OPINION: The good, the bad and the ugly in Idaho’s political arena
While the MAGA folks in the Idaho Legislature are running amok, there are some glimmers of light and reason peeking through. Kudos to State School Superintendent Debbie Critchfield for telling the clueless budget cutters that she won’t go along with a $55.1 million cut in the education budget. She is on solid ground because Idaho spends less per student than any other state in the nation. Idaho is the second-fastest growing state, giving us the tax base and resources to keep our children from being the least educated and least competitive in the country.
Legislators are savagely cutting budgets for many other essential state programs — road construction, Medicaid, higher education, State Police, on and on. We were just told that our prison population is growing while prison financing is declining. Prison staff may have to be furloughed, leading to increased prison violence. Since 36.5% of Idaho’s prisoners were sentenced on drug charges, it would make economic sense to make drug treatment programs more readily available, both in and out of prison, but that does not seem to register with the legislative budget choppers.
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