Idaho Education Association members and allies made a media splash on Lobby Day with a unified message: Private school vouchers have no place in the Gem State.  

In front of a phalanx of educators hoisting signs reading “Arizona’s Failure is Idaho’s Warning,” “Fully Fund Public Schools,” and “Idaho Students Deserve Better,” IEA leaders and allies took over the Lincoln Auditorium as local media looked on.  

IEA Executive Director Paul Stark, former Rep. Julie Yamamoto (R-Caldwell), Pleasant Valley School District Superintendent and Associate Executive Director of the Idaho Association of School Administrators Heather Williams, Boundary County School District Trustee and Idaho School Boards Association board member Teresa Rae, and IEA board member Melyssa Ferro sounded the alarm about the harm private school vouchers will cause.  

One by one, they gave warnings about private school voucher legislation: It is expensive, it robs public schools of much-needed funds, and Idaho schools could do so much with the money that could be earmarked for private school costs. 

“We do not fix the house that we live in by giving money to someone else so that they can live in a different house,” Yamamoto said. “It’s not too late to tell the legislators that Idaho does not have to touch this politically motivated stone to know that it’s hot, that they taxpayer burn is going to be huge, and it’s not going to go away.” 

Williams spoke about the deep impact private school vouchers will have on essentials for rural public schools.  

“Some lack basic infrastructure, yet we struggle to pass bonds due to the supermajority requirement in our state,” she said. “Even when communities like Salmon successfully pass a bond, our limited tax base combined with today’s inflation means we can’t build very much.” 

Rae railed against the idea that Idaho’s public schools are “broken,” a trope often repeated by anti-public education forces. Idaho may be 51^st in public education funding, she said, but is ranked much higher for outcomes.   

“Nobody else is doing it for what we’re doing it for,” she said. “Nobody is. I feel as though we are exploiting these people back here” — she gestured to the educators assembled behind her — “and all across the state. Teachers are working day in and day out to make sure our students are educated, and educated to that high standard, and we’re exploiting them because we are not fulfilling our constitutional obligation for fully funding public education.” 

The media event ended with Ferro’s alternate vision for Idaho’s public schools — one that doesn’t involve opportunities for the few at the expense of all. Legislators need to look at the reality of what life is like for many public school students, she said. 

“It’s really hard to learn math when you don’t have food on the table at home,” Ferro said. “It’s really hard to pay attention in English class.” 

Instead, Ferro said, lawmakers should concentrate on making school buildings safe and functional, fully funding special education, retaining and recruiting high-quality educators and staff, and providing opportunities such as advanced placement classes. But if a voucher bill comes before Governor Little, Ferro said, he should remember something.  

“(Governor Little) pointed out that any effort to put vouchers into the Idaho public school system would require those vouchers to be fair, accountable, reasonable and transparent,” she said. “And I want to point out: You know what already meets those four criteria? Idaho public schools.”