Backs educational choice
I want to respond to Marty Trillhaase’s editorial, “Nothing subtle will stop a school voucher bill,” that ran in both the Lewiston Tribune and the Moscow-Pullman Daily News.
First, I want to disabuse Trillhaase of the idea that Idahoans don’t spend enough money on K-12 education. According to the Idaho State Department of Education, Idaho taxpayers fund a total of $13,909 per K-12 pupil per year.
Up in Moscow, the Moscow School District receives $14,630 per student per year. Trillhaase’s complaint that we’re spending too little on K-12 education is bogus.
Second, the Boise legislative working committee reported “only 40% of Idaho students are proficient in math, only 55% in reading across all grades statewide, and only 29% of Idaho’s high schoolers are meeting college readiness benchmarks.” This is the system that Trillhaase says we should support and increase funding to.
Arizona created empowerment scholarship accounts where the money follows the child, not the system.
Any Idaho student who opted for a different educational experience would receive about $7,000 per student per year. This would allow parents to choose the best K-12 educational option for each child, whether vo-tech, micro-school, co-op, tutoring, remote learning, private school, homeschool, or any other educational services that fit their individual needs.
Educational choice is a win for parents, kids and taxpayers. But the educational industrial complex won’t allow itself to be put into a position where it is judged on merit.
You can read my full column in the Moscow-Pullman Daily News: shorturl.at/fJXY4.
Dale Courtney
Moscow
Trump was no victim
The Stanford Research Institute presented a report to the American Petroleum Institute in 1968 that warned the release of carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels could carry an array of harmful consequences for the planet. Specifically, the report warned “that rising CO2 would result in increases in temperature at the earth’s surface, and that significant temperature increase could lead to melting ice caps, rising seas, and potentially serious environmental damage worldwide.”
In the 1980s, Marvin Dugger claimed climate change was not a threat to the planet and humanity. Subsequent research has proved him wrong.
His Jan. 15 commentary in the Lewiston Tribune was titled “The true victim of the Jan. 6 riot — Donald Trump.”
Again, Dugger is wrong.
Had he taken time to read “The January 6 Report” by the Jan. 6 committee, he would have learned former President Donald Trump was the cause of the riot and not the victim.
Dugger wrote that before Jan. 6, “Trump authorized and requested the deployment of 20,000 National Guard to help control the expected crowd.”
The Associated Press stated: “While Trump was involved in discussions in the days prior to Jan. 6 about the National Guard response, he issued no such order before or during the rioting.”
Dugger also wrote “that there were enemies of the Constitution who successfully rigged the election.”
On Page 204 of the report, it stated: “President Trump’s campaign team quickly realized that none of the significant fraud claims were real.”
Read the report, Mr. Dugger.
Tom Fellows
Lewiston
