Local Essay

Idaho Education:
Budget Issues
Arianna Garcia
College of Western Idaho





ENG 102-011W
Leslie Jewkes
12 March 2013




Abstract
School funding has been a global issues for the past few years. Every state being affected sin its own ways. Idaho schools have been fairly decent, but struggling nonetheless. Idaho is in a position where its residents, state, and district officials have yet to find a solution to the problems. There has been propositions made and Idaho residents have voiced in favor of focusing on charter schools. However, no changes have actually been made. So far all proposals have been dismissed.












Over the past few years, the education budget has been a high priority locally and globally. Obama administration has proposed a pre-kindergarten program for all 3- and 4-year- olds. Children ages 3 and 4 are eligible to attend preschool for free if they come from a family of four earning $46,100 or less. For families making more than that, the rates would be adjusted based on income (Elliot). Obama’s proposed plan would be phased out over the next 5 years if approved. Education Department officials, including Secretary Arne Duncan, have signaled that pre-kindergarten programs would be a priority during Obama's second term (Elliot). The proposal would increase the number of students in Early Head Start programs from 120,000 to 240,000. That piece of the plan would cost $11.5 billion over its first 10 years (Elliot). Idaho has been working on improving the current issues with education budgeting. Idaho officials’ focus should be on re-building and strengthening the current education system before trying to tackle a new project. The future of Idaho students is what is at stack. Idaho has yet to find a solution and it would not be wise to add to the already hurting budget.
Idaho’s superintendent, Tom Luna, has been working on ways to improve the education concerns of Idahoans. Fall of 2012 Luna presented Idaho voters with three law changes he felt would get Idaho’s education system back on track. Adam Cotterell and Emily R. Saunders wrote article Props 1, 2, and 3: A voter guide to Idaho’s Controversial Education Laws for Boise State Public Radio, providing information about the proposed laws. Proposition 1 corresponds to 2011’s Senate Bill 1108 and deals with labor relations (Cotterell, Saunders). Here are some of the changes Luna wished to make.
• District superintendents, school administrators, and teachers would get an annual evaluation. At least 50 percent of it must be based on measurable student growth. Teachers’ and principals’ evaluations must include parent input.
• School districts no longer have to prove a financial emergency before reducing teacher numbers. School boards can reduce teacher number as their discretion, but cannot consider seniority when deciding who to eliminate (Cotterell, Saunders).
Being able to cut teachers’ numbers without having to prove financial emergency seems a bit harsh. If after annual evaluation, or any other time for that matter, student growth for that teacher has declined or remained the same; cutting teachers seems reasonable. The budget being as poor as it is, citizens of Idaho should want the best teachers in schools. However, such power raises concern for parents. Raquel Valdez, mother to a kindergartener and first grader, stated, “If prop 1 was passed, a concern of mine would have been teachers being pressured to do certain things and being let go for not complying; or teachers being terminated due to bias in the districts.” A concern several others were more than likely to have had as well. No parent wants to see a child’s educator being taken advantage of. Parents want their children to succeed. A factor of a child’s success is a teacher’s performance.
Luna’s Proposition 2 was focused on paying teachers based on their performances. It offered things like bonuses are administrators and teachers for those who showed they have grown since the last standardized test. School staff members could make more the higher graduation rates they have. It seemed as though Superintendent Luna was trying to boost morale for Idaho educators with Proposition 2. Luna’s heart was in the right place, but proposition 2 was a risky idea. When it comes to the budgeting issues, this proposal could have helped or worsened the situation. It would be great if scores on standardized test went up across the state, but there would be a chance the districts would not be able to follow through with bonuses.
Should Proposition 2 have been passed; teachers could have been highly motivated to show district officials why they are important to Idaho’s education system. Taking a look at the Nampa school district, we can look for solutions to strengthen the education system. Idaho voters turned down all of Luna’s proposed laws. Nampa residents get a chance to help their own district this coming week.
