on two levels. First, young people who come to work as state employees in Idaho will leave for higher pay. We spend money giving people training, only to lose them to higher paying jobs. We lose university professors who take millions of research dollars with them. Second, there are many state employees who must take a second job, or live on food stamps. Much of the testimony from them was heart-breaking. The governor’s proposed budget will help with benefits and give about a 2% raise. Is it acceptable to avoid raising additional revenue, and to balance our budget by holding down pay?</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>The education budget is also sparse. There is not enough for higher education, particularly in view of past hold backs. The problem is compounded by insufficient funds for employee pay. For public schools, there is essentially nothing for increasing pay. There is $10,000,000 in “discretionary” money, that could be used for raises. It will be a hard call whether or not to build this into local salary schedules, which must be on-going. The technology money is $5,000,000 below that requested by Marilyn Howard. Most school districts hire a technology specialist, and may have to tap into the “discretionary” salary money to afford this person. The support for public education this year is less than that for last year, if the governor’s plan is adopted.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>The school facility issue is still not resolved. I will be one of the sponsors of legislation to eliminate the law passed last session that resulted in the state suing its districts. I find that law more than a little embarrassing. I’m working to propose a more positive solution to the school facilities problem.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>The governor has recommended that the Whitepine district receive $377,000 to address school building issues. Whitepine’s patrons completed steps to receive this money the same year as Troy High School received its assistance, but the fund had been depleted. We will really appreciate seeing Whitepine receive these funds.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>The State Board has approved the ABCTE (American Board for Certification of Teacher Excellence) test, which will offer teacher certification to certain people who “pass” the test. Research shows that the most important factor in successful education is the teacher. The only other US state to adopt this test is Pennsylvania, where legislators have or will challenge it. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Among my priorities for this session are: tax fairness, better pay for state employees, school facilities issues, University of Idaho issues, and a number of concerns raised by individuals from our district. If there is some way I can help any of you, my e-mail at the statehouse is: <A href="mailto:sringo@house.state.id.us">sringo@house.state.id.us</A>. My home phone is 883-1005, and I periodically listen to messages.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV></BODY></HTML>
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