District 93 regroups after props voted down

It’s been almost a week since education reform propositions 1, 2 and 3 were struck down by Idaho voters.

After all of the build-up, everyone is wondering where to go from here?

Teacher merit pay seems to be the most prominent topic of discussion among schools.

Leaders from District 93 in Idaho Falls and the Bonneville Education Association met together Monday to talk about what to do with incoming funds.

Shalene French is in charge of human resources for D-93.

She said as soon as election night came to a close, it was time to re-group.

“There were a lot of things that had already been put into place to address those laws for the last two years,” said French.

That’s when leaders in her district started brainstorming. They came together Monday night to discuss options for what would have been “pay for performance” money.

“It’s a tentative plan, because we want to be able to act appropriately and act in the best interest of the teachers,” said French.

The state is in the process of working with the attorney general to figure out exactly how to allocate the funding to each district.

They should have a final answer by this Thursday, Nov. 15.

French said D-93 hopes to give the money they receive directly back to teachers, if state guidelines provide for that.

“Our hope is that we can roll that out,” said French.

Under the props, the money would roll out to teachers before Dec.15, but now the district is waiting to find out if that is still the case.

“We are just waiting for the legal counsel,” said French.

That is now only three days away.

Under pay for performance, Lincoln High School is the only school in D-93 that would not receive any financial bonuses this year. That’s because they did not meet certain testing criteria.

The district is in discussions with the state to change that determination though.

Superintendent Chuck Shackett said he received an email Monday from Tom Luna’s office stating that the attorney general has given a green light on paying out pay for performance funding to the districts.