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KETCHUM, Idaho (AP) -- Officials in the resort area of central Idaho are trying to head off a possible teacher shortage they foresee being caused by high home prices that teachers can't afford.
"They love the salary, they love the scenery, they'd love to move here, but when they see the cost of living and housing, they're not even interested in filling out an application," Mike Chatterton, business manager for the Blaine County School District, told the Idaho Mountain Express.
The Blaine County Education Foundation announced earlier this month that it has awarded its first "forgivable loans" to help two Wood River High School teachers make down payments on homes.
Erika Swanger was hired this year to teach Spanish at Wood River High School, and was one of the first two recipients of a "forgivable loan" of up to $10,000.
The loans are forgiven at a rate of $2,000 per year.
"I think this grant is great," Swanger said. "It helped us get stabilized in the valley. It's an expensive place to live. With the program, they make it possible to actually stay here. I wouldn't have been able to buy a home by myself."
Chatterton said that teacher salaries in Blaine County are 40 percent higher than those of teachers farther south, near Twin Falls. But he said the cost of buying a home in Blaine County is 60 percent higher than it is in the Twin Falls area.
Another looming problem, Chatterton said, is that half the district's teachers will reach retirement age within 10 years.
"I wouldn't say it's at a crisis stage, but it's a big area of concern for us and we have to start moving toward some solutions now," he said.
To bring in teachers, the district is offering rent subsidies, is helping some workers in the district with college expenses so they can become teachers, and is looking at ways to get into the real estate market for teacher housing.
"There are a lot of programs we're developed over the years that will help with the problem, but we won't really solve it until we can provide affordable housing for teachers," Chatterton said.
He said the district also needs instructors who can teach in both English and Spanish as the county's Hispanic student population continues to grow.
About 28 percent of the district's students are Hispanic, but that is expected to reach 50 percent with the next eight years.
Chatterton said many Hispanic students come to the area speaking little or no English. The district is trying to help those students with its Dual Immersion and English as a Second Language programs, which start in kindergarten.
Apr 09 19:35
By STEVEN K. PAULSON
Associated Press Writer
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DENVER (AP) -- Defying a request from Gov. Bill Ritter, a business and employee coalition submitted 133,000 signatures Wednesday in hopes of putting a measure on the ballot asking voters to make Colorado a "right-to-work" state.
The measure would prohibit mandatory union membership or mandatory union dues. If the secretary of state verifies the petitions have enough valid signatures, it will appear on the November ballot.
Ritter met with business leaders on Monday to try to talk them out of it, warning initiatives are cluttering the constitution.
The governor said he also wants to persuade labor leaders not to promote seven competing ballot initiatives, including proposals requiring employers to give annual cost-of-living increases and provide health insurance.
Ritter's spokesman, Evan Dreyer, said informal discussions are continuing with both sides but no formal talks are planned.
"There are still opportunities to de-escalate this. Just because they filed the signatures does not mean it's a slam-dunk it will be on the ballot," Dreyer said.
Kelley Harp, spokesman for A Better Colorado, which is backing the right-to-work measure, refused to reveal what business leaders and Ritter discussed Monday but said no further talks are scheduled, to his knowledge.
"Any negotiations that took place are private," Harp said.
He said the fact that the coalition gathered more than the 76,047 required signatures showed it has broad support from businesses and voters.
Jess Knox, a spokesman for a coalition representing labor unions and progressive organizations, said the group will challenge the signatures. The coalition filed a complaint with the secretary of state accusing the right-to-work group of using deception to gather the signatures.
The United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 7 is hoping to put five initiatives on the November ballot, including the measures on cost-of-living raises and health insurance.
The union is also sponsoring proposals to deny tax breaks and incentives to companies that relocate jobs outside Colorado, require businesses to pay more in property taxes and allow injured workers to sue employers outside the workers' compensation system.
A separate coalition of unions and political groups is sponsoring two other initiatives, one requiring employers to show just cause for firing a worker and another setting criminal and civil penalties for business leaders who commit fraud.
Backers of those seven proposals have not submitted petitions.
Amy Sherman, the president and CEO of the West Chamber in Jefferson County, said employees should be able to decide for themselves if they want to join a union.
"Giving employees the right to choose whether or not to join a union will make labor more accountable to everyone, providing better service and representation in the workplace," she said.
She said under current law, workers in Colorado can be forced to join a union as a condition of employment, limiting opportunities for many Colorado workers.
Jonathan Coors, the director of CoorsTek and one of the executives who met with the governor on Monday, said the constitutional amendment would protect the rights of all employees.
