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Tom, I agree with your question. Here are the challenges I
experienced during my school board tenure. <br>
<br>
The Internals: 1) Local boards and teachers waste too much time and
energy over the yearly negotiation process and this year is no
exception. Solution: Long-term labor contracts (3-5 years)
coupled to the permanent levy and then have the State Department of
Education help in mediation, if necessary. 2) Typical Board
meetings seem to be stuffed with house keeping items and not enough time
is given to meaningful ways of improving our student’s competitive
advantage in the global economy or our national economy. Solution: change
the format. 3) Public education is under attack for not performing,
however the idea of “withholding treatment” rather than “increasing
therapeutic measures” seems opposite of my training as a health provider.
Solution: Recognize both strengths and weaknesses, and then focus on
goals and solutions.<br>
<br>
The Externals: 1) Educate the public on goals and solutions, which
means: Board members, teachers, and administrators must become as one
voice with the concept of continuous and never ending improvement
culturally imbedded. 2) Respect the taxpayer by saving money
and setting priorities. For example, the Tidyman’s could be
purchased and converted skills center for much less than new
construction, or say team up with the National Guard for a co-use
training facility (The Minnesota Model) and Partner with LCSC, Job
Service, UI, Dept. of Vocation Education, Business, etc. 3) Perhaps use a
district sponsored Charter or Magnet Style secondary format. 4) Be
Progressive and let the public know, since ultimately it is the public
and public education’s final product that will result in funding and
pride. There exists a considerable amount of competition for
the tax dollar, face it and become competitive. <br>
<br>
Jerry<br>
<br><br>
<br>
At 01:37 PM 8/8/06, Tom Ivie wrote:<br>
<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite="">How do you pay for that when we
can't even pass bonds for buildings and the state has to step in to fund
that?<br><br>
<b><i>Donovan Arnold <donovanjarnold2005@yahoo.com></i></b> wrote:
<br>
<dl>
<dd>. . ."under Donovan's plan, parents will have tons more free
time -- <br>
<dd>what with being excused from the kinds of things most of us signed up
for as <br>
<dd>parents -- and will then form roaming street gangs or start smoking
or <br>
<dd>having sex."-- Keely Mix<br><br>
<br>
<dd>Keely,<br><br>
<dd>I know you are the expert on education being on the school board and
all. But, as I understand it, all parents have already been having sex.
<br><br>
<dd>_DJA<br><br>
<dd>keely emerinemix <kjajmix1@msn.com></i></b> wrote: <br>
<dl>
<dd>Of course, under Donovan's plan, parents will have tons more free
time -- <br>
<dd>what with being excused from the kinds of things most of us signed up
for as <br>
<dd>parents -- and will then form roaming street gangs or start smoking
or <br>
<dd>having sex.<br><br>
<dd>keely<br><br>
<br>
<dd>From: Donovan Arnold <br>
<dd>To: Jerry Weitz , Shirley Ringo , <br>
<dd>vision2020@moscow.com<br>
<dd>Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Minimum wage<br>
<dd>Date: Tue, 8 Aug 2006 07:55:21 -0700 (PDT)<br><br>
<dd>Jerry,<br><br>
<dd>I agree with you 100% regarding the workforce training. The school
system <br>
<dd>needs to start kids one year earlier, let them out one year later
,and use <br>
<dd>those two extra years to train youth a job skill, good work ethic,
how to <br>
<dd>search for and find a job, keep a job, and advance in that
field.<br><br>
<dd>They also need to teach youth how to do taxes, be a responsible
member of <br>
<dd>the community, build social skills, know first aid and establish
healthy <br>
<dd>eating habits, and all about how credit and debit works.<br><br>
<dd>In other words, schools need to teach youth the things they are going
to <br>
<dd>need to know about living in modern society and doing well. So many
things <br>
<dd>you learn in school today seem pointless when you get out and never
use it. <br>
<dd>You also find yourself hurting in other areas when you are expected
to know <br>
<dd>how to do something in life but nobody ever taught you.<br><br>
<dd>Thanks for your email.<br><br>
<dd>Best,<br><br>
<dd>_DJA<br><br>
<dd>Jerry Weitz wrote:<br>
<dd>Raising the minimum wage from $5.15 to $6.15 will not help in real
<br>
<dd>inflation-adjusted buying power--it is too small of an increase. So
let’s <br>
<dd>discuss the fundamentals. As Virginia’s former Democratic governor
Mark <br>
<dd>Warner’s track record illustrates, skills training in our high
schools <br>
<dd>would help increase wages for Idaho’s workforce and encourage more
jobs. <br>
<dd>With the push for community colleges in the urban areas of Idaho, I
believe <br>
<dd>that our local high schools could become the rural equivalent of
community <br>
<dd>college. This would cost money and would require a willingness to
change <br>
<dd>the current high school structure.<br><br>
<dd>The state legislature’s current focus on shifting school funding from
<br>
<dd>property taxes to the sales tax (the current maintenance and