The Nampa School District is asking voters to approve a $4.3 million levy. In September of 2012, the district learned of some mishandled funds putting those millions in debt (Lutz). There was an error in the budget spending and Nampa school district over spend. Now officials are looking for a solution to getting out of debt. Idaho Press Tribune writer, Nick Groff stated this is his article: Nampa School District $2.8 Million Short in Budget, “The Nampa school district starts the new year $2.4 million short because of a budgeting error that spans two years” (Groff).The reason Nampa school district is asking for the levy is to help get them out of debt. The district will still be in debt, but it would help lower that debt. Unfortunately, “even if the levy is passed, there will still be cuts at student levels,” said Allison Westfall, public information officer for Nampa district, at an open meeting at Lake Ridge Elementary to discuss the levy.
With budgets across the nation being in similar situations, teacher encouragement is greatly needed. Proposition’s 2 ideas of bonuses to teachers and administrators seemed like a fairly decent idea. It would encourage teachers to work harder with their students to reach academic goals. Teachers should not want to work harder with students because there is a cash prize at the end. Yet there are many educators who do everything they can to see their students succeed. This past December, USA TODAY covered a story of Washington teachers wants to pass on a yearly test.
Teachers at Garfield High School, Seattle's largest, said in December that they would pass on giving the latest Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) test, a diagnostic tool that also screens students for remedial or gifted classes. Given several times a year, it's also used indirectly to rate teachers, but Garfield teachers say it's not aligned to the state curriculum and produces "meaningless" results. They have until Feb. 22 to administer the test or face unpaid suspension (Toppo).
If Proposition 1 was passed here in Idaho, residents might have seem a similar issue. Teachers would start to feel as though they are a target. If they are feeling as though they are non-important and easily replaced; why would they want officials have another test to judge them on? With all the excitement and teacher and administrator encouragement, it was a little surprising that Idaho did not join the teacher protest as the protest in Washington reached other places.
Luckily, Idaho missed out on this protest, but that does not mean Idaho residents will not see one in the future if the education budget is not resolved. Proposition 3 meant all students and teachers would receive a laptop. Students would be required to attend a study period. Idaho residents rejected all of Superintendent Luna’s laws. Luna’s laws were not perfect, but had definite potential. Many of Idahoans felt Propositions 1, 2, and 3 would have done more harm than good.
Mike Lanza was among Idaho parents angered by Luna’s three school reform plans. Lanza and other parents started a petition and had over 74,000 signatures (Rodine). Members who opposed the propositions were shocked to see lawmakers approve the laws. Mike Lanza said, “I have a couple of elementary school kids, so what’s important to me and some of those basic values, I think, are important to a lot of other people” (Rodine). Idaho residents have their children in mind, but are not coming to an agreement on changes that need to be made.
Opening more charter school in Idaho may be a solution to Idaho’s school issues. Key findings in the Idaho K-12 & School Choice Survey were that majority of Idaho voters (69 percent) support charter schools. Those who “strongly favor” charter schools outnumber those who “strongly oppose” charters by more than 4-1 (Meyers). Also fifty-one percent of Idaho voters rate the state’s public school system “poor” or “fair” (Meyers).
The legislation is aimed at giving more money and resources to help charter schools succeed. These dreams of Idaho lawmakers and those in favor in charter schools may soon be disappointed. The White House released a state-by-state report Sunday on the impacts of the pending sequester -- deep across-the-board spending cuts set to take effect on March 1st if Congress cannot reach a compromise (KTVB). Should a compromise not be reached, Idaho will lose approximately $3.7 million in funding for primary and secondary education, putting around 50 teacher and aide jobs at risk. In addition about 5,000 fewer students would be served and approximately 30 fewer schools would receive funding (KTVB). Cuts at student levels will only make the system even weaker. Idaho students may start to feel as though their education is not as important as parents make it out to be. School drop-out rates may even increase. Which Idaho is in no position to increase the drop-out rate. Below is a map State Impact used in article “While Few Dropout, Indian’s Graduation Rate Slightly Lags Nation” from U.S. Department of Education showing the percentage of students who graduate according to state. Idaho has a high percentage of graduates, but if school funding is being cut Idaho will see a decrease.
With all Idaho has seen within these last few years, it is obvious officials need to come to a solution. Teachers are a huge factor to strengthening Idaho’s education system. Idaho cannot let teachers give up on students. Illiteracy still holds back more than 120 million young people (UNDP). In order to provide students with a promising future state officials need to find a solution to the budget concerns and boost teacher morale.






