(Idaho State) The House State Affairs Committee Monday advanced a bill that bars school districts from using taxpayer resources for teachers’ union activities, including allowing union representatives to take paid time off for their duties.
House Bill 98 would also prohibit teachers’ union members from paying their union dues through an automated payroll dedication system. School district officials who violate the prohibitions would face fines up to $2,500.
Sponsored by Rep. Judy Boyle, the legislation is a followup to last year’s House Bill 602, which narrowly failed on the House floor. Boyle, R-Midvale, said the bill is “not taking away local control” from school districts. “They can still do whatever they want with their funds, as long as they don’t use them to support unions.”
The executive director of the Idaho Association of School Administrators disagreed. Andy Grover said the bill would override local school leaders’ authority to manage payroll deductions and work with unions. “This bill will strip our ability to manage our finances and our employee relations.”
Idaho Education Association representatives said the group doesn’t receive taxpayer funds, and executive director Paul Stark argued that HB 98 is likely unconstitutional due to “viewpoint discrimination … This legislation appears again to target only the Idaho Education Association because it doesn’t approve of its viewpoints.”
One House State Affairs Committee Republican signaled that ideology was motivating his support for the bill. Teachers’ unions “overwhelmingly … have contributed to the Democrat Party,” said Rep. Clint Hostetler, R-Twin Falls. “As Idahoans, we realize that there’s a larger issue here, and I believe that it’s relevant to our people, who may or may not agree with the ideologies” of teachers’ unions.
Fifty-one Idaho school districts have spent more than $543,000 giving paid time off to teachers who are out of the classroom on union duties, according to a report by the Freedom Foundation, a national think tank that helped craft the bill. The group, which has ties to the Idaho Freedom Foundation, says it’s “more than a think tank” on its website. “We’re a battle tank that’s battering the entrenched power of left-wing government union bosses.”
The report showed that the Coeur d’Alene School District’s negotiated agreement grants union presidents 38 days of paid leave for union duties.
“That’s got to come to a stop,” said Rep. Joe Alfieri, R-Coeur d’Alene. “The taxpayers should not be subsidizing the union.”
Rep. Shawn Dygert of Melba was the only Republican who voiced opposition to the bill. If unions are charging school districts for an unwanted service, then school boards should say “no,” said Dygert, a high school agriculture teacher. The bill proposes “overriding an elected school board position that is entrusted with the ability of regulating and taking care of these things.”
Both Democrats on the committee opposed HB 98 as well. It now heads to the full House.
