Mission accomplished.

In the last few days, the Boise School District has sent out school levy literature home with students in their report cards. The literature, yellow tri-fold pamphlets, discuss the district’s “need” for levy passage and talks about how Boise’s schools would be harmed if voters don’t approve the measure.

Also included with the pamphlet is an absentee ballot request form.

Jones told IdahoReporter.com he believes it’s the school district’s job to inform parents of the ramifications of the levy’s possible failure. “Everything in that document is accurate,” Jones said. “We always publish information about the district before levies.”

Jones says this likely isn’t the first time the fact sheets have been sent home with report cards.  However, it is the first instance he remembers absentee ballot request forms being sent home.

Though some parents have called IdahoReporter.com about the fairness of the literature, Jones says the information sheets are unbiased. “I wouldn’t agree they are pro-levy,” he said.

Jones says he wouldn’t allow a group of parents opposing the levy to distribute their own facts sheets through student report cards because he believes that would open the floodgates for political material being sent home.

Austin Hill, a radio show host for 580 KIDO AM in Boise, has been a vocal critic of the levy and told the Boise Weekly that district officials aren’t calling the measure a tax hike, which he believes it is.

In the interview with the paper, Hill accused district officials of spreading “propaganda” about the levy and using its resources to promote the levy. “What I find unfair in the midst of this is that school district employees and friends of the district can get into venues and spread their message with no outside voices at all,” said Hill. “They have an impact that the average person cannot.”

The district isn’t the only government entity supporting the levy. On Tuesday, the Boise City Council voted 6-0 to approve a nonbinding resolution supporting passage of the levy.

Former state Rep. Branden Durst, D-Boise, who has kids in the Boise School District and received the pamphlet and ballot request form with his kids’ report cards, said the practice is perfectly acceptable. “They didn’t necessarily instruct anyone to vote for it,” Durst told IdahoReporter.com, adding that the district sent ballot request to all parents, not solely those who’ve expressed support for the levy.

Asked if he thinks the pamphlet offers a fair assessment of the levy’s pros and cons, Durst said the document might slightly favor levy passage. “I think it was written from the school district’s perspective,” Durst explained. “It’s impossible to eliminate all the impartiality of an issue.”

See pictures of the pamphlet below:

The program is known as the Mastery Advancement Pilot Project, or MAPP, and is intended to help students move through the educational process at their own pace.  Districts participating – there are about 15 of them – are required to create end-of-course assessments for all classes, which students can take at any point in their educational careers.  If students pass the exams, they move on to new subjects.  If they pass enough exams, they graduate early and received a state-funded scholarship to a public college or university in Idaho.

Melissa McGrath, communication director for the Idaho Department of Education, told IdahoReporter.com that two districts had students participating in the program, though it’s only been available for seven months.

The Boise School District has 87 students participating in MAPP. Of those, two graduated in January, 67 in June, and 20 more plan to end their secondary educations in August.

The Blackfoot School District in eastern Idaho also had students in the program, albeit not as many.  A total of six Blackfoot students are in MAPP, though none will graduate in 2011.  Two students are planning early graduation in 2012, three are planning it for 2013, and one is looking to the class of 2014 for graduation.

Due to the funding formula for MAPP, the Boise School District will receive an estimated $120,000 for those students, though they will not be in school.  Another $120,000 will be available in scholarships for those who graduated early. Finally, the state will save $120,000 and retain the money in the general fund.

The state could save more money if some students choose not to take the scholarships, which a limited to  in-state public colleges and universities.  One of the program creators, former Rep. Branden Durst, D-Boise, said that at least 27 are expected to take the scholarship money, though he noted that is expected to grow to 40 or 45 students.

Durst is thrilled with the success of MAPP, though the program is still in its infancy.  “It has exceeded my expectations,” he said, noting that the state is saving money while still helping students attend college.  “This is a win-win situation.”

The other founder of the project, Rep. Steven Thayn, R-Emmett, says the numbers show that students are ready and willing to work harder to move on with school.  “I think it recognizes that students are able to work through the system at their own pace,” Thayn said, though he added that he would like to see the program continue to expand.  “My hope would be that more students realize that they can take control of their education.”

With the Boise School District receiving $120,000 for the students who won’t be in classes anymore, could other schools look at the money as incentive to take part in MAPP?  Thayn and Durst hope so.

