Rules Committee may take up Dieckhaus voucher bill this week

The word "voucher" never comes up in HB 1740, Education Committee Chairman Scott Dieckhaus omnibus education bill, but the so-called passport scholarships he calls for come down to the same thing- using taxpayer dollars to send students to private schools.

The bill, according to House Majority Leader Tim Jones and Dieckhaus, is likely to get through the Rules Committee this week.

The bill also includes a scaled-back version of Dieckhaus' teacher tenure elimination plan. Instead of eliminating tenure for all teachers, the Education Committee changed the proposal to allow tenure to stay in place for all teachers who are in place by July 2013, but no tenure opportunities for teachers hired after that date.

The bill also eliminates the use of seniority as a basis for hiring teachers. No longer would school boards be able to make cuts by eliminating those who were hired last. That would also not be allowed for non-certificated employees in the St. Louis school district. In other words, it is clearly an effort to reduce the power of teacher organizations, which generally rely on teachers with more experience.

Minimum salaries for teachers with master's degrees would also be eliminated.under the Dieckhaus bill.