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Eye On Boise

Administrators: ‘It’s time to slow down’

Phil Homer of the Idaho Association of School Administrators tells the House Education Committee, 'It's time to slow down
Phil Homer of the Idaho Association of School Administrators tells the House Education Committee, 'It's time to slow down" on teacher pay-for-performance legislation, and start with pilot programs to see how they work - because there's no funding now for a statewide program. (Betsy Russell)

Phil Homer of the Idaho Association of School Administrators told the House Education Committee, "We support and endorse many of the concepts. ... We support the tools and flexibility that are provided to the districts through SB 1108. We do, however, have a concern about another issue in this bill, and that issue is the 99 percent." The bill eliminates that funding provision. "That safety net is essential for many of our school districts which may in many ways lose enrollment," Homer said. "Funding should remain a priority in this category in order to put students first."

On SB 1110, the teacher performance pay bill, Homer said there's no funding, as there was in previous performance pay bills the administrators supported. "It's time to slow down, ask a few districts to provide pilot programs, then move statewide if ... pay for performance is successful," Homer told lawmakers.



Betsy Z. Russell
Betsy Z. Russell joined The Spokesman-Review in 1991. She currently is a reporter in the Boise Bureau covering Idaho state government and politics, and other news from Idaho's state capital.

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