“If they (other districts) learn what Boise and Blackfoot are figuring out, other districts will want to join,” Thayn explain. “There is really no downside to this.”  He said that if enough interest is shown in coming years, he may push to end the program’s classification as a pilot project and then implement MAPP statewide.

Durst thinks already-graduated students will be a catalyst for MAPP’s expansion.  “Now that there are students doing this, there’s going to be a lot of interest,” he explained.

MAPP is authorized to run for six years and will end, unless changed by lawmakers, on July 1, 2016. Only 21 districts and three charter schools are allowed in the program, with 15 now taking part.

The task force, which starts meeting June 13, must report to state lawmakers next year on how to implement the technology changes that are part of the new education laws backed by Luna. Those components include how to distribute laptops or similar devices to high school students and guidelines for online classes that high school students may be required to take.

“Through this task force, we have pulled together individuals from education, technology, and the business community to work together in making this implementation successful for every child,” Luna said in a news release.

Luna appointed 27 of the 38 task force members. Among the task force group are four teachers, four principals, five superintendents, four school board members. Six lawmakers are on the task force, including one Democrat, Ketchum Rep. Wendy Jaquet, who was appointed by Luna. House and Senate leaders appointed four members, all Republicans.

Not all of Luna’s picks to the task force backed his reform package earlier this year. Jaquet voted against the legislation and Challis Superintendent Colby Gull opposed the plan during a public hearing in January. At least seven of Luna’s appointees supported the reforms, either in legislative hearings or media reports.

“When people applied, they did not necessarily say how they felt about the legislation,” Melissa McGrath, Luna’s spokeswoman, said. McGrath said several staff members in the education department reviewed the 96 applications, but Luna made the final decision. She also said that selections weren’t made based on support for the legislation, but rather on the applicants’ background and what they could bring to the task force, as well their location in Idaho.

The reject pile for the task force included several critics of the plan, including Boise School Board head A.J. Balukoff, former Boise lawmaker Branden Durst, and teacher Christina Hartman.

Several of Luna’s supporters also didn’t make the cut to be on the task force, including Briana LeClaire with the Idaho Freedom Foundation and Cody Claver, who works for the online education company K12 that contributed thousands to Luna’s re-election campaign.

The legislation creating the task force allowed others besides Luna to appoint task force members. The most prominent critic on the board is Idaho Education Association President Sherri Wood, who was not available for comment.

Luna’s office has said it is continuing to implement the reforms. Opponents to the new laws have gathered enough signatures to force a referendum on the reforms, which voters will decide on next November.

Read the full list of task force members at Luna’s blog. The list of applicants who weren’t accepted is available here. Luna’s office also released an updated website for his education reforms.

Note: IdahoReporter.com is published by the Idaho Freedom Foundation.

A few days ago, the House was buzzing about a legal opinion declaring a nullification bill unconstitutional, but now GOP leadership has decided to kill a different piece of legislation because it believes it would violate the U.S. Constitution.

Speaker of the House Lawerence Denney, R-Midvale, sent a bill that would be the first step in Idaho collecting sales taxes on Internet purchases to the House Ways and Means Committee, a sign that the legislation is on the way to its death.

House Majority Leader Mike Moyle, R-Star, told IdahoReporter.com Friday that the bill, if passed, would likely violate Article 1, Section 10, of the Constitution, which reads “No state shall, without the consent of Congress, … enter into any agreement or compact with another state …”

Smith’s bill would enter Idaho into the Streamlined Sales Tax Project, a group dedicated to reforming state tax codes to create conformity and allow states to remit and receive sales tax payments from other states.

That doesn’t sit well with Moyle.  “I don’t really want South Dakota dictating Idaho’s tax code,” the majority leader said.

The head of the budget-writing committee stayed optimistic on the issue, however.  Sen. Dean Cameron, R-Rupert, says that the news from the governor that the state is likely facing a $150 million budget shortfall next year might sway some minds on the issue.  ”I don’t know that the issue is gone yet,” said Cameron.

One member of the House Ways and Means Committee, House Minority Leader John Rusche, D-Lewiston, was saddened by the speaker’s action.  ”That is a great disappointment to me personally,” said Rusche.  ”We had a supermajority to print it.”  The minority leader said he believes the re-direction of the bill by GOP leadership means the bill will likely die.  ”They decided they don’t want to do it, so the state isn’t going to do it,” he concluded,

The bill, proposed by Rep. Leon Smith, R-Twin Falls, was introduced on a 12-6 vote earlier this week by the House Revenue and Taxation Committee. Smith has brought the same legislation four years straight, though it has only made it to the full House one time, only to be defeated.

