BOISE -- The Idaho Education Association has been fighting against Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Luna's Students Come First plan. On Tuesday, speculation arose that at least on of the education reform bills will head back to committee for changes.
The IEA hopes to eventually see all the bills in the plan killed, but after that, what might happen is a bit unclear. IEA President Sherri Wood she would like to see the process start from the beginning, with all those impacted taking another look to find another solution.
"It seems in an economic crisis that you don't lay off teachers, increase class size in order to buy something new. You kind of weather the storm," Idaho Education Association President Sherri Wood said.
Wood and other opponents of Superintendent Tom Luna's Students Come First Plan have been vocal. Now, Luna is pushing back against some of what he says are myths; the biggest, he says, is what would happen if all the bills failed. On Tuesday, he appeared on KIDO radio to answer questions.
"The biggest myth that the teachers union is trying to portray right now is that is if these bills don't pass, everything in education will stay as it is today. Nothing could be further from the truth," Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Luna said on KIDO.
Luna says in the past two years the state has done everything it could from draining savings, to cutting text book and technology funding to relying on federal stimulus dollars.
"We have three choices. We can continue to cannibalize the current system which means we cut more days off the school calendar. Some schools have cut 15 days already. We raise taxes and that's not acceptable. I think Idahoans have made it clear they do not want government to raise taxes in order to solve their budget problems, or you change the system," Luna said.
Wood disagrees, saying there are more alternatives: "I don't think those are the only three options we have. I think there's a lot of things we can talk about and maybe get out of this downturn in the economy and then talk about real reform."
As for the IEA's ideas, Wood says some people have told her they'd support a sales tax increase. When it comes to other specific ideas for reform, she says specifics should be hammered out in legislation created by all stakeholders in education.
As for support and opposition, many more people have testified at the statehouse against the proposed legislation than for. Luna said he believes there is a silent majority of people who understand there has to be a change.
