EDITORIAL: We'll see how strong this bridge is

If the Republican-dominated Idaho Legislature already looked like a younger Arnold Schwarzenegger, the 2024 election put a few more pounds of muscle on that powerful frame.

The GOP supermajority gained three seats, all at the expense of incumbent Democrats who were seen as supporters of public education. When the 2025 session begins, just 15 of the 105 members of the Idaho Legislature will be Democrats.

Now, even if you’re among those who think 15 Democrats in the Legislature is 15 too many, the election results are still three steps in the right direction. But as we’ve seen and likely will see again starting in January, not all Idaho Republicans are the same.

This next session will need strong GOP support if public education — from preschool certificates through university diplomas — is to withstand the assault lurking in the armory of the Idaho Freedom Foundation.

The IFF wields far too much power over the current Republican Party, as witnessed by its ongoing declarations against public education in general and its specific platform plank decreeing that state funding for education beyond high school should end.

These short-sighted ideological approaches are better suited to a ruling Libertarian Party. They also are completely counter to the rational, constructive and fiscally conservative Republican traditions that have made Idaho one of the nation’s most solvent, work ethic-rich states in the nation.

Where we are today is a direct result of decades of emphasis on and investment in our schools at the local and state levels. As Gov. Brad Little and a majority of the state’s legislators heard last week during their three-day visit to our community, drastically altering that education emphasis and investment will certainly not make us stronger.

In the coming session, it is pure fantasy to believe the state will bolster its funding so school district levies and bonds would be rendered unnecessary. What is realistic is for legislators to heed the call for basic funding levies to be floated every six years, rather than every other year. 

The current system creates nothing but distraction and chaos for educators and exhaustion for voters. Giving taxpayers and educators some predictability with essential funding would benefit all.

Eliminating state funding for our public higher ed institutions might deliver a measure of revenge to, say, those who have worked hard to shut down North Idaho College through incompetent trustees. 

But for citizens statewide, the brain drain that would result from good students seeking their education outside our borders would be devastating. 

Statistically, the vast majority of these high achievers never come back. Tomorrow’s leaders of local commerce and industry will instead ply their talents elsewhere, often in the states where they’ve developed advanced personal, academic and professional networks.

If the relationships between those who govern and those who are governed were strengthened during this past week’s interactions in and around Coeur d’Alene, if understanding on both sides has increased, then public education has a fighting chance in the 2025 session.

And that means our state’s future has a fighting chance, too.