The Senate Education Committee has begun "stakeholder" closing comments on state schools Supt. Tom Luna's school reform plan, which now consists of three bills: SB 1113 on technology upgrades, increased class sizes and other reforms; SB 1110, a teacher pay-for-performance plan; and SB 1108 on labor relations and adjustments to teacher contract rights. First up was Dallas Clinger, head of the Idaho School Boards Association. "We as a school boards association are in favor of or generally support the labor and entitlement portion of this plan," he said, referring to the second two bills, "with the elimination of the 99 percent protection factor." That's a clause that would eliminate a funding "floor" that school districts now get for one year when they lose students; that would go away under the plan. "Our biggest concern is still the increase in the teacher-student ratio. ... We as trustees at the local level know that the closer you can get to a 1-1 teaching ratio, the better the education and the better the achievement."

Speaking for the Idaho Association of School Administrators, Byron Yankey called for holding off on reforms. "Do not add new programs and additional expenditures at a time when austerity is required," he said. If Idaho must cut school funding next year, he called for making cuts proportionally from the three large areas - pay, benefits, and discretionary funds - and removing all "use it or lose it" rules to let local school districts figure out how to cope with the cuts and get through the year. "We recommend you consider postponing the pay for performance piece," he told the Senate Education Committee. "The original support for pay for performance was contingent on value-added funding. Unfortunately, today's economic conditions do not provide the additional funding."

Idaho Education Association President Sherri Wood opposed the plan, saying, "The bill would end decades of win-win negotiations that ensure our schools work well for students, teachers, administrators, and parents. From class sizes to student health and safety to lesson planning, collective bargaining gives teachers a voice into how they do their jobs. Without that voice, we risk going back to the 1960s, when Idaho was a place teachers wanted to avoid." You can read her full remarks here.

Laurie Boeckel of the Idaho PTA said, "Increasing class sizes ... is not in the best interest of Idaho's students." She thanked the senators for hearing so much public testimony, and urged the senators to heed it.

Vince Hannity of the Idaho Coalition for Education Excellence repeated his earlier statements that the plan is a "bold and innovative step" toward needed reforms. "Several elements of the plan are controversial," he said. "We ask all stakeholders to keep the desired end in sight, to have the most effective, efficient education system for Idaho with the resources available."