Courts have ruled that only businesses that have a “physical nexus” in a state can be subjected to a state’s sales tax, meaning that if online retail giant Amazon.com has a presence in Texas, that state can charge sales taxes on all transactions made by Texans.  If an Idahoan purchases something from Amazon.com, neither Idaho nor Texas could collect taxes on the purchase.

Only Congress can authorize states to cross borders to collect the taxes, but has yet to do so.

Smith estimates the state could gain an additional $35 million yearly in revenue by collecting Internet sales taxes, though a report from the National Conference of State Legislature puts that figure at about $100 million annually.

The bill was one topic of conversation at a Joint Finance-Appropriation Committee meeting Friday.  Public testimony was taken on the Medicaid budget, which is set to be cut at least $25 million in state funds.  Several citizens and Medicaid providers urged lawmakers to consider collecting online sales taxes as a way to stave of health program cuts.

One former lawmaker, Rep. Branden Durst, D-Boise, has started a Facebook group in support of Smith’s measure, calling on Denney to give the bill a formal hearing.  Rep. Wendy Jaquet, D-Ketchum, sent out an e-mail to her supporters Friday, asking them to contact House leadership and urge a course reversal for the bill.

It wasn’t enough to close the gap between him and the man who won the race, Republican Sen. Mitch Toryanski, who claimed victory by 103 votes on election night.  Toryanski won the race with 6,455 votes to Durst’s 6,353.

Durst didn’t request a full recount, but rather a count of five precincts within Boise’s District 18 at a cost of $100 per precinct.  In those five specific areas, Durst won more votes than his opponent.  The Democrat had 2,054 votes cast in his favor on Election Day, though that total was increased to 2,055 after the recount.  Toryanski won 1,855 votes in the precincts, and his vote count remained the same through the recount process.

Michael Gilmore, the deputy attorney tasked with overseeing the recount, said the one vote picked up by Durst didn’t merit a larger recount to see if the results in the race might be altered.  ”Mr. Durst picked up one additional vote in five precincts, which was insufficient, when projected across all precincts in District 18, to change the outcome of the election,” wrote Gilmore in a letter to the Ada County Elections clerk.  “Accordingly, no further recount was conducted and the results of the election stand.”

Durst says he requested the recount to verify results because he saw a vast difference in polling data compared to actual vote totals.  ”We were shocked by some of the results we saw in some of the precincts,” said Durst.  ”The numbers that we ended up getting were very different from the information we saw.”

In the end, the Democrat seemed underwhelmed by the change in his vote total.  ”The results are the results,” he explained.  ”To expect something different is pretty naive.”  He said that because the ballots are counted through the same methods during recounts as they are on Election Day, asking for a second tabulation of votes is “pretty much useless.”

Durst’s recount took place while the Ada County Elections Office was handling the same process for Democrat Janie Ward-Engelking, who requested it in her House race with Republican Julie Ellsworth.  Engelking lost by nine votes on Election Day, and like Durst, picked up one vote through the second counting of votes.

Note: View Durst’s letter requesting the recount here.

The program sought to have as many as 25 for the test run, but not that many applied. Only 12 districts and one charter school will take part in the Mastery Advancement Pilot Program, otherwise known as MAPP.  The most valuable of those, however, may be Boise School District, which has pledged 32 elementary school, eight junior high schools and eight high schools.  The number of elementary schools offered by Boise is ten times those offered by other districts.  That will help lawmakers gauge the success of the program at the end of its six-year run.

MAPP participants are not required to implement guidelines within all schools in their district, but can pick and choose which will join in the program.  Only Cottonwood, Gooding, and New Plymouth school districts have pledged elementary schools.

Others are Coeur d’Alene Charter Academy, Jerome School District and Kuna School District.  Districts are encourage to participate for the full six years, but not required to.

The program, known as the Mastery Advancement Pilot Project, allows students to test out of classes and move ahead at their own pace.  Creators of MAPP, Rep. Steve Thayn, R-Emmett and former Rep. Branden Durst, D-Boise, say the program will help engage students and encourage them to become more active in their own education.  They also believe families, looking to save money on college through more cost-effective concurrent enrollment programs offered through Idaho high schools, will push students to work harder to achieve more during their school years.