Works Cited

Cotterell, Adam and Emily Saunders. “Idaho Voters Resoundingly Reject Propositions 1, 2, and 3.” State Impact Idaho. Boise State Public Radio. 2013. Web.
Cotterell and Saunders speak about the Proposition Superintendent Tom Luna has proposed. They go into detail about each proposal and with what current laws they would correspond with.

DiPerna, Paul. “Idaho K-12 & School Choice Survey: What Do Voters Say about K-12 Education. Polling Paper No. 5. The Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice. Pages: 1-46: 05 Jan. 2012. Web. 12. Feb. 2013.
The survey covered areas such as charter schools, tax-credits, education spending, and state performance. The study started by going over the key findings of the survey. It then went on to show the results of the survey. The study also provided charts to the survey as well.

Elliott, Philip. “White House allies produce preschool-for-all plan”. The Associated Press News Service. 7, Feb. 2013. Web. 10 Feb. 2013.
The article was discussing the possible plans that President Barack Obama is trying to pass. Obama feels as though investing in early head start would be a possible solution to a stronger education system. President Obama feels the age of most importance is 3-4 years.

Groff, Nick. “Nampa School District $2.8 million Short in Budget.” Idaho Press Tribune. 15 August, 2012. Web.
Groff covers what happened in the Nampa district that caused the shortage. Basically some funds were counted for twice. Groff spoke with Superintendent Gary Larsen on what was going to be done to prevent an error like this from happening in the future.

Lutz, Andrea. “Voters Headed to the Polls Tuesday For Local School Levies.” KTVB.COM. Web. 11 March, 2013.
Lutz went over 4 districts (including Nampa) levies. She went into shirt detail about what each district was seeking. Lutz article also advised voters as to when the polls were going to open.

Meyers, Susan. “New Poll: Idaho Voters Support Educational Choice.” The Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice. 05, Jan. 2012. Web. 12 Feb. 2013.
Susan Meyers is one of the founders of The Friedman Foundation. New Poll: Idaho Voters Support Educational Choice, is a summary of the “Idaho K-12 & School Choice Survey.”

Rodine, Kristin. “Students Come First Opponent; Ultimately Voters do get the Final Say.” Idaho Statesman. 11 Nov. 2012. Web. 20. Feb. 2013.
The main idea of this article was to cover why Luna’s Propositions 1, 2, and 3 were denied. She interviewed Mike Lanza. Lanza was a leader in starting petitions to oppose Luna’s propositions.

Stokes, Kyle. “While Few Students Drop Out, Indiana’s Graduation Rate Slightly Lags Nation.” StateImpact.org. 25. Jan. 2013. Web. 29. April. 2013.
Stokes’ article is talking about the dropout rates in Indiana. It goes into detail about the rates of dropouts for different ethics. And also talking about Indiana law makers wanting to increase passes scores for math and English.

“The Millennium Development Goals Report 2012.” United Nations Development Programme. 2013.
The MDG are goals that all the nations decided upon to work on in order to becoming more globally united. This goals have been set to be met by the year 2015. One of the goals is to create a stronger education system globally.

Toppo, Greg. “'Meaningless' measure of student progress, say Seattle boycott leaders. USA Today.01 Feb. 2013.
Toppo covered a report on Washington teachers protesting a standardized test. The article goes on to tell how the protest became popular in with other educators. Other cities in Washington decided to protest as well. The protest started getting support from other schools throughout the United States as well.

Valdez, Raquel. Personal Interview. 29 Feb. 2013.
Raquel is a mother of two who children attend Sherman elementary. We had a face-to-face interview in her home. We spoke about the propositions that were denied and her opinions on the propositions.

WestFall, Allison. Interview. 06 March. 2013.
Allison Westfall had an open meeting about the Levy and how it would be affecting Nampa School districts. She was there to give in sight about the levy program. WestFall allowed all parents of Lake Ridge Students to attend as it was open to all questions.

“White House: How Sequester Would Impact Idaho.” KTVB.com. Web. 24 Feb. 2013.
KTVB did a segment on how the 2013 sequester would be affecting Idaho should congress not come to an agreement. It just spoke about how Idaho schools would be affected. And it offered information on how to see how others states were going to be affected.