January 2012
I have been holding off for this newsletter, hoping the state supreme court would rule on the lawsuit over redistricting. No such luck.
Twin Falls County Democrats central committee meeting is changing!!! We are going back to the third Wednesday of each month for our meetings.
Our next meeting will be January 18 at 1401 Poplar. Pam Chiarella, who will be a candidate for the legislature in 2012 will be at this meeting if the weather permits. Pam lives in Mountain Home and would be in the eastern Twin Falls district with Elmore county. We will be setting our calendar for the year, and the budget. Please let me know if you plan to attend.
January 24-State of the Union at Rock Creek 200 Addison Ave W. –Join us in the banquet room at the Rock Creek Restaurant. We get started at 6:00 pm. There will be hosted appetizers.
February 1-Liberally Drinking at Rock Creek Restaurant.
February 5 Pizza and Politics at Gerties, 602 2nd Ave S in Twin Falls. We will be meeting in the banquet room from 5:00 pm-7:00. Democratic legislators will be there to take our questions, and give us their outlook on the current legislative session.
February 1-Liberally Living-Speaker-to be determined!
The Frank Church Weekend in Boise. February 24-26. This weekend will be filled with candidate training, with issues training, and meetings for local activists. Friday night begins with a potluck for county delegations and their friends. Saturday, the morning begins with presentations on current issues like education. These activities are free, and open to Democrats.
Saturday evening, February 25 is the Frank Church Banquet. We will put together a table for Twin Falls County Folks. Let me know if you will be attending.
~Gala ~ $65 early-bird tickets on sale through 1/15/12*. ( Tickets prices will increase to $75 on 1/16/12. and to $85 on 2/23/12.)
* This is the state party's pledge fund -D.E.M. Club Members can enjoy our early bird rate through 2/22/12. Click http://idahodems.org/dem/ to learn more about our DEM Club, or to become a member today.
Guest Speaker - John C. Stocks
John C. Stocks, a national leader in the fight to transform America's public schools, is the executive director of the National Education Association (NEA).
The nation's largest union, NEA and its affiliates across the country represent 3.2 million educators from pre-school to university graduate programs.
Read more about Mr. Stocks at http://idahodems.org/?p=1822
Presidential caucus is April 14th, 2012. Thanks to Etha Carruthers who has volunteered to be caucus chair for Twin Falls county.
At the caucus, we elect representatives to go to the state convention, from the state convention we elect representatives to go to the national convention in Charlotte, North Carolina the week of September 3, 2012.
Outrageinidaho.com links to the news stories about education.
Facebook has pages for Twin Falls County Democrats and Outrage in Idaho. You don't have to be a facebook user to access the pages.
Twin Falls County Democrats are funded by donations from local Democrats. If you are able to make a monthly donation to Twin Falls Democrats, please contact Etha Carruthers at eccharliebrown@hotmail.com.
Education 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.
In 2012 these laws will be on the ballot. A majority of no votes would repeal the bills.
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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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