Imagine there was an organization that donated almost exclusively to left-wing candidates, promoted radical racial and gender ideologies, and constantly attacked America\u2019s Christian heritage. Now imagine that your tax dollars subsidized this organization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Well, you don\u2019t have to imagine, because it\u2019s sadly true. Idaho tax dollars are currently being used to support the teachers\u2019 union\u2014and with it, the broader left-wing agenda.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We love our teachers in Idaho, but I\u2019m baffled by how much influence the ultra-liberal teachers\u2019 union has in our conservative state. Too many Republican legislators are afraid to cross it, even on common-sense legislation like cutting off taxpayer subsidies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Here\u2019s how it works: School districts help collect union dues by deducting them directly from teachers\u2019 paychecks. Some of that money is forwarded to the national teachers\u2019 union, which supports progressive political advocacy. Last year, those funds were used to defeat a conservative member of the West Ada School Board.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Many districts also allow teachers to take paid leave to conduct union business\u2014including lobbying\u2014at taxpayer expense, a practice that can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars each year. In at least two cases, Boise and Twin Falls, public funds are even used to cover teachers\u2019 union dues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This year, the Idaho GOP unanimously passed a resolution calling for an end to these taxpayer subsidies. Rep. Judy Boyle introduced House Bill 745, a narrowly tailored bill that protects unions themselves but prohibits these kinds of taxpayer subsidies. It passed the House with a nearly two-thirds majority, but I\u2019m told it won\u2019t receive a committee hearing in the Senate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Are you kidding me?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This bill passed the House last year but died in Sen. Jim Guthrie\u2019s drawer in Senate State Affairs. This year, it was routed to the Senate Commerce Committee, but now Sen. Dan Foreman appears to be pulling the same stunt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Idaho GOP strongly supports this bill, and the people of Idaho deserve to have their tax dollars going toward the common good\u2014not private organizations that use their influence to promote a radical agenda. Imagine if government employees had their donations to the Idaho GOP subsidized by taxpayers. You wouldn\u2019t stand for it, and neither would I.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The teachers\u2019 union is preparing an onslaught of campaign expenditures targeting Republican lawmakers who supported last year\u2019s school choice legislation. They\u2019re calling it \u201cMay Matters,\u201d and they aim to radically reshape our Legislature to fit their agenda. And your tax dollars are helping make it happen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lawmakers can put a stop to this now. Sen. Foreman needs to bring this bill up for a hearing, where I\u2019m confident it will pass. It\u2019s long past time for the taxpayers of Idaho to stand up and say no more subsidies for an organization that hates us and what we believe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Imagine there was an organization that donated almost exclusively to left-wing candidates, promoted radical racial and gender ideologies, and constantly attacked America\u2019s Christian heritage. Now imagine that your tax dollars subsidized this organization. Well, you don\u2019t have to imagine, because it\u2019s sadly true. Idaho tax dollars are currently being used to support the teachers\u2019 union\u2014and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":94,"featured_media":18468,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[243],"tags":[53,880],"class_list":["post-19586","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinions-op-eds","tag-idaho-legislature","tag-unions","cat-243-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gemstatepatriot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19586","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gemstatepatriot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gemstatepatriot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gemstatepatriot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/94"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gemstatepatriot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19586"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gemstatepatriot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19586\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19587,"href":"https:\/\/gemstatepatriot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19586\/revisions\/19587"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gemstatepatriot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18468"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gemstatepatriot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19586"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gemstatepatriot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19586"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gemstatepatriot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19586"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}