Don't call a plan Students First when it's about reducing resources please.

Those of you who know me also know that I usually only blog when I have something I’m passionately pissed about. Today is such a day. Below is the letter I’m sending to my Idaho State Representatives about the proposed Idaho Education Reform Plan. I encourage ALL of my Idaho friends and family who care at all about the future of Idaho to review the plan here http://www.sde.idaho.gov/site/studentsComeFirst/students101.htm and send your Representative your feedback.

If you don’t know who your State Representative is click here for a map and contact information http://www.sde.idaho.gov/site/studentsComeFirst/students101.htm

February 9, 2011

Open Letter to Governor Butch Otter, Superintendent Tom Luna and Members of the Idaho Legislature:

I’ve spent the last few weeks listening with interest and growing concern about State School District Superintendent Tom Luna’s education reform plan for Idaho. I’ve spent the last few hours trying to absorb the principles of the plan and get my mind around the positive pieces of it. The bottom line is I can’t get my mind around it because I CANNOT for the life of me, understand a plan that wholesale accepts that we can’t and won’t find a way to make education funding a priority. From the plan:

A decade of lost opportunity: even with optimistic revenue growth, it will take idaho 10 years to get per-pupil spending back to where it was just two years ago. we can no longer rely on federal bailouts to prop up our education budget year after year.

I completely agree. This isn’t the federal governments problem, it’s Idaho’s problem. If the Idaho legislature, Governor Otter and Superintendent Luna don’t see funding education as a priority why should the federal government care? Mr. Luna said tonight on the KTVB education forum that there was no way the legislature would consider a tax increase because they wouldn’t even increase criminal fees by $1.50. That makes me both sad and ashamed to be a resident of Idaho. What could be more important than Idaho’s future workforce?

I’ve had discussions with several friends and colleagues about the challenge with finding the right talent in Idaho to fill needed positions. Many are recruiting out of state to fill openings in their companies, yet we seem to be headed in the wrong direction. I am the only employee in my company that lives in Idaho. We would love to add more but it requires a highly educated workforce. I personally moved my family back to Idaho less than a year ago (after being away for 5 years) because of the positive educational experience my kids had in the Boise School District. It makes me sad to see how much has already been lost and how much more will go if we don’t take action.

There are parts of the plan I think can make a difference in improving education. My largest frustration is that it feels like the plan is NOT subject to valuable feedback and negotiation by stakeholders. In addition, it seems to remove a lot of local control (which really surprises me from a government that sued the Federal Gov’t for local control recently). Finally, the plan doesn’t even begin to consider the possibility of finding a new funding source to properly fund public schools. We are supposed to all just accept that 50th out of 51 in the country in funding per student is good enough.

I urge the members of the Idaho Legislature NOT to pass this reform bill as is. Tom Luna fully admits we cannot begin to understand what the future “unintended consequences” of this plan are. Let’s step back as a community of legislators, teachers, students, parents and business leaders and work to develop a sustainable education plan that ensures a better future for Idaho.

Thank you,

Amy Geddes
Mom of Geddes Teens
Lover of Idaho
EVP and COO of Clareity Security