[Vision2020] IFT Response to SB 1108 and 1110

[nickgier at roadrunner.com]

The Executive Council of the Idaho Federation of Teachers, AFT/AFL-CIO met over the weekend of Feb. 26-27 to discuss the merits of Senate Bills 1108 and 1110.  We urge members of the Idaho House of Representatives to reject both of these unwise pieces of legislation. 
 
Thousands of teachers, students, and parents have given testimony and/or protested against these measures, but the Senate went ahead with untested plans and attacks on teacher employment rights.  These bills would end nearly 40 years of constructive relations between teacher unions and school administrators.

SB 1108 would undermine due process, reduce teacher job security, and severely limit the scope of collective bargaining. Limiting the contract period to one year would increase the cost of negotiations and waste the precious time of teachers and administrators who participate in them. 

SB 1110 deals with “pay for performance,” which the AFT has supported across the nation, but only where the union has been involved in producing the plan and where there is a comprehensive set of criteria—not just test scores—to judge teacher performance. SB 1110 fails on both these points.  

In Tampa, Florida AFT union-district collaboration has helped make it a national model for teacher development and evaluation, pay for performance, and teacher mentoring. The collaboration also has attracted the attention of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which announced last year that the Hillsborough district would receive an Intensive Partnerships for Effective Teaching grant. The grant provides $100 million over seven years to develop a new-teacher induction program, improve teacher and principal evaluation systems, provide better professional development, support incentives for teachers who work with high-needs students, and overhaul the district’s compensation system.

 “Hillsborough’s teachers are leading change, fighting to create better opportunities for all kids, and driving a range of improvements in schools and classrooms,” said AFT President Randi Weingarten. “District officials recognize the union as a full partner in school reform. They understand that frontline educators need to be deeply involved in decisions that affect their classrooms and their schools.”

Back in the 1980s the IFT prepared a Master Teachers plan as its answer to calls for merit pay. Master Teachers would be responsible for curriculum development and mentoring new teachers and would receive substantial salary increments for that work.  We regret to say that the SBOE failed to respond to our plan.