When education, politics collide

COEUR d'ALENE - Election candidates have said it. Teachers have said it.

"Education shouldn't be about politics."

But there's no way around it. It is about politics, and that has become even more clear this week as Idaho public school chief Tom Luna's Students Come First education reform legislation makes its way through the Idaho Legislature.

The chasm has deepened between Republicans backing the plan, and the Idaho Education Association, the state teachers union which is largely supported by Democrats.

"The union doesn't represent all teachers in Idaho, but their leadership doesn't do a good job of representing their own members," Luna told The Press. "They're so out of touch with the average Idahoan, the parents, the electorate. As leaders they're even more liberal than Barack Obama."

The teachers are the IEA, said union president Sherri Wood, not the union bosses in Boise.

"The IEA is the nearly 13,000 members that pay their dues to this organization," Wood told The Press. "I, as the union boss, do not make decisions by myself."

There are local directors, regional directors and a delegate assembly that all participate in decision-making, she said.

A letter recently printed in a southern Idaho newspaper criticized the union for being an arm of the Democratic party.

"I think that's always interesting," Wood said.

She called it "inflammatory language" that union members are used to hearing.

"We're willing to talk to anybody and share our ideas and work jointly with any group, whatever they want to label themselves."

Campaign disclosures filed during the last election cycle by the IEA's Political Action Group for Education show that some of its largest contributions came from Democrats, including gubernatorial candidate Keith Allred and Luna's opponent in the November race, Stan Olson.

"Our membership is probably a third, a third, a third," Wood said. "To say that, what does that really mean in Idaho, when we don't really have a two-party system?"

Leaders from both camps are quick to question each others' political motives regarding the multi-bill proposal aimed at turning around the state's education funding crisis by advancing the use of classroom technology while slightly increasing class sizes. High school students would be required to take six online courses in order to graduate. The move would eliminate hundreds of Idaho teaching positions throughout the next four years.

"Education ought to be a team sport. Mr. Luna and the plan have definitely made public education a political football and our kids are right in the middle," Wood said.

Unveiled by Luna last month, the legislation is being considered this week by Idaho's Senate Education Committee. Sections of the bills seek to curb collective bargaining between teachers and school boards by limiting negotiations to wages and benefits. It would also phase out tenure for new teachers, giving them rolling two-year contracts instead.

Luna lashed out at critics of the plan Monday when he testified at the start of four days of public hearings, according to a report from the Associated Press. He blamed the state teachers union for spreading misinformation about the overhaul as part of "an organized attempt to get people riled up."

Teachers and Wood have criticized Luna for not seeking input from educators before presenting the reform package.

When asked by The Press if the IEA has an alternate solution to Luna's plan, Wood said the union is constantly providing input to state education administrators, but that most of their ideas are shot down.

Luna said the union leaders' answer to education in Idaho is to raise taxes.

"That's what tells me that they're completely out of touch," Luna said.

Voters made it clear on election day in November, he said, that they did not want to pay additional taxes.

"The bottom line is that if we are going to make a difference, it's not going to mean the IEA throwing a plan in the air, and the administrators throwing out a plan," Wood said. "What it's going to take is all of us getting in a room and hammering things out."

She said a plan designed that way would not be politically charged.

"And it wouldn't be sending our tax dollars out of state to big corporations," Wood said, referring to K-12 Management Inc., a Virginia-based private sector business that provides the curriculum for Idaho's largest online charter school, Idaho Virtual Academy.

K-12 has been one of Luna's top campaign contributors since 2006, and he has received donations from its CEO, and from K-12 board member, Tom Wilford of Boise, who is also CEO of the Albertson Foundation.

Some opponents of Luna's plan have hinted that K-12 will likely benefit from the increased technology in Idaho classrooms, and have speculated that the company will be the sole provider of online curriculum to Idaho high school students.

Melissa McGrath, Idaho Department of Education spokeswoman, said that is a "prevalent rumor that is simply not true."

The state does not have a contract with any online vendors for the Students Come First plan, McGrath said.

"Local school boards will decide which courses are delivered online and how they are delivered online," she said. "Each local school board will determine the best provider of online education for its students, whether it is via the Idaho Education Network, through a provider such as Idaho Digital Learning Academy or another vendor, or through a blended model developed at the local level. The state will not make this determination."

McGrath said the only role the state will play is ensuring the provider that the local school board chooses meets Idaho content standards and employs Idaho-certified teachers.

Editor's note: Beginning Sunday, The Press will publish a three-part series delving deeper into the Idaho Education Association. We'll explain what it is, what it does, who its members are, and take a look at its finances.