Idaho Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Luna could be in for a fight after earmarking a portion of his yearly budget proposal for a plan that will reward teachers based on their performance.
Luna submitted a proposed $1.5 billion budget to the governor’s office late Tuesday to operate and improve public schools in 2009 and 2010. The budget is to go before Idaho lawmakers in January and includes $27 million for teacher raises and a pay-for-performance plan.
The proposed merit-based pay system is similar to a measure Idaho lawmakers voted to kill in February.
The public schools budget the school’s chief proposes is about $77 million more than the $1.46 billion he requested in January to fund the current school year and covers everything from teacher salaries and efforts to boost student test scores in reading, to classroom supplies and a program to let high school juniors and seniors earn college credits.
Most of the $27 million for teacher raises is designated for an $18 million pay-for-performance plan. Since at least the early 1980s, Republican lawmakers have sought to break up the existing compensation system, based on classroom experience, arguing that it rewards good teachers the same as the bad.
However, earlier this year the Legislature voted to dump a $21 million version of Luna’s merit-based plan, in part because bonuses would have been based largely on how students perform on statewide tests. Instead, lawmakers approved $23.8 million in teacher raises and a plan to boost the minimum teacher salary by 3 percent. The vote was hailed as a victory for the Idaho Education Association, the teachers’ union that had fought the measure.
The proposed budget outlines Luna’s priorities, but details, including the pay-for-performance plan, are still being worked out.
A department spokesperson says Luna consulted the union last year when developing his previous pay-for-performance plan. Interested parties, including teachers, will be included in completing the details of the new proposal.
According to the state Department of Education, Luna formed a task force this summer to help develop statewide standards for teacher performance. The lack of such standards was a reason why the Senate killed the previous merit-based plan.
The task force is scheduled to finish its work in December, but education officials say the teacher evaluation plan should stay separate from the pay-for-performance plan when the Legislature considers both proposals next year. (AP)