By Ben Velderman
EAGnews.org
    
BOISE, Idaho – The education reforms that Idaho voters repealed last November are on the path to being restored, bit by bit.
    
Earlier this month, bills were introduced into the state legislature that would place mild restrictions on teacher unions’ collective bargaining power and would allow school boards to cut teacher pay in order to avoid teacher layoffs.
    
Now, lawmakers are taking steps to eliminate the state’s early retirement incentive program for teachers, which was shelved as part of the 2011 education reforms but reinstated by voters last fall.
    
On Tuesday, the Senate Education Committee voted 6-2 to scrap the early retirement benefit for educators, which costs taxpayers about $3.6 million per year, reports IdahoReporter.com. The bill will now go to the full Senate for approval.
    
The program is intended to save school districts money by encouraging veteran teachers who are at the top of the pay scale to leave the classroom so younger, less-expensive educators can be hired.
    
According to figures provided by the Idaho Education Association (the state’s largest teachers union), 71 percent of teachers who retired between 1996 and 2009 used the program, reports The Spokesman-Review.
    
But state Sen. Cliff Bayer, a Republican, said data shows teachers who retire early make that decision regardless of any extra benefits, reports KTVB.com.  
    
That means taxpayers are spending millions on a program that offers no discernible benefit to schools.
    
State Superintendent Tom Luna left the early retirement program out of his 2013-14 budget proposals for that very reason. Luna believes that money should be spent on programs that directly benefit students.
    
Some lawmakers suggested the bill is also a matter of fairness.
    
“We don’t have a similar retirement program for any of our other state or local government workers,” Sen. Bob Nonini, a Republican, told other committee members, according to IdahoReporter.com. “It begs the question why we are continuing to do this with teachers specifically.”
    
“State Rep. Reed DeMordaunt, Republican chairman of the House Education Committee, supports the measure as well,” notes the news site.
    
That bodes well for the bill’s chances of passing the House and eventually becoming law.
    
While the issue of early retirement benefits is a rather insignificant matter to most taxpayers, it underlines the fact that Idaho’s K-12 leaders still need to control labor costs, despite the voters’ decision to repeal each of the historic 2011 education reforms.
    
Lawmakers are now gradually restoring several of those reforms. Several of the new proposals are toned down versions of the 2011 laws. That suggests legislators are trying to strike a balance between honoring the voters’ collective will and ensuring the state’s school children receive the best education possible.