Mark Latimer of the Rocky Mountain Chapter of Associated Builders and Contractors insisted the measure is not meant to pit business against labor.
"Right to work is neither anti-union nor pro-union; it is pro-freedom. Freedom for employees to work where they want without being coerced to join a union and pay union dues as a condition of employment," Latimer said.
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Apr 09 04:39
HOUSTON (AP) -- Day laborers are organizing to set a minimum hourly rate for their work, improve working conditions and fight unscrupulous contractors.
The Houston Network of Day Laborers was formed over the weekend by some 200 day laborers. It is part of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, which has helped set up similar groups around the country to educate day laborers about their civil liberties and workers' rights.
Next month, the Houston network plans to begin forming a leadership group that will include representatives from the city's various hiring sites.
Mexican immigrant Jacinto Vasquez was among the first to join the Houston Network of Day Laborers.
"If this brings us support, it would be good ... for all of us," he said.
Houston has an estimated 3,000 day workers who frequent 29 street intersections looking for work. On weekends, their numbers reach 5,000, said organizer Maria Jimenez.
Day laborers are struggling to find a well-paying jobs during the country's economic downturn and housing market slowdown. They also face employers who hire them at one wage but pay less once the job is finished, she said.
"The network is important to bring together day laborers from the different sites to articulate their collective voice, identify their needs, express their rights and define their strategies," said Jimenez, an immigrant advocate.
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Information from: Houston Chronicle,
http://www.houstonchronicle.com
BY DAVID PITT
AP Business Writer
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DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) -- When many businesses are hunkering down to slug through an economic downturn, some small business owners in Des Moines and 10 other U.S. cities will take part in a federal program designed to help them expand.
The Small Business Administration has selected the cities to participate in its Emerging 200 Initiative, a pilot program to help inner city small business owners develop a business plan for growth.
Last year the SBA commissioned a study to identify large inner cities -- those with 40,000 or more jobs -- with low or negative job growth between 1998 and 2005. Fifty-five cities were identified, then the SBA invited them to participate in the pilot program.
Of the eligible cities, 23 sent in proposals and 11 were selected.
Des Moines is the smallest of the cities chosen to participate. The others are Albuquerque, N.M., Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Memphis, Tenn., Milwaukee, Wis., New Orleans, Oakland, Calif., and Philadelphia.
The Des Moines proposal was chosen because of the unity, collaboration and breadth of partners willing to help small business owners, said Anoop Prakash, an associate administrator for entrepreneurial development with the SBA.
"It seemed right for major growth transformation in the urban core of the city," he said. "The city has an ongoing transformation and we think sustainable investment in the inner city will continue to help accelerate that transformation in Des Moines."
Prakash said the SBA chose to start the project because it found the agency was lacking a program targeting inner cities and focused on expansion rather than business startups.
He said it may seem counterintuitive to target a growth program to small business at a time when the economy seems to be softening, but that's when small business should be strengthened.
"That's the perfect time to invest in small businesses," he said. "They're the ones who are going to anchor the success and jobs for the longer term in our economy."
He said more than 80 percent of job creation comes from small businesses generally, but that statistic is higher in inner cities.
"If we find resilience in our economy today, it's the small businesses and the small business economy and we want to continue to invest in that and I think, frankly, we need to be doing more for small businesses when we see an economic downturn."
Martha Willits, CEO of Greater Des Moines Partnership, a local economic development group, said the SBA program will help businesses in the city meet their greatest obstacle -- a worker shortage.
"Our biggest challenge in this area over the next half decade or so is work force. We are looking for 10,000 great workers a year. That means we're going to grow our own workers into great opportunity and this will be a major part of that."
Small businesses may participate if they have been operating for at least three years, with at least $400,000 in gross revenue a year and are located in the inner city areas defined by the SBA.
Twenty businesses in Des Moines can apply to send one or two top executives. Participants will be chosen in early May. They will attend 80 hours of MBA-type class instruction on nights or weekends for five months, completing the training in November.
At the end of the course, the business owners will have developed a 3- to 5-year growth plan that addresses that business' needs in areas including diversification of products and services, equity financing, different locations and expansion of markets.
The government is providing $400,000 for the training aspect of the Emerging 200 program in the 11 states. Prakash said in-kind contributions from local and state organizations including chambers of commerce and economic development groups expands the resources of the program.
He said if the program proves successful, the SBA will look at expanding it to more businesses within the selected cities and adding more cities to the list.
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On the Net: Small Business Administration E200 Initiative: http://www.sba.gov/e200/index.html
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