What’s up with Education in Idaho? More Levies?

I always hear people complaining about taxes and how they keep going up, but when I told a group of our homeowners today that there was an election this Tuesday to raise their taxes, many of them did not know about it. So let me educate all of our readers about the 27 counties that will be voting on bond issues for their schools on Tuesday, May 20^th. Voters are going to be asked to sign off on $223.6 million in new revenue that will raise their taxes. This may not seem like a lot in light of the $3.3 billion state budget that our legislators approved during the last session, but I figure it will cost me personally between $400 and $500 more a year.

What drives me crazy is why these counties even have to ask for more revenue and why these costs are not covered in the state budget. It seems like all I ever hear from the Idaho Education News and the Teachers Union is more grousing about how Idaho ranks in education compared to the rest of the states. If you want to find out if your district is one of those trying for an increase, you can click here: https://www.idahoednews.org/news/two-bonds-and-five-levies-to-appear-on-may-ballot/

So how does Idaho rate compared to the rest of the country in terms of teachers’ salaries? According to Idaho Ed. News Idaho has climbed 12 spots in ranking for starting teachers’ salaries at 24th in the country, making $45,717. While the average teachers’ pay moved up six rankings from 40th to 34th in the country. Idaho Ed. Says we come in 51st. in our spending per student at $9,942, but they fail to mention that total spending from all sources is over $13,000 per student. We also need to consider the fact that Idaho has 117 school districts spread throughout the state, and salaries can differ greatly depending on your location as well as the amount spent per student.

This begs the question why we aren’t trying to consolidate some of these school districts to reduce costs but as it turns out, that is not that easy a problem to solve, as different districts pay different salaries. Another good question is why do we have so many administrators that cost approximately 30% of our school budget? According to World Public Review, the overall public-school ranking in the country for Idaho in 2025 was 47^th, which I’m sure is not exactly what parents want to hear.

I guess the obvious question is will more money make our ratings better? Keep in mind that over the past 9 years, Idaho’s public-school budget has grown from $1.81 billion to $3.29 billion and accounts for 31.7% of the state budget, just behind Health and Human Services at 39.3%. Don’t forget that currently, Idaho receives approximately 40% of its state budget from the federal government. What will happen if they start cutting those funds?

It is hard to believe that we are spending $3.3 billion a year on K-12 education and getting these kinds of results, and to top it off, we continue to have millions in separate levies by many of our school districts. The annual levies are becoming more and more of a burden on low-income and fixed-income families as many try to keep up with the inflation that has taken place over the four years of Joe Biden’s reign. Our governor and legislature are both crowing about how they cut our taxes by $400 million, yet in reality, our State budget actually grew by $600 million. When I see these kinds of shenanigans going on, all I can remember is a comment by one of my economics professors that figures don’t lie but liars figure.

I should also mention that our not-so-generous legislature passed a school choice bill offering refundable tax credits of up to $5,000 to help families offset the costs of private education, but it’s only available to those families that make less than 3 times the poverty level, which is $90,000 annually. While school choice is a great achievement, it is still just a drop in the bucket when you consider we are spending $3.3 billion a year on public education and were only able to come up with $50 million for private schools for about 10,000 students.

It wasn’t enough to shortchange those who would prefer to attend a private school, as our old enemy Jim Jones has filed a lawsuit objecting to this funding. Jones contends that Idaho’s constitution does not permit private school subsidies for religious schools. However, Truth Family Bible Church of Middleton has filed a federal lawsuit claiming Idaho’s Blaine Amendment infringes on religious and free speech rights protected under the U.S. Constitution. SCOTUS has ruled that if you give funds to private schools, you cannot discriminate against religious schools. So, it looks like there is quite a court battle brewing over this small amount of the school budget that is designated for private schools.

While all of this is going on, the Idaho Education Association is at the beginning of a campaign to reclaim the Capitol by attempting to oust our truly conservative legislators in the 2026 primaries. State Senator Christy Zito recently wrote in her Idaho Substack that the plan is “to Flood key races with union-friendly democrats and independents who re-register as Republicans, then back candidates who will carry the unions’ agenda under a red banner.” The NEA (National Education Association) a far-left leaning organization, are going to bring this fight to our classrooms.

If Idahoans want to have a choice in their children’s education, they had better make sure they get to the polls in 2026 so that the NEA does not grab the legislative power they need to stop parents’ choice in education. It is high time the parents of Idaho started playing hardball with these lefties who have been trying to take over our schools with their Critical Race Theory and DEI programs. If you care about how your children are educated, it is time for you to take a stand and join the battle against these leftist unions.

“We Get The Government We Deserve”