For each year students shave off their education, Idaho will pay them one-third of the money it would have taken to educate them in the year they are skipping. Students are eligible to forego as many as three years of high school if they have passed required course examinations by 85 percent or better.  Pupils in younger grades will face skill-based examinations, while older students must pass knowledge-based assessments.

Melissa McGrath, communication director for the Department of Education, says that four districts are only tentatively approved because of a quirk in the MAPP law which prohibits too many districts from any one region from gaining entry. McGrath says the department will work with Thayn and the Legislature to make necessary changes to allow the four districts to take part.

View a complete list of all districts approved for the MAPP program here.

Such is the case with the Mastery Advancement Pilot Project (MAPP), a government program that will allow students in Idaho’s public schools to test out of classes and graduate early from high school and receive a state-funded scholarship for doing so.  After the general elections Tuesday, one of the two men who created the program will no longer be a member of the Idaho Legislature, leaving the other lawmaker to guide the program in its infancy.

One Republican, Rep. Steve Thayn from Emmett, and one Democrat, Rep. Branden Durst from Boise, were behind the MAPP program and were instrumental to its passage.  The duo worked together to craft the bill and each worked within his own caucus to assure its passage through the Idaho Legislature.  The measure was approved 88-14 by state lawmakers, with bipartisan support for the plan.

Thayn won re-election without facing a challenger on the ballot, but Durst, in a bid to move up to the Idaho Senate, lost to Republican Mitch Toryanksi by 103 votes.

That leaves Thayn in the Idaho House to make future legislative changes to the program if such are needed.  After passage of the bill earlier this year, Thayn and Durst worked with the Idaho Department of Education to draw up rules for the program because the law creating MAPP was not so specific as to disallow flexibility by the agency in the program’s implementation.  Both men also recruited school districts for the program, bringing 15 schools districts and two charter schools into the fold.

Though Thayn lost his Democratic ally Tuesday, he doesn’t think he will have much difficulty getting tweaks to the program through the Legislature.  ”Once we broke the ice with the initial concept, I think everyone grasped the idea and will be receptive to changes,” Thayn told IdahoReporter.com. He has no plans to look for another lawmaker in the Democratic caucus to team with and also did not specify what changes might need to be made to the program.  

Durst said he will help where he can as a private citizen.  ”I’ll help keep an eye on the rules proposed by the department,” explained Durst.  ”I’ll make some recommendations if things don’t look right.”  He also plans to help school districts with implementation of the program.

Some who pay attention to Idaho politics and the Legislature see Thayn as one of the most conservative members of the House.  Is Durst worried that Thayn’s unchecked influence might take the program astray? Not really, he says.  ”It was written as a program acceptable on a statewide level and not as a partisan plan,” Durst said.  ”I don’t worry about its success.”

The first round of applications for the program was due Sept. 1 and 15 school districts and two charter schools applied for entry into the program.  The second and final round of applications were due Nov. 1 and it is unknown if all the districts and charter schools submitted paperwork for the second deadline.  The Department of Education will announce acceptance into the program Dec. 1.  The program is set to run as a pilot project for six years, but school districts can pull out in the early stages.

“It’s going to be a good, conservative Legislature,” said Sen. Melinda Smyser, R-Parma, who won her election on Tuesday. Smyser was appointed to her seat in 2009. She said lawmakers’ top priority will be creating jobs and a more stable economic climate. She also said she’s working on issues of government transparency. “It’s important that the people know how their money is being spent.”

The gains in the House would give Republicans 57 seats and Democrats 13 seats, based on unofficial voting results. In the Senate, there would be 28 Republicans and 7 Democrats.

The shift could allow Republicans to make lasting reforms or changes in the structure of state government. “We have a very unique opportunity in this next session, and only this next session,” said Rep. Marv Hagedorn, R-Meridian. “Things like looking at tax code, our education process, our process for doing entitlements like Health and Welfare—the biggest things that we can tackle besides balancing the budget.” Hagedorn said the will to make changes could disappear after next year due to redistricting and another statewide election

Lt. Gov. Brad Little, who oversees the Senate and previously served in the Senate, said lawmakers will need to weigh tough decisions. “We’ve got to make some fundamental changes in Health and Welfare,” he said.

The state budget could be a major issue, as well. State budget analysts say the budget is structurally out of balance by $140 to $350 million, and that the next budget is going to be tough.

