By Steve Gunn
EAGnews.org
    
BOISE, Idaho – Idaho lawmakers are considering two bills that would reform the union collective bargaining process in public schools.
    
One bill would give local school boards the ability to impose their “last, best offers” by June 10 of every year if contract negotiations with teachers unions break down, according to Coeur d’ Alene Press.  Such a law would put school boards more firmly in control of district budgets, which is necessary because unions will often demand more during contract negotiations than schools can afford.
    
The bill would also end long, distracting standoffs between school boards and unions that can’t reach agreement on new contracts.
    
Another bill would allow school boards to force local teachers unions to have certification elections every year, to prove that they represent more than 50 percent of the teachers in the district, according to MagicValley.com.  If fewer than 50 indicated support for the union, collective bargaining would not be necessary.
    
At the very least the legislation would force them to be more accountable toward their members, out of fear that members may abandon them and the union in the recertification elections. That could have a moderating effect on the sometimes radical behavior of union leaders at the bargaining table and in the political arena.
    
Both bills were approved Wednesday by the state Senate Education Committee and will now go to the full Senate floor for votes. The “last best offer” bill has already been approved by the state House.