Evaluators cautious about change

BOISE (AP) - Armed with a small staff given the rare authority to critique Idaho's governmental actions, Rakesh Mohan describes his work in one word: dangerous.

Mohan is the head of Idaho's Office of Performance Evaluations, a legislative agency approved by state lawmakers 20 years ago. The nonpartisan office is designated to review state agency activities and evaluate government accountability.

It's an agency that hasn't always been well-known outside the Statehouse. However, after producing multiple reports that have not only revealed millions of savings in taxpayer dollars but also influenced department budgets, the office's profile has risen.

Yet as demand for the office's evaluations increase, so have attempts to sway what information is put together and presented to the public.

Since 2003, the office's evaluators have produced 93 reports. Of those, 43 have been evaluations of a department or program, while 54 reports have been follow-up reviews on how state officials chose to adopt the evaluators' recommendations. Those reports have pinpointed nearly $60 million in one-time savings and an additional $9 million of annual savings.

Key reports include the 2013 teachers' workforce study where the report noted that there was "an undercurrent of despair among teachers." Shortly after the report's release, Gov. Butch Otter embraced 20 aggressive recommendations to help reshape public schools as well as to attract and retain teachers.

In 2011, analysts found more than $11 million could be saved within five years if the Idaho Transportation Department worked more efficiently. It also found $20 million in one-time savings by restructuring how it bonded for projects.