MY TURN: Legislators need to support public schools

Over 90% of children in Idaho attend public schools. Time and again, our community says through surveys, levy votes and personal feedback that we overwhelmingly support our public schools. 

Unfortunately, nearly all of our local legislators do not support our public schools.

At the Legislative Town Hall sponsored by the Kootenai County Republican Central Committee on Saturday, where most of our legislators were present, their hostility toward public schools was distressingly evident. 

For example, Rep. Heather Scott claimed rampant “deviant behavior in schools” and that public schools were “ignoring the law” regarding DEI. Rep. Tony Wisniewski said there was “indoctrination of our students” in public schools, and stated his support for school vouchers, allowing millions of taxpayer dollars to be spent on private schools.

Sen. Ben Toews also expressed his support for school vouchers and said that “teachers unions are lobbying against our values.” Rep. Dale Hawkins, a member of the House Education Committee, was similarly critical of teachers unions and claimed that the Department of Education is a “nightmare.” 

Rep. Hawkins did not express any support for the grossly underfunded schools in his rural District 2, but did praise a private school in Coeur d’Alene that he visited. Rep. Elaine Price advocated for repealing the Blaine Amendment, an Idaho Constitutional provision that prohibits public funds from being used to support religious schools.

At this Legislative Town Hall, not a single positive comment was made about public schools, nor were any suggestions offered for improvements. When they speak about such a vast percentage of their constituents, we expect solutions, not unbridled complaining. Public schools are where the majority of child-rearing constituents send their children. Supporting this critical piece of our community must be a top priority for legislators. 

Yet, these legislators chose to focus on other issues — from drastically restricting absentee ballots, loosening environmental regulations, “chem trails” and cloud seeding, digital IDs, opposition to data centers, returning to the gold standard, campaign finance and other topics. Meanwhile, public education is mandated by the Idaho Constitution to be funded. 

Despite the lack of support from our local legislators, Idaho is fortunate to have many excellent teachers and staff. These local heroes perform miracles every school year, despite Idaho’s public schools consistently ranking near the bottom nationally in per-pupil spending. 

Unfortunately, the Legislature refuses to fund public schools at a level that prevents most districts from having to turn to local taxpayers for levies just to support basic operations. Most states do not have to consistently run local levies to make up for chronic underfunding of public schools. In those states, some school districts may need bond elections to build new schools, but few must turn to local taxpayers every two years simply to keep the lights on and teachers employed.

Public school staff and local school boards would welcome a partnership with our legislators to address concerns and work together on funding, curriculum and other issues. Hostility toward our public schools — or simply ignoring their needs — is insulting to the children and young adults in our state, as well as to many voters. 

Our legislators are elected to meet the needs of our communities, including our public schools. So far, our local legislators have not met their responsibilities to improve and support public education for the vast majority of children in our community.

In 2026, all or most of our local legislators will be running for re-election. They will likely face Republican opponents in the May primary and Democratic opponents in the November general election. Constituents who support public schools — as most people in Kootenai County do — should consider their votes carefully and choose candidates who demonstrate a genuine commitment to improving our public schools rather than ignoring or undermining them. Ask candidates questions, and if they are critical of our schools, ask them what ideas they have to improve them.

Public education is one of the foundations of our constitutional republic. Those who attack public education and make no effort to improve our schools do real harm to our children and our community.

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Tom Hearn is a 50-year resident of Idaho and a former school board trustee in the Coeur d’Alene and Kootenai School Districts.