Friday, February 18, 2011

Democrats’ education bill held in committee

Bill would have ‘professionalized’ school trustees


By KATHERINE WUTZ
Express Staff Writer

Wendy Jaquet

The House Education Committee voted to hold a bill sponsored by Rep. Wendy Jaquet, D-Ketchum, in committee indefinitely yesterday morning, putting an end to an attempt to implement school board trustee training statewide.

"The position is getting more complicated," Jaquet said during the committee meeting yesterday morning.

Jaquet argued that the impending education reforms currently in the Senate Education Committee would place more responsibility on school board members, who would be required to develop fiscal report cards for the districts, make sure labor negotiations are held in public and institute pay-for-performance systems.

"Fifty percent of our funding goes to these local school boards," Jaquet said. "That's a lot of responsibility."

The bill, introduced in committee Feb. 8, would require newly elected trustees to undergo a training program developed by the Idaho School Boards Association and the Department of Education.

Opponents of the bill argued that the School Boards Association already encourages and offers training for trustees. They said making such training mandatory would be unfair to the trustees, who are not compensated for their time.

"Our trustees are engaged, they are responsible and they are already receiving the training that this bill would make mandatory," said Dallas Clinger, president of the School Board Association.

Jaquet had previously been developing a bill that would have given board trustees an honorarium of $75 a year. The combination of pay and training would "professionalize" the position, she said.

Rep. Brian Cronin, D-Boise, said the mandated training could be used as a tool to bring less experienced trustees up to speed.

"Might this be useful to be able to go to the person and say you know, you really don't know what you're doing, and you might want to get some training?" Cronin asked.

The mandatory training would not have cost the state additional funds, and there would have been no penalty for not completing the training. However, Jaquet said peer pressure from fellow trustees would be enough to ensure that all school board members complete the training.

Jaquet said she hoped the bill would rise again in a later session.

"I think this would avoid costly mistakes," she said. "Training does save money."

Katherine Wutz: kwutz@mtexpress.com




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