Twin Falls Democrats
July, 2011
July meeting and PICNIC
The July meeting/picnic of Twin Falls Democrats will be held July 21 at the home of Dixie and Brad Siegel at 2030 Candlewood Circle. Picnic begins at 6:30. If your last name begins with letters from A-M, please bring a sidedish. If your name begins with N-Z, please bring a dessert. Twin Falls Democrats will provide the main dish and beverages. There will be raffles!!!
Redistricting hearing-Twin Falls Democrats represented our position very well at a hearing before the redistricting commissioners June 29. I will be providing more information concerning submissions to the commissioners in about a week.
Tell us why you are a Democrat, and win a great prize (to be determined). Twenty-seven words, 9 seconds, 3 ideas. Bob Sojka has the lead in entries.
Living Liberally will meet at the Rock Creek Restaurant July 6 at 6:30.
Fair Week is August 31 to September 5. Please consider volunteering for at least one three hour shift during this week.
October 28-30th in Sun Valley, Blaine County will be hosting a training and regional Democratic meeting. Please mark your calendar now!!!
Our Outrage in Idaho facebook page continues to gain momentum. We have over 250 members now. Outrage will continue to post articles about education from newspapers around the state.
Dylan Stone is converting our outrage inidaho.com page to a full website. The purpose is to provide information for people to use to write letters to the editor and talk to friends and neighbors.
Living Liberally will meet August 3 at the Rock Creek Restaurant at 7:00 pm.
Referenda Talking Points
The referenda on the Luna laws will be on the ballot in 2012. Many people participated in getting the necessary signatures. Some took petitions to neighbors and friends, and others literally stood on sidewalks with signs and let total strangers know that the petitions were available for signature. Our work will continue as we share information with our fellow voters on this continued attack on our teachers and public education.
Bill Referendums-
Under Senate Bill 1108, your child's teacher can be fired at any time, for any reason, without a fair hearing. If enrollment declines in the fall, teachers can be laid off weeks after a school year starts. Idaho educators no longer have a say over such issues as class sizes, lesson planning, and classroom health and safety issues. Senate Bill 1108 ends four decades of productive collaboration between teachers and their school districts.
Senate Bill 1110 gives teachers bonus pay for test scores (and for taking hard-to-fill jobs and assuming leadership roles). The Idaho Education Association has agreed to merit pay. Unfortunately, it is a mandate with no funding, amid the third straight year of budget cuts to our schools, and at the same time Tom Luna ordered new spending on classroom technology and online classes. This bill could ultimately mean that one in four Idaho teaching jobs will be lost over the next few years as Tom Luna continues to push his online course and "mobile computing device" mandates.
Senate Bill 1184 essentially trades teachers for technology-computing devices for every 9th grader. It ties the hands of local school boards, forcing trustees to fund these mandates by increasing class sizes, cutting pay for teachers and other school employees, shortening the school year, eliminating extracurricular activities, or all of the above. And while lawmakers say they're holding the line on taxes, they're really just forcing local school boards to ask Idaho families to dig deeper for our schools.
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Deborah Silver
Twin Falls County Democratic Chairwoman
2188 Addison Ave. East
Twin Falls, ID 83301
phone 208-420-1663
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