If you have not already contacted the Land Board members and urged them to support State Superintendent Tom Luna’s proposal for tranferring $52.8 million from the Public Schools Earnings Reserve Fund to public schools, please do so immediately.

The Land Board will hold a special meeting on Wednesday (Feb. 10) afternoon just to decide this issue.

As we reported last week, Gov. Butch Otter’s budget proposal for next year would reduce public school funding by a whopping $135 million. His holdback for this year and recommended budget cut for next year amount to a 9.3 percent cut for public schools.

Unlike the Public Education Stabilization Fund (PESF), the Public Schools Earnings Reserve Fund is not one of the state’s “rainy day” accounts to be tapped whenever financial times are tough. It was established to earn money that is annually distributed to public schools.

Land Board members have a fiduciary responsibility to ensure Idaho’s public school endowment lands are managed for the benefit of both the students enrolled in Idaho public schools today and for future generations of Idaho schoolchildren. However, desperate situations like the financial crisis our schools are facing demand uncommon action. The 275,000 students in Idaho’s public schools deserve a quality education every year, not just two or three years down the road.

When corresponding with Land Board members, let them know:

• Idaho’s 275,000 public schoolchildren need them to support the superintendent’s proposal.
• The deep cuts being proposed for Idaho schools in the next year have the potential to harm public schools for years to come, if school districts have no option but to cut or eliminate entire programs.
• Accepting Luna’s recommendation is much like trying to staunch bleeding with a Band-Aid when a tourniquet is what’s really needed. Still, it would go a long way toward softening the blow of drastic budget cuts.

The Land Board members are Otter (208-334-2100), Luna (208-332-6815), Secretary of State Ben Ysursa (208-334-2300), Attorney General Lawrence Wasden (208-334-2400), and Controller Donna Jones (208-334-3100).

After contacting the Land Board members, please sign the Help Our Kids Petition. Then forward this message to your colleagues and ask them to contact Land Board members and sign the Help Our Kids Petition.