Idaho Politics: Commentary

Lawmakers Skeptical of Luna Teacher Pay Plan

By Sharon Fisher, 1-17-08

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Luna took his embattled iSTARS teachers’ pay increase proposal to the Legislature today after Governor Butch Otter failed to recommend it, suggesting to the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee a scaled-back version that would cost $47 million rather than $60 million, but did not seem to find a much more receptive audience.

Some people find the overall cost of the Idaho State Teacher Advancement and Recognition System too high, while others are concerned about the proposal’s attempt to tie salary increases to teachers giving up traditional job protections and wonder whether Luna is attempting union-busting.

“Why insert a piece into a performance program that has nothing to do with performance?” asked Senator Elliot Werk, D-Boise – who did not receive a clear answer.

The iSTARS program, which Luna revealed last October, is a multi-step combination of bonuses and salary increases to reward teachers for such things as becoming qualified to teach multiple subjects, taking leadership roles in mentoring, and taking positions considered to be scarce in particular markets, such as math, science, and music.

A large portion is also based on the entire school’s performance on the spring Idaho Standards Achievement Test, both in overall performance and improvement since the previous year. Judging the entire school’s performance helps prevent the perception that teachers are competing with each other for pay increases.

While one-time bonuses constitute some of the increases, the ongoing salary increases –including the ones for multiple endorsements and mentoring—are predicated on teachers giving up some job protections. And in what appears to be a George Lakoff-like attempt to frame the discussion, Luna frequently equates this to ‘the sort of contracts principals have,’ for example referring to it in the JFAC hearing as the “professional” or “career opportunity” step, implying that this giving up of job protection is some sort of step up.

The scaled-down plan Luna presented today assumed that fewer teachers would make the choice to give up job protection, and reduced some of the bonuses.

Legislators didn’t sound convinced.

Representative Fred Wood, R-Burley, expressed concern about putting something into statute without knowing clearly how many teachers might accept the deal. Luna had said in October that he expected 30-40% of the teachers to comply the first year, but is giving lower figures now – saying in fact that fewer than 10% of teachers might do it. But Wood was concerned about where the money would come from if it turned out that more teachers than expected accepted the bargain. And Senator Dean Cameron, R-Rupert, directed Luna to come back to the committee with a written description of the cost of the program over the next several years.

Otter didn’t make it easy on Luna, either; he didn’t recommend Luna’s program but at the same time recommended a 5% teacher increase totaling about $35 million – but which he did “not recommend applying to the existing pay grid.” How he wanted the money to be distributed was not stated.

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