BOISE, Idaho — Idaho lawmakers are back to work in the first week of the legislative session. Governor Brad Little made it clear in his State of the State address that education will continue to be one of his and Idaho’s top priorities.
As lawmakers weigh options on budgets, bills, and balances Idaho’s leader of public education is following closely. Only days into the 2024 session, Superintendent of Public Instruction Debbie Critchfield says work is already in full swing.
“In some ways, it feels like we just took a weekend off from sine die of 2023, and everyone's coming in, many of the same topics, many of the same issues that either paused or just got more steam. And so I think we'll see a lot of those same things come up along with some new ones,” Critchfield said.
A major legislative topic in 2023 was discussions on school choice, vouchers, and education savings accounts. Critchfield believes Idaho has great school choice options but expects renewed interest in the concept.
“We have an incredible amount of school choice in Idaho. I will protect and defend and honor a parent's right to make a decision of where their child goes to school. Then we get into this conversation of, is the state of Idaho required or does it have an obligation to pay for every single choice that I have? And so I think that that's what's going to be debated in those vouchers,” Critchfield said.
One concept already pitched for funding school choice options involves $5,000 tax credits. Critchfield says it is early in the process, but shared her opinion.
“I think one of the reasons this issue didn't make it to the finish line in some ways was because it wasn't the right fit for Idaho. We have a lot of people from out of state, out of state groups and other education entities that come in and say, hey, Idaho, we think you should do this. And I love that Idahoams said, yeah, that's not exactly the right fit that we have for us now,” Critchfield said.
She continued, “Tax credits, I think, is sort of morphing or evolving some of that conversation, a consideration that I will be weighing: When you do a tax credit, you're taking (funds) right off the top, which means there's less money to go not only to education, but to transportation for roads, for corrections, for health and welfare. So you're reducing the amount of money that's in that pot.”
Idaho education news has also seen waves of concerns about content in schools. Things like critical race theory, library content, and diversity and inclusion curriculum. Critchfield says it’s an important conversation that needs perspective.
“I don't want to ever devalue a legitimate concern that a parent or a policy maker, a legislator has. With that said, sometimes we find ourselves chasing on things that that turn out to be nothing. Or maybe more was told or kind of this game of telephone. But I sure hope that we can get this focus back to how we're preparing kids. We want our kids to be able to read. We're going to talk a lot, a lot at our office and myself about getting back to basics,” Critchfield said.
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