State legislators meet with District 25 administration, school board

With the 2017 Idaho legislative session looming, Pocatello/Chubbuck School District 25 invited local lawmakers to hear how the district is doing — as well as address problems the district faces in hopes it’ll be brought up in January.

Various topics were discussed, including curriculum, professional development and human resource concerns. Funding, though, was a big talking point of the night.

During the meeting, members of the administration and school board thanked the legislators for their work in the statehouse. However, they also made sure to communicate more needs to be done for education.

“We’re still not at 2017 funding levels,” Jackie Cranor, school board chair, said. “Teachers retiring now are making less money than when I retired 10 years ago, we still need to improve that.”

For 2016/2017, Idaho school districts will be using a record $188.8 million in supplemental levy funds. District 25’s levy has grown to be 13 percent of the district’s overall need.

Sen. Jim Guthrie, R-McCammon, was appointed to the Senate Education Committee on Thursday. He said the Legislature’s increase in education funding the past couple years shows the Statehouse is aware of the growing supplemental levy reliance.

“It takes time, but I think the state does recognize that local patrons, local school districts and taxpayers can only support the budget to a certain extent,” he said. “We’re trying to correct that.”

Another concern was funds coming in earmarked, meaning the dollars can only be used for specific purposes. District 25 administration members voiced this can inhibit the funds being used in critical needs.

Guthrie agreed he saw issue with this.

“We should maximize school districts’ flexibility and how they spend their money. I was on Marsh Valley School District’s school board years ago and I trust local school boards and administrations,” he said.

Another big talker in Tuesday’s meeting was special education, specifically how the student need for services is increasing.

District 25’s director of human resources, Susan Pettit, also brought up the concern of a smaller hiring pool for teachers. Mentioning the district hired 129 teachers this year, with 79 being new hires.