For the week of March 13 - 19, 2002

Idaho teachers protest budget cuts at Capitol

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By DANA DUGAN
Express Staff Writer

On the steps of the Capitol in Boise last week—in a rare show of statewide solidarity—about 5,000 teachers, parents, students, school district superintendents, school board trustees and activists protested in response to the Legislature’s decision to cut $23 million from this year’s public school budget.

Many teachers from all over the state took a day off March 5 to join the protest, including three from Blaine County. Julie Slocum and Maria Dudunakis, of the Wood River Middle School, and Laurie Roark, from Bellevue Elementary School, took a personal day to stand with their colleagues. Teachers only receive three personal days a year.

The staff did ask for the schools to be closed, as they were in other counties, but Jim Lewis, superintendent of Blaine County Schools, decided that the "needs of Blaine County students would best be served by keeping our schools open."

Slocum said, "It sent a strong message to (Gov. Dirk) Kempthorne to maybe veto this, but I don’t think he’ll veto. It was kind of historic. This is the first time the budget has ever been cut, and money allocated in the fall has been withdrawn."

As a result of the budget cuts, numerous teachers across the state could lose their jobs. For example, as many as 35 elementary school teachers in the Boise School District could loose their jobs.

Prior to the passage of this funding cut, petitions with more than 23,000 signatures were presented to the Legislature asking them to reject the recommendations of the Joint Finance and Appropriations Committee.

Speakers at the rally included former Idaho Gov. Cecil Andrus, former Superintendent of Public Education Jerry Evans and current Superintendent of Public Education Marilyn Howard, Idaho Teacher of the Year Jennifer Williams, and Idaho Education Association president Kathy Phelan.

"If you want to discourage (business) investment, you do it most quickly by cutting back on public education and higher Ed," Howard said.

Idaho’s spending for each child’s education has increased 25 percent in the last five years. However, according to the NEA, Idaho currently ranks 42nd in the number of students per teacher and 45th in salaries for public school teachers in the nation.

The NEA also found that 32 percent of Idaho’s public schools need extensive repair or should be replaced outright.

Idaho schools are funded through income, sales and property taxes.

The rally "was very thoughtful and intellectual, not rowdy," said Slocum. "Great speakers—Cecil Andrus was awesome."

Two other education support rallies were scheduled in Coeur d’Alene and Lewiston.

 

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