Democrats say they will continue to work on their policy objectives. “Ninety percent of legislation in the Statehouse is not partisan,” said Sen. Nicole LeFavour, D-Boise. “A person’s expertise matters more than their party.” She said she will be focusing on the budget, making sure education and state mental health services are properly funded.

“I still think we’re making inroads,” said Rep. Phylis King, D-Boise.

Only two Democratic incumbents lost in the election, Reps. Mary Lou Shepherd of Wallace, and Liz Chavez of Lewiston. The other GOP pickups were in races where sitting Democrats chose not to run.

Three Republican Senate candidates who defeated GOP incumbents in the May primary won on the general election. The only newly-held Democratic seat is in Latah County, where Dan Schmidt, a doctor and former county coroner, defeated Gresham Bouma.

A few races could potentially shift from the current results. Vote totals in two races in Boise’s 18th District, both potential Republican pickups, are within 1 percent. A House race between Republican Julie Ellsworth and Democrat Janie Ward-Engelking is separated by nine votes and will likely trigger a full recount.

In a Senate race, Republican Mitch Toryanski currently leads Democrat Branden Durst, a current House member, by 103 votes. Durst said he’s waiting to see more voting reports before deciding whether to concede or pursue a recount.

Durst said he’s seen indications of voting irregularities. “We’re trying to be gracious in defeat, if that’s where we’re at,” he told IdahoReporter.com. “We’re trying to make sure everything is copacetic.”

Idaho voters go to the polls Tuesday to elect a full slate of state officeholders featuring three contested races, a U.S. senator, two congressmen, as well as state House and Senate members. In addition, there are four constitutional amendments on the ballot.

Following is a summary of the contested national and state races, as well as an overview of the state Senate and House contests, plus a look at the constitutional amendments on the ballot.

Governor

Five candidates are running to be Idaho’s next governor, though only three – at the most – have a real chance at claiming victory Tuesday night.  Independent Pro-Life, formerly known as Marvin Richardson, and Libertarian Ted Dunlap added some issue-oriented talk at a debate held last week in the Statehouse in Boise, but neither has polled anywhere near close enough to have a legitimate shot at winning.

Slightly above Pro-Life and Dunlap is Independent Jana Kemp, a former Republican state legislator who wants to examine the health and welfare and corrections budgets to find money for education.  Kemp has also been critical of the two front-runners in the race, Republican Butch Otter and Democrat Keith Allred, for being members of the “good ‘ol boys club” and for taking money from special interests.

In the latest polling by Mason-Dixon, Otter holds a 22-point lead over Allred, though the Democrat says he has information showing a tighter race.  Allred has used this race to focus on the $128 million cut in the public schools budget, blasting Otter for approving it along the way.  To shore up funding for schools, Allred says he would close sales tax exemptions that “don’t make sense.” Otter has defended the cut, saying that Idaho can’t go into debt and the budget had to be balanced. He also said public schools were the least cut of all state-funded operations.

Otter has accused Allred of “Obama-speak” because he believes the Democrat is promising to be all things to everyone in the state with pledges of increased education spending coupled with no tax hikes. The two men also disagree on handling of wolves, with Otter recently handing management of the creature back to the federal government while Allred says the state must monitor wolves to show federal agencies the state can effectively do so.

Read IdahoReporter.com’s profile of Kemp here, Otter here, and Allred here.

Lieutenant governor

Republican Brad Little and Democrat Eldon Wallace are on the ballot to fill the lieutenant governor position.  Little is the incumbent in the contest, though he was never elected to the post.  Appointed by Gov. Butch Otter after Jim Risch left the seat in 2008 to take a U.S. Senate seat, Little has taken on key issues in his limited role as the second in command.  Little heads a task force on finding transportation funding for the future and has worked on economic development initiatives at the request of the governor.  At a debate between the two men in October, Wallace hammered Little – and Idaho Republicans in general – on a $128 million cut made to the education budget.  Wallace says that education is key to the Gem State’s future prosperity.  Little defended cuts, saying that tough decisions had to be made to balance the state’s budget.

Read about the debate between Little and Wallace here.

