HB 93: Please veto it

Gov. Little: As Chairman of the Board of Trustees of a public Charter School in Coeur d’Alene, I strongly encourage you to veto House Bill 93, which has been passed in both Houses of the Idaho Legislature, but not by a veto-proof majority.

House Bill 93 meets NONE of the criterial you said you would require in your State of the State address. You reasonably indicated that for you to support such a proposal the legislation would need to require the private schools receiving public funding to be “fair, responsible, transparent and accountable.”

To meet your requirements, any Voucher bill would need to include the following:

1. Mandated background checks and certification for all teachers including those teaching in private and religious schools. Clearly HB 93 fails to meet that requirement.

2. The bill would need to require all private schools to be subjected to the same accountability measures as our public schools, including standardized testing. House Bill 93 has no required accountability measures.

3. The Bill would need to include and require mandated financial disclosures and audits of private schools benefiting from public funding. HB 93 has no financial disclosure or accountability requirements.

4. The bill would need to require meaningful access for all Idaho students to private schools receiving public funding. HB 93 has no such requirements, and it has been documented that many of Idaho’s existing private schools do not currently meet this requirement, since they have the ability to not only be exclusive, but also discriminatory in their admission and enrollment policies. Private schools can also exclude special needs students.

Clearly, HB 93 falls well short of meeting the criteria you publicly established as the requirement for your approval and support. Governor, hopefully you will stand by your words and will now veto this flawed bill when it reaches your desk.

LEN CROSBY

Post Falls