Letter to Editor, Thoughts About Leadership Premiums

After reading about the teacher Leadership Premium program presentation in the Blackfoot school district, I felt a need to comment. As a Firth school board member, we reviewed this program a couple months ago. We decided on a much different plan. We as a board, supported a plan that would provide the potential for all teachers to receive an equal share of these funds, as long as they meet the qualifications and requirements presented by our administration.   As I understand it, the state gives $850 per unit or teacher for this plan. The only way a teacher can make more than $850 is if other teachers receive none of this money. So essentially the districts are left with the decision of who can qualify for the funds and who can't, and that didn't seem fair. With teacher pay so flat in recent years, it didn't seem right to develop a plan that would benefit one teacher over another, or offer no potential for some teachers to receive this bonus. It would be harder to have teachers in positions where they couldn't qualify for these funds. I believe almost all teachers are doing their best to educate their students, so deserve to be rewarded for their efforts.

Why does the state Department of Education , with the support of the Legislature, feel compelled to keep coming up with these potentially divisive programs? If they were so good, why do they change the name and criteria every year? I am all for paying our teachers more money, but I believe it would be better to raise the overall pay scale instead of funding merit programs. My son gave up teaching recently. He taught for six years with only a token amount more pay in the final year of his employment than when he started. He couldn't support his family the way he wanted, and chose to further his education and enter a different profession.

I worry that unless Idaho chooses to step up and improve teacher pay, we won't entice college students into the teaching profession, and will continue to lose some of our best teachers to other states where they pay a higher wage.