Superintendent of public instruction

The race for state superintendent of public instruction fits at least one electoral stereotype: it features a Republican businessman opposing a professional educator in the race for the state’s top education position.  Since his entry into the race, Democrat Stan Olson, a former superintendent of the Boise School District, has criticized his opponent, incumbent Republican Tom Luna, for not having enough experience in education to qualify for the job.  Olson has also blasted Luna for failing to plan for slumping tax revenues, which led to a $128 million cut in education during the 2010 legislative session.  Luna had plenty of criticisms for Olson, however.  The Republican blasted Olson for taking a $25,000 severance payment upon retirement from Boise schools and has repeatedly criticized him for not reducing his $175,000-a-year salary during the economic slump.

The men have found at least one area in which they agree: Luna and Olson both believe in charter schools and both have worked to enhance school choice while serving in public office.  They disagree, however, on instituting a new performance pay system for teachers.  Luna wants to implement a career ladder plan that would give teachers more control over how much they make, but needs $30 million to do so.  Olson wants to look at pay plans from other region of the country, but is skeptical of any system that includes salaries based on student achievement.

Read IdahoReporter.com’s video profile of Luna here and Olson here.

Secretary of state

It’s hard to call this contest a race because though there are two candidates on the ballot, voters might only take one seriously.  Republican Ben Ysursa, the incumbent in the fight, has served in the office in various positions for multiple decades.  His opponent, Mack Sermon, is a debate coach at the College of Idaho in Caldwell.  Sermon spent much of his time in the debate between the men defending his campaign website, which features pictures of him dressed up as a pro-wrestler, a vampire, and a rock star.  That doesn’t mean that Sermon didn’t attack his Republican counterpart on a few issues, however.  Sermon said that if elected, he would work to move Idaho to a vote-by-mail system , which he says would save millions for taxpayers.

The secretary of state sits on an oversight panel that manages Idaho’s reserve accounts.  Earlier this year, the board approved a transfer of $22 million the funds to the public education budget.  Ysura said the transfer was a one-time thing, while Sermon said he would use the office to ensure education funding is shored up as must as possible.

Here’s a link to coverage of the debate between Sermon and Ysursa.

U.S. Senate

Republican Sen. Mike Crapo is running a well-funded campaign for his third term in the U.S. Senate. On the campaign trail, he’s been critical of Democratic leadership in Congress, including the stimulus package, bailouts and reforms for the financial sector, and the uncertain fate of the Bush-era tax cuts.

Crapo’s Democratic opponent, Tom Sullivan, has criticized Crapo for taking campaign contributions from financial companies. He’s also been supportive of the administration of President Barack Obama, saying many of his policies, including health care and the stimulus package, have benefited the country.

The Senate race has a third party candidate. Constitution Party candidate Randy Bergquist is calling for a gradual repeal of all federal social welfare programs and a reduction in other government spending, including on the military.

1^st District, U.S. House

The race for 1^st Congressional District is expected to be one of the closest and most-watched across the state. Incumbent Democratic Rep. Walt Minnick, a businessman who led a wood products company, is being challenged by Republican state Rep. Raul Labrador, an immigration attorney. Labrador’s profession and the issue of illegal immigration has been one of the dominant topics in the race. The candidates also disagree on how to fix recent the health care overhaul approved by Congress.

Independent Dave Olson and Libertarian Mike Washburn are also running in the 1^st District race.

2^nd District, U.S. House

Republican Rep. Mike Simpson’s most vocal challenger has been Independent candidate Brian Schad, a former Navy SEAL. Schad has said Simpson has “joined the big government crowd” based on some of his votes, including the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program in 2008 aimed at helping banks and other finance companies.

All the challengers running in the congressional races have said that the incumbents, be they Republican or Democrat, are part of the problems plaguing Washington, D.C.

Idaho Senate

The Idaho Senate is very likely to remain controlled by the Republican Party, since 16 Republicans in the 35-member chamber are running unopposed. GOP candidates are challenging all seven Democrats in the Senate, with the majority party hoping to pick up several seats. Democrats are running for 12 seats currently held by Republicans, largely in more urban legislative districts.

Interesting races to watch include the 6^th district, serving Moscow, where Republican Gresham Bouma defeated a longtime incumbent but faces Democratic challenger Dan Schmidt, and the 25^th District, where Sen. Michelle Stennett has two opponents in her bid to take the seat held by her husband, the late Sen. Clint Stennett.

Idaho House

This much is known about the Idaho House of Representatives Tuesday night: Republicans will maintain control of the state’s lower chamber.  The question to be answered is if the GOP will keep its commanding majority enjoyed by Republicans in the last two years.

