IDAHO: Save Our Schools Town Hall

Idaho public schools are underfunded plain and simple. Schools, administrators and teachers all scramble to get the funding they deserve. All of us who support the local school levies are being taken advantage of by the state, whose job it is to fund our schools. Now, due to House Bill 93 voucher law signed earlier this year, we’re watching millions of taxpayer dollars go to private schools, with no transparency and no accountability.

Families in Idaho have always had choices when it comes to education like homeschooling, charter schools, online learning, and private school. That’s not the issue. The issue is who pays for it. As a taxpayer, paying for private and homeschooling that doesn’t have any sort of accountability is unacceptable. 

This voucher law takes money from our shared pot and gives it to private institutions that don’t have to meet any of the standards our public schools do. That doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong with private education, but I think that we’ve responded to a broken system by breaking it even worse. Other states have seen their budgets squeezed and their public schools suffer. If we don’t act now, Idaho could be next. 

If you want to learn more, please come to the Coeur d’Alene Save Our Schools Town Hall at the Lake City Center on Wednesday, Sept. 10 at 6:30 to 8 p.m.

DAVE MUISE

Coeur d’Alene