District gets 'F' on public access
COEUR d'ALENE - A watchdog group has given the Coeur d'Alene School District a failing grade when it comes to taxpayers' ability to easily access and review the district's contract with the local teachers union.
Coeur d'Alene was one of 34 Idaho local public education agencies to flunk a master agreement transparency test, according to a report released Tuesday by the Idaho Freedom Foundation.
Last fall, the nonprofit educational and research organization asked each of Idaho's larger public school districts to provide an electronic copy of its school board's collective bargaining agreement, or master agreement, with the local teachers union.
Districts that did not comply were given an "F" ranking.
When the request was received by the Coeur d'Alene district last fall, Superintendent Hazel Bauman said her human resources personnel spoke with an Idaho Freedom Foundation representative on two separate occasions.
"We did not ignore them," Bauman said.
The district did not provide a copy of the master agreement at the time, Bauman said, because it was still in draft form. The contract was not finalized in print until late December, she said. The agreement was negotiated last May.
"I'm having conversations with the HR department about this," Bauman said. "This needs to be a higher priority since this is something that is important to the public."
Master agreements between school boards and teachers unions stipulate teacher pay and benefits as well as grievance procedures, instructional days and class sizes.
Idaho schools chief Tom Luna has included a requirement that school districts provide a website link to their master agreements as part of his comprehensive reform package being considered by the Legislature this session.
A link to the Coeur d'Alene agreement went up on the district's website a week ago, on Jan. 11, the day before Luna unveiled the proposal.
"The bottom line is that this is public information that ought to be readily available," said Briana LeClaire, Education Policy Analyst for the Idaho Freedom Foundation. "They were not forthcoming with the info at the time of the request. We are thrilled that it is available to anyone now."
Judi Sharrett, superintendent of the Plummer-Worley Joint School District, the other Kootenai County district to receive an "F", believes her office's administration complied with the request, or is in the process of doing so. She could not immediately verify the status because her administrator was not in the office.
"I don't ignore requests for information," Sharrett said.
The Lakeland School District received an "A" rating. That district's master agreement was posted online, and the Post Falls District received a "B" because it provided an electronic copy following a telephone request.