Of the 70 House seats up for grabs, 28 are uncontested, 26 of which are held by Republicans.  Only two Democrats, House Minority Leader John Rusche, Lewiston, and Rep. Wendy Jaquet, Ketchum, are not facing electoral foes on the ballot.

District 18 in south Boise has been pegged as one area to watch Tuesday night. Democratic Rep. Phylis King is facing a competitive challenger from Republican Trevor Grigg for one House seat and Democrat Janie Ward-Engelking is battling with Republican Julie Ellsworth for the other.  Ellsworth and Engelking are battling for the spot vacated by Rep. Branden Durst in his quest to move up to the Idaho Senate.  Engelking is a veteran education, but Ellsworth may have the edge in name recognition because she served in the Idaho Legislature for 10 years.

Also of note on election night is the race for Democratic Rep. George Sayler’s seat in Coeur D’Alene.  Republican Kathleen Sims, a business owner in the area, served one term in the Idaho Senate, but was defeated in a GOP primary.  Democrat Paula Marano has Sayler’s backing and has outraised Sims in the contest.  Marana pledges to increase education spending, while Sims says her priority will be to cut government.

Constitutional amendments

Four constitutional amendments are on the ballot, three dealing with public debt and one about how the University of Idaho (UI) charges its students.

SJR101

Senate Joint Resolution 101 (SJR101) was passed by the Legislature in 2009, but had to wait for a general election for a vote.  The Idaho Constitution prohibits UI from charging students tuition because of the school’s status as a land grant college.  The framers of the Gem State’s founding document set forth a plan that forbids college kids from paying tuition, though they don’t attend school for free.  UI is still able to charge fees, and it does it on a level comparable to the tuition rates of other public Idaho universities.

The problem, says the school, is that the constitutional provision prevents the school from exercising complete control over its own finances. The issue has come to a head at this time because state support for higher education has shrunk more than 20 percent.  Fees are allowed to pay for campus buildings and other projects, but cannot be used to pay professor salaries.  Therein lies the problem, says the school.

Of the four amendments, this measure has the least opposition.  One state lawmaker opposed it as a matter of principle, explaining that if the state properly supported higher education, the school wouldn’t need the amendment.

Read a comprehensive profile of SJR101 here.

The other three

In 2006, the Idaho Supreme Court issued a ruling on a case involving the Boise Airport that, in impact, declared that certain political subdivisions of the state – airports, public hospitals, and city-owned power systems – cannot enter into long-term agreements or incur debt without voter approval.

Each of the three other amendments on the ballot seeks to alter that ruling and allow hospitals, airports, and city-owner power companies to incur debt without voter approval, but only if the debt is to be paid without using taxpayer dollars.

House Joint Resolution 4 (HJR4) zeroes in on hospitals.  The Idaho Hospital Association believes that passage of the measure is necessary for hospitals to purchase needed equipment, which can be very costly and require financing.  Those advocating for passage note that no public hospital in the history of state has ever missed a payment on debt.

House Joint Resolution 5 (HJR5) has received the most attention of the four measures on the ballot.  This amendment has the backing of the majority of mayors of cities in the Treasure Valley, who say that airports need to catch up in infrastructure investment to the tune of about $738 million through the next 20 years.   The man behind HJR5, Rep. Fred Wood, R-Burley, said that Idaho Constitution was written at a time – 1890 – when airplanes weren’t around.  Wood said that the founders of the state never planned for this scenario and that the document was never meant to function in this manner.

House Joint Resolution 7 (HJR7) would allow city-owned power companies in Idaho – of which there are 20 – to enter into long-term agreements without voter approval.  Those in favor argue that if passage of the measure is not secured, Idahoans in those power cities would be faced with higher prices on power bills.  They say that larger power providers, like the Bonneville Power Administration, offer better deals when long-term agreements are reached.  The shorter the contract, advocates say, the more volatile the pricing.

David Frazier, an activist and blogger, is the man behind the 2006 lawsuit that spurred these three amendments and he is still opposed to public debt without a vote of the people.

Frazier opposes HJR5 specifically because he believes airports could use the provision to publicly-finance building construction and lease the structures to private companies, thereby denying other taxing districts, like schools and highway districts, from collecting revenues to which they would otherwise be entitled.  “Schools, cities, counties, highway districts, and any other taxing agencies would suffer loss of revenue on any buildings constructed under this plan,” said Frazier.

