Education Funding Draws Attention

Legislators, current and prospective precinct chairmen share ideas as 2010 Idaho Legislature nears

Funding education will be key component of the 2010 Idaho Legislature when it convenes on Jan. 11.

Coeur d'Alene Press 11-22-09 POST FALLS

By RICK THOMAS
Staff writer

The three Republican legislators representing District 5 met with 15 current and prospective precinct chairmen Saturday morning at Moon Dollars Coffee House to share their agenda for the session and get feedback on issues considered important by their constituents.

Sen. Jim Hammond was joined by Representatives Bob Nonini and Frank Henderson, who all agreed creating jobs would be a high priority. But with education taking more than half the state's general fund and a request for a 9 percent increase over last year to meet increased enrollment, it will be a major effort to decide which programs will see budget cuts or be eliminated.

"Sometimes in good times we grow government," Hammond said. "We need to look at what programs are not necessary."

Because Idaho law requires that teachers work no fewer days and for no less money than in their previous year on the job, and with 85 percent of school district budgets going to employee wages and benefits, balancing the budget -- also a legal requirement -- will take a major effort.

Education and health and welfare costs eat up the majority of the state's budget, and the general fund is down to $2.3 billion to $2.4 billion from $3 billion just a few years ago, the legislators said.

"If we eliminated all but K-16 and health and welfare, we would still not have enough to make the necessary cuts" for the 2011 budget, Hammond said.

Bob Hollingsworth, Precinct 61 chairman from Coeur d'Alene, asked how lawmakers could get a handle on teacher salaries.

Nonini, who often butts heads with educators and their union, the Idaho Education Association, said contracts are difficult to negotiate and the process typically takes more than two months.

"We need to give districts the ability to renegotiate contracts," he said.

He and Hammond agreed teacher pay should be based more on performance rather than the automatic 3.5 percent pay increases they get for their first 12 years on the job, and others agreed.

"It seems like inequity, teachers can make the same money or more," said Tom Cross of Post Falls, Precinct 36.

Tax increases were another issue Cross had on his mind, and he asked the legislators if changing the law that allows entities to apply "foregone" tax increases of up to the 3 percent maximum allowed in the future if not taken in a current budget year would be useful.

Hammond and Nonini agreed that changing the law would likely prompt taxing entities to grab all they could while they could. Henderson suggested that a better idea might be to limit foregone taxes to one-time purposes.

From Henderson's perspective, helping the private sector create more jobs is the key to Idaho's economic recovery. Among his ideas is eliminating the sales tax on lumber used to build new homes, benefiting the state's timber and construction industries.

Building contractor Jeff Tyler, seeking the Coeur d'Alene Precinct 64 spot Nonini intends to vacate, said impact fees imposed on new construction is hampering growth. A recent proposal for a 12-unit project would have set the developer back more than $150,000 at $13,000 per unit, he said, and kept it from getting started.

Hammond agreed that is another issue that needs to be addressed, as not all fees are being set according to law and there needs to be uniformity.

Larry Gilman of Precinct 30 in Post Falls suggested there should be more information available on the Internet from taxing districts, with agendas, live and archived meetings and information on expenditures and biographies of board members and employees.

"Let's get some transparency, make it easy for people to look in," he said.

The legislators agreed that could be useful, and could be required by the state, but there are costs involved. Hammond said they do not want to follow the lead of the federal government and create unfunded mandates, however.

Henderson said the proposals generated during the two-hour discussion will be helpful.

"When we get good ideas like the things we heard today, we can get a bill printed early, before the session," he said.