Little takes State of the State on the road

Idaho Gov. Brad Little named funding for education and tax relief his top priorities for the 2025 legislative session that kicked off last week.

The two-term executive made a brief stop Monday in Lewiston, where he repeated many of the goals from his now week-old State of the State address and touted his record over the past seven years.

“No. 1 for me is, has been, and always will be public education and education in general,” he said. “We’ve increased education funding by 80% since I got this job. And of course, the big part of that was teacher pay and teacher benefits, which is very important to Lewiston because you’re competing with Clarkston right across the river.”

This year he is seeking $150 million to fund public education but also wants an additional $50 million for school choice — public assistance for private school and home school students.

“I did emphasize strongly in my State of the State that we want that to be accountable and transparent, and that’s what we’re currently negotiating on right now with the legislative sponsors of that legislation, and I’m confident we’ll get there.”

He expects a school choice bill will include standards for curriculum and testing, perhaps have means testing, mechanisms that make the funding transparent to taxpayers. He said it could be delivered through a tax credit, which would give the Idaho Tax Commission oversight.

“I want people to be comfortable that if we’re going to take your state money and give it into a choice area, that that is really going to educate Idaho kids,” he said.

Little also hopes to win funding to add capacity to Idaho Launch, which offers up to $8,000 to high school seniors to pursue higher education degrees, including career technical education, in in-demand fields.

“We’re going to increase capacity, whether it be in construction, plumbing, electricians, auto technicians, welders — a lot of the things that they do right out here at the (Lewiston) High School in conjunction with (Lewis-Clark State College) right now.”

Idaho has reduced taxes by $4.6 billion during Little’s time in office and he wants to add another $100 million in tax relief. It is not clear how that will be shaped.

“The legislature was not in total agreement on what they wanted to do, so I just said, here’s $100 million we’ll work with you to see how that comes out.”

Little wants to replenish the state’s wildfire account. It once had $60 million but now is down to $10 million.

“I want to fill that, propose to fill that bucket back up and then put ongoing money there so that we can plan wisely,” he said. “Plan for fire investments. Whether it’s fire crews, whether it’s fire equipment, whether it’s inventory, whether it’s contracting with aircraft, whatever it be.”

Along with other Republican governors, Little attended a gathering at President-elect Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club resort in Florida last week and said he shared Idaho’s experience with cutting regulations, one of the aims of the incoming administration.

“Idaho was DOGE before DOGE was cool,” he said, referring to Trump’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency — an advisory committee headed by billionaires Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy.

“We talked about some of these things at a very high level. I’m excited for the new administration. I’m excited for the new Legislature to continue to do the good work that’s represented on these boards here, to make Idaho a great place going forward.”

Barker may be contacted at ebarker@lmtribune.com.