When we shortchange our children, we shortchange our future. Inadequate school investment means we can’t retain qualified teachers, offer specialized courses like career technical training, serve students Monday through Friday, and much more. Despite Republicans touting increased funding for Idaho schools, the real story is coming out in recent news reports. Coeur d’Alene trustees were forced to close an elementary school due to a looming deficit. The Idaho Falls School District must cut 20 full-time teachers for the upcoming year. Four-day school weeks have become common in rural districts. N ..read more

Idaho’s statewide leaders are throwing their weight behind allies in competitive races ahead of this month’s primary election.  Gov. Brad Little, Lt. Gov. Scott Bedke, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Debbie Critchfield and Attorney General Raúl Labrador in recent weeks have endorsed candidates in legislative and local contests.  It’s not unusual for the governor to endorse primary election candidates, although Little has done it sparingly. In recent years, his legislative priorities — such as Idaho Launch, the budding workforce training scholarship program — have faced opp ..read more

In an unusual move, University of Idaho President C. Scott Green has donated $4,250 to legislative candidates ahead of the May 21 Republican primary. One of the donations — the maximum $1,000 allowed under state law — went to Senate President Pro Tem Chuck Winder, R-Boise. This spring, Winder sponsored a bill designed to restructure the U of I’s controversial $685 million plan to acquire the University of Phoenix. The bill died on the Senate floor in late March, throwing the purchase into jeopardy. Two of the donations went to Reps. Matt Bundy, R-Mountain Home, and Lori McCann, R-Lewiston, who ..read more

“A trustee shall invest and manage the trust assets solely in the interest of the beneficiaries.” Idaho State Law Loyalty Clause from the Uniform Prudent Investor Act – Title 68 (Trusts and Fiduciaries); Chapter 5 (Uniform Prudent Investor Act); 68-505. Now imagine reading this legal code, then choosing to ignore those very interests of over 360 University of Idaho students, faculty, staff, employees, and alumni who want to express our interests. This imaginative exercise is neither speculative fiction nor a creative assignment, rather exactly what the University of Idaho Investment Committee is ..read more

  This is the second in a series of stories spotlighting some of Idaho’s most important legislative primaries. Check back for more stories before the May 21 election, and read the first here. Idaho’s northernmost legislative district is a political North Star. It opens a window into the 2024 edition of the Idaho Republican Party’s continued internal strife. It also foreshadows what Idaho elections could look like in years to come. The rematch between Sen. Scott Herndon and former Sen. Jim Woodward will probably be the costliest Republican primary in the state. It’s already one of Idaho ..read more

Amidst a lively chant of, “cut it, cut it, cut it!” from the students, Principal Wendi Forrey snipped the blue ribbon at Dallas Harris Elementary School in Boise on Tuesday afternoon. The freshly-painted school gym was full of Boise School District students, staff, and community members. Some dressed in western clothes to honor the namesake of the school, Dallas Harris, a prominent Boise rancher whose family donated all of the land for the school and helped with the planning. They also presented Forrey with a check for $100,000, dedicated “to the students of DHES!” Principal Wendi Forrey and a ..read more

All about the primaries Start Quiz Question Your answer: Correct answer: Next You got {{SCORE_CORRECT}} out of {{SCORE_TOTAL}} Your Answers ..read more

This is the first in a series of stories spotlighting some of Idaho’s most important legislative primaries. Check back for more stories before the May 21 election. The typical formula for an Idaho Republican primary goes like this: a hardline incumbent faces a mainstream opponent, or a mainstream incumbent faces a challenge from the right. An Idaho Falls-area legislative primary breaks that mold. And it’s one of the most interesting races on the May 21 GOP ballot — because of its high-profile field of candidates, and the implications for education. The incumbent, Rep. Wendy Horman, has playe ..read more

Idaho has joined in a growing red-state pushback over rewritten Title IX rules. On Monday, Attorney General Raúl Labrador said Idaho would join Louisiana, Mississippi and Montana in a suit challenging the Biden administration’s new Title IX rules, issued earlier this month. Extending sex discrimination protections to LGBTQ+ students represents a “twisting” of the landmark 1972 law, Labrador said Monday. Attorney General Raúl Labrador “The new definition of discrimination that includes gender identity will have a profound impact on the progress Title IX has made for girls and women in our socie ..read more

Editor’s Note: This series on how the child care crisis affects working parents — with a focus on solutions — is produced by the Education Reporting Collaborative, a coalition of eight newsrooms, including The Hechinger Report, AL.com, The Associated Press, The Christian Science Monitor, The Dallas Morning News, Idaho Education News, The Post & Courier, and The Seattle Times. NEW ORLEANS – Last summer, Derrika Richard felt stuck. She didn’t have enough money to afford child care for her three youngest children, ages 1, 2 and 3. Yet the demands of caring for them on a daily basis made it ..read more