House mulls dumping severance from Luna's reforms

BOISE (AP) - Teachers who get laid off due to enrollment declines in their districts couldn't get severance pay under a bill introduced in the House Education Committee Friday - even though schools chief Tom Luna included severance in his school reforms that have passed the House and Senate.

Luna is eliminating a law that now helps shield teachers' jobs from enrollment declines by guaranteeing schools 99 percent of their previous year's funding.

Luna had added the 10 percent severance provision to soften the blow for teachers affected by such circumstances.

Under Rep. Ken Robert's measure, however, severance gets dumped, too.

Roberts' bill, now due a committee debate, allows districts with declining enrollment to get 97 percent of last year's funding.

But that protection, largely meant for small rural districts whose communities may be at the whim of volatile resource based economies, lasts just one year.

After that, Roberts, a Republican from Donnelly, said he wants districts to budget for enrollment turbulence - like the mill closure a decade ago that affected his constituents in Cascade - without counting on receiving state money to make them whole.

"After 2012, we're going to ask them to anticipate potential changes in their communities," he said.

Melissa McGrath, Luna's spokeswoman at the Idaho Department of Education, declined to comment on Robert's bill.

Democratic Rep. Bill Killen, of Boise, suggested that Robert's measure, if it becomes law, would further undermine teacher protections - especially after Luna's measure that's been signed by Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter that did away with tenure and restricted collective bargaining rights to salaries and benefits.