Reprinted with permission of the Idaho Freedom Foundation
It’s no exaggeration to say that Idaho taxpayers spend millions of dollars every single day on wasteful and sometimes unconstitutional state-run programs. The Idaho Freedom Foundation’s (IFF) goal is to find and eliminate as many of these programs as possible.
To this end, the IFF has submitted recommendations on wasteful spending to the state-level DOGE Task Force and has independently analyzed the state budget for wasteful and unconstitutional programs. Here are just a few of the wasteful programs we have found in our analysis:
One mode of savings is that of consolidation. The IFF found numerous bureaucratic agencies and commissions that serve nearly the same purposes. Each one of these agencies or commissions becomes an entrenched interest and is deceptively difficult to dislodge. For example, Idaho currently has three separate councils and commissions for the deaf and blind, each within its own agency.
There is the Vocational Rehabilitation’s State Council for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, the Department of Education’s Idaho Services for the Deaf and Blind, and the Commission on the Blind and Visually Impaired in the Executive Office of the Governor. Consolidating these would save the state of Idaho millions, which should be passed on to the taxpayer.
Other permanent savings can come from the direct elimination of wasteful and unconstitutional programs. The state of Idaho has grown to such an extent that it participates in enterprises often beyond the constitutional authority of the state. The Launch program will cost the Idaho Taxpayer $74,853,700 this year and is essentially a state subsidy for businesses that wish to train and support their employees at the taxpayers’ expense.
A state-funded program of this scale and for such ends is not only wasteful but outside the scope of constitutional government. Even staying within the narrow category of education, there is also the Idaho Digital Learning Academy ($26.7 million) and the ineffective State Literacy Intervention Program ($72.8 million), the former of which should be eliminated, and the latter cut and restructured completely. Further savings can come from eliminating unconstitutional agencies that promote DEI ideology such as the Hispanic Commission ($557,283) and the Library Commission ($6,947,300).
Cutting government waste is always more difficult than imagined, but the Idaho Freedom Foundation works tirelessly to do just that. Even something as simple as a name is a tool designed to prevent it. After all, who would want to get rid of such a thing as the Idaho Digital Learning Academy? But the IDLA functions as little more than a state-run IT company and a handout to educators for little return.
Attacking a concentrated interest (IDLA) with a diffuse and multifaceted base, such as the Legislature, is a classic problem in political science. The interest finds it much easier to defend itself, being rigid and concentrated, than it is to rally the legislature to attack it. Our legislature is made up of many lawmakers with many different priorities, which often means they are slow to act. But our task at IFF is to use our experience and moral power as the voice of the people of Idaho to overcome this structural problem for the good of the citizens of Idaho. Our focus continues to be on eliminating as much waste as possible and enacting real change for the taxpayers of Idaho in 2026.