operations <br>
<dd>debate) misses the point. Instead of focusing on ways to shift funds,
I <br>
<dd>would urge consideration for increased funding for the
creation/maintenance <br>
<dd>of skills centers in local high schools. Rather than seeking a
balanced <br>
<dd>taxation approach, the Idaho Education Association has promoted a tax
shift <br>
<dd>to the sales tax, which sends a confusing message.<br><br>
<dd>When one examines France, with a high minimum wage, a large <br>
<dd>under-skilled/inexperienced segment of its youth, guaranteed
employment <br>
<dd>contracts, unbending unionization, top down regulations, etc., one
observes <br>
<dd>high unemployment, a high cost of living, and extreme social
unrest.<br><br>
<dd>What works: 1) create/maintain superior education for both the <br>
<dd>college-bound and the non-college-bound, 2) invest in infrastructure,
3) be <br>
<dd>friendly to business, 4) be environmentally wise, and 5) do this
without <br>
<dd>going deeply into debt, which requires prioritization. Ireland has
<br>
<dd>followed the above policies with exceptional success. We should
follow the <br>
<dd>lead of former governor Warner and Virginia’s Republican legislature
and <br>
<dd>make these policies non-partisan. From what I’ve learned, Larry
Grant, our <br>
<dd>district’s Democratic candidate for Congress, seems to understand
this <br>
<dd>non-partisan, middle of the road approach.<br><br>
<dd>Jerry<br><br>
<br><br>
<dd>At 11:11 AM 8/7/06, Shirley Ringo wrote:<br>
<dd>Visionaries:<br><br>
<br>
<dd>I cannot resist the urge to weigh in on the minimum wage issue. I
<br>
<dd>proposed legislation during the most recent legislative session to
raise <br>
<dd>the minimum wage to $6.15. It received very little support from
<br>
<dd>Republicans. (Our District 6 Republicans did support it, and <br>
<dd>Representative Trail will co-sponsor the effort with us again next
year.)<br><br>
<dd>"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><br><br>
<dd>We plan to try again next year, at an amount above $6.15.<br><br>
<br><br>
<dd>Without getting into the usual arguments, it’s unacceptable to have a
<br>
<dd>minimum wage that leaves those paid at that level in cruel poverty.
<br>
<dd>Lawmakers have neglected maintenance on minimum wage levels. In 1968,
the <br>
<dd>minimum wage meant something positive to families. In
inflation-adjusted <br>
<dd>dollars, it has lost nearly 40% of its value between 1968 and
now.<br><br>
<br><br>
<dd>According to polling, the vast majority of Americans believe the
minimum <br>
<dd>wage should be higher. I believe eighteen states have a minimum wage
<br>
<dd>higher than the $5.15 federal level, which has not been raised since
1997. <br>
<dd>Some of these states have used the initiative process to get results,
where <br>
<dd>state legislators would not act on it. In some of these states, there
has <br>
<dd>been significant help from Republican leaders.<br><br>
<br><br>
<dd>Many claims of negative consequences do not seem to be true. One of
the <br>
<dd>claims is that jobs will be lost. In the majority of states that have
<br>
<dd>raised the minimum wage, there has in fact been an increase in jobs.
(We <br>
<dd>can’t claim the wage increase caused more jobs, but the decrease some
<br>
<dd>predicted didn’t happen.) An increase in employee productivity and
less <br>
<dd>absenteeism was reported where the pay level increased.<br><br>
<br><br>
<dd>On the inflation issue,
"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Florida
reported after <br>
<dd>raising their minimum wage a very minor increase in some prices.
Since a <br>
<dd>relatively small percent of the employed receive minimum wage, one
might <br>
<dd>not expect a dramatic increase in prices. (We can expect a “ripple
effect” <br>
<dd>though, where employers will raise wages to be more competitive.) One
year <br>
<dd>ago in Idaho, according to the Department of Commerce and Labor,
32,000 <br>
<dd>Idahoans received a wage between $5.15 and $6.15 per hour. While
Idaho <br>
<dd>State Government employee pay is entirely too low, almost none of
them <br>
<dd>receive pay as low as $5.15 per hour. I don’t consider it an
undisputed <br>
<dd>fact that there will be significant inflation, but we can certainly
study <br>
<dd>the issue in the states that have raised the minimum wage.<br><br>
<br><br>
<dd>Workers who receive minimum wage live from paycheck to paycheck. (If
<br>
<dd>they can make it stretch.) They have no discretionary money. What are
<br>
<dd>they to do when their taxes go up? Just more water in the gravy, I
guess. <br>
<dd>At the minimum wage, it takes more than one full day to earn the
money to <br>
<dd>buy fifteen gallons of gasoline.<br><br>
<br><br>
<dd>While I continue to study the issue, I am convinced that some of the
<br>
<dd>negative consequences of raising the minimum wage are over-stated. I
am <br>
<dd>also steadfast in my belief that it is unacceptable to value people
and <br>
<dd>families so little that we allow such a low level of compensation for
their <br>
<dd>efforts and to address their needs.<br><br>
<br><br>
<dd>Shirley<br><br>
<br><br>
<br>
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