Rep. Stephen Hartgen, R-Twin Falls, asked voters in the Magic Valley to oppose all the measures.  “Still, all three proposals essentially are end-runs around the Constitution,” wrote Hartgen.  Rep. Joe Palmer, R-Meridian, is also on record for his opposition to the three debt amendments.  “I think it takes away the voters’ rights,” Palmer told IdahoReporter.com.  “I think they are just trying to find a way to go around the voters so it makes it easier for them.”

A simple majority is required on each amendment for passage.

Read IdahoReporter.com’s profile of HJR4 here, HJR5 here, and HJR7 here.

Note: Brad Iverson-Long contributed to this post.

Christie believes his reform package will help demand accountability from teachers and school districts, thereby increasing student achievement.  In addition to removing years on the job as a determining factor of pay scale, Christie also wants the New Jersey Legislature to remove accumulation of college degrees and credit from the pay scale, unless degrees are in areas in which data shows that more or enhanced degrees result in better classroom performance, such as math or science.  Instead, the Republican governor wants a task force to determine how districts can pay based on teacher performance, with at least 50 percent of each review based on student achievement.

Idaho is one of the many states that pays based on tenure and education levels.  Pay for a teacher in Idaho begins at $29,655 and continues upward with years of experience in the classroom and degree levels.  Those with more education and experience are compensated accordingly.  But Christie feels that education and experience aren’t necessarily good factors on which to base pay because “neither … accurately measures a teacher’s effectiveness in the classroom,” says Christie in his reform documents.

Idaho is not totally devoid of teacher evaluations, but teacher ratings have little or nothing to do with pay levels of educators.  Idaho Code Section 33-1004E lays out how teachers are paid in the state. “To determine the apportionment for instructional staff, first determine the district average experience and education index by placing all eligible district certificated instructional employees on the statewide index,” says the code.  The index, shown here, only takes into account education levels and years in the classroom.

Separately, districts are allowed to implement their own teacher evaluation systems, which are judged against a statewide plan known as the “Danielson Framework.”  The Danielson system focuses on professional development of educators and increases in student performance, but does not grade teachers based on pupil achievement.  Student progress only plays into the evaluation process because “teachers must demonstrate how they will use assessment data to inform instruction and improve student achievement.”  That means that teachers must only examine data to find areas in which they can aid students.  Nothing provides for increased or decreased compensation in a results-based manner.

Would Christie proposal work in Idaho? Not yet, says Rep. Steven Thayn, R-Emmett, a member of the House Education Committee.  ”There’s no measuring system we have at every grade level that’s standardized across the state,” Thayn told IdahoReporter.com.  The Emmett Republican says that he would be willing to consider a Christie-like system if the state could develop a process for gauging teacher success in the classroom.  He agrees with the New Jersey governor about teacher performance not necessarily correlating with the amount of education or experience an educator has.  Thayn says that years in the classroom and college degrees obtained “doesn’t necessarily mean a better education for the student.”

Thayn wants to take Christie’s plan a step further.  While the New Jersey governor wants student achievement to be at least 50 percent of the teacher evaluation process, Thayn wants student achievement to be the sole determining factor in the rate of pay for Idaho’s teachers.

Another member of the House Education Committee, Rep. Branden Durst, D-Boise, disagrees with his Republican counterpart.  Durst believes that peer evaluations – teachers grading the performance of other teachers anonymously – should be the primary means for evaluating educators.  ”A teacher doesn’t want to protect another teacher that’s doing a bad job,” Durst said.  ”That would mean more work for them.”

Durst, whose wife teaches school, says that too many factors determine student achievement, not simply teacher performance.  ”Some kids are naturally smarter than others,” he said, adding that teachers shouldn’t receive less compensation simply because one class of students may not be as gifted as another.

Rural Idaho could also be hurt by a compensation plan that rewards teachers based on student achievement, Durst says, because more affluent students with more access to resources are generally located in urban areas.  That would lead teachers who want higher pay to flock to cities, leaving meager pickings for districts with lower performing students.

The Boise Democrat did agree with Thayn in one area, however: a lack of the state to measure student progress.  ”We’re not testing frequently enough to measure growth,” Durst said.  He wants students to be testing on regular basis in order to monitor progress in that pupil’s education.  Durst openly supports increasing technology and testing in Idaho classrooms that are able to show student achievement on a regular basis.