Stop the Idaho Launch Program

Don’t let corporate welfare steal your tax dollars

Many times, I have been asked “Why don’t you take the lead in this movement or that movement”? Well, the reason is simple it is because I have “Already been there and Done that.” I have been an activist most of my adult life fighting for different causes in all the places I have lived but especially in Idaho where I settled in 1993. At 77 years of age, I think it is time for me to encourage the younger generations to be activists and fix the problems that have become prevalent in our state.

Public education has always been pet-peeves of mine and still is to this day. We all pay a lot of taxes to see that our children are properly educated and for the most part it has worked pretty well until the last decade or so. We are now just finding out that public education was more about indoctrination than education. This silent disease that has become prevalent throughout our public school system has spread like a cancer and has drawn the attention of millions of Parents whose children are affected by these new liberal teachers and boards of education. If it is not Critical Race Theory and Wokeness then it is gender identity and the use of pronouns. It is time for the parents to take over and fight for “School Choice” for the sake of our children’s future.

Our public education system is broken and the leadership in our state is not capable of fixing the problems. Education has become a political football in Idaho, and it is time for the parents to become referees for our kids and stop the indoctrination that is taking place. Idaho’s public education system had never lived up to its promised expectations and that needs to change. We have spent hundreds of millions of our tax dollars every year for the past two decades to fix our system only to see it fail year after year regardless of how much money we throw at it. Our governor is now telling us that we should invest another $102 million in this new Idaho Launch Program that will do nothing to further the education of our children but will definitely benefit the WOKE corporations who will decide how the money is spent. We will not only be fighting the teacher’s union but the corporate cabal of IACI and the influence they have on the Governor and his crony liberal legislators.

If you really want to do something start a protest against this new Idaho Launch Program which is going to suck your tax dollars up like a commercial vacuum cleaner into a program that is nothing but corporate welfare, central planning and socialism. It is a complete waste of money. They want to guarantee every Idaho High school graduate $8.500 in tax payer money to use at an APPROVED college university or workforce training program in the state. But wait just a minute. Here are the strings attached to this program. You can only go to qualified institutions and only for specific career paths and once these workers are trained there are no guarantees they will remain in Idaho. This will cost Idaho taxpayers $102 million in the first year and the Workforce Development Council will determine what jobs are “In Demand” with no accountability.

They will have the power to direct money to the council’s private interests. This means the students are no longer making the decisions. This is nothing but a scheme to benefit big businesses, IACI and the governor who will be paid to do the worker training programs they are already doing. You can also be assured that this program if allowed will grow in cost each year giving more of our tax dollars to the many corporations that will be sponsoring these training programs. This is not an Education Savings Account as this program serves one-twelfth the number of students at 5 times the cost.

We need to give parents and their children their choice and allow dollars to flow and be paid directly for students K through 12 for their education to the school of their choice, not the state’s choice. This Launch program does not offer freedom of choice as it is regulated by the corporations for the corporations at the expense of the taxpayers. Let me say again this is nothing more than central planning disguised as a student benefit where the only benefit is corporate welfare, so they won’t have to spend their own money to train employees. This program needs to be stopped in its tracks and legislators need to vote “NO” on this bill. If you want to see which of your legislators are in the Governor’s Pocket just watch and see who votes to pass this program and who is against it.

This House Bill 24 which says it will provide high school graduates with up to $8,500 to pursue in-demand careers just passed the House 36-34. We need to ask the question who decides what careers are in demand? We doubt it will be the parents or the children. This bill is now likely to go to the Senate Education Committee. Four of the committee’s nine members are on record in opposition. Supporters said the bill would address a key obstacle to a postsecondary education: affordability.

Let me tell you, folks, I have 4 grandchildren who have graduated from Idaho colleges, two of whom have gone on to get medical degrees and all are currently working and paying back their student loans. Taxpayers and parents need to stop listening to those in the education arena who say there are no alternatives but to have the public pay for our children’s college educations while year after year our colleges continue to raise tuition and raising salaries for college professors and administrators rise to record levels. Just take a look at the compensation for the President of BSU It comes in at a whopping $425k plus a $60k housing allowance and other benefits. Wonder why college costs so much? There are plenty of options for parents and children to pay for their college educations but many of our politicians think they know best how to spend our tax money. Well then, I must ask you if they are so good at spending our tax money on education why do we still rank 39th in the country?

Want to know who in the house of representatives voted for this bill just look below. It is time for the parents to start making the decision where our tax money for education is spent, not the politicians.

“We Get the Government We Deserve”