Idahoans for Choice in Education

Expanding Educational Choice for Idaho Families

Recently in papers around the state there have been articles discussing legislation regarding teacher tenure, or continuing contract.

No doubt a vast majority of Idaho teachers come to school each day, prepared, dedicated and ready to do their best to help students learn. Unfortunately, however, there is also a segment of the teaching force that is doing a great disservICE-PAC to their students by hiding behind the protection of the continuing contract law - a law that makes it extremely difficult for an administrator or school board to remove poor-performing educators.

But now, some legislators are examining the Idaho Continuing Contract Law and proposing changes that would eventually lead to improvements that would benefit our students, our taxpayers, and the vast majority of teachers who do great work in their classrooms every day.

The proposed change would give teachers the option of a higher salary in exchange for tenure or continuing contract. Most teachers would opt for the higher salary and over time continuing contract would become irrelevant. Why?

Because, as already stated, good teachers "do the job" and are in demand - the continuing contract law provides no added benefit for them. Thus, continuing contract is a non-factor.

From my experience, this law only protects marginal or poor teachers who want a "job for life" without accountability. We, as taxpayers, shouldn't support that kind of welfare. Instead, we should support the proposed legislation because it provides what most Idahoans already support - higher teacher salaries. And, of equal import, higher starting salaries would also attract more of our best and brightest college students into the teaching profession -- something that is not happening under the current system.

While this legislation is just in the proposal stage, and would be offered as a voluntary option for teachers, it is being blasted by the teacher's union, the IEA. The IEA president has said the union will never give up the continuing contract, saying it is, "neither fair nor ethical to put educators in a position of choosing one over the other, and we (IEA) are the real stakeholders in Idaho Education." Some educators have also said that tenure is not a problem because they believe poor teachers can be fired now. While firing poor teachers is possible, in reality it is rarely done because of the overwhelming complexity of the process.

To continue doing the same thing - extending tenure without accountability -- will only guarantee one thing: the same result. By retaining and attracting good teachers while encouraging ineffective ones to find another career path, we begin to change the tenor of the teaching profession.

When the IEA leadership is resisting any change in the contract law and appear to claim that teachers are the real stakeholders, they're once again missing what schools are about. Schools don't exist for teachers. Schools exist for children. To say otherwise is like saying doctors are the real stakeholders in hospitals, or Old Navy exists for the sales clerks.

We know that schools are first and foremost about students. They are the stakeholders. And anything proposed for school improvement must be questioned with, "Will this proposal be good for students?" In the case of retiring the continuing contract law, the answer is "yes."

Darrel Deide, Chairman

Idahoans for ChoICE-PAC in Education &

Former Caldwell Superintendent

Click here to return to Issues page

ICE-PAC

P.O. Box 933

Boise, ID 83701