CHEERS ... to Reclaim Idaho co-founder Luke Mayville.
Monday, he framed the issue over misspent Empowering Idaho grants precisely:
“To think: Some Idaho politicians and special interests are *still* pushing for vouchers even as we learn that the limited Empowering Parents micro-grants are being used to buy watches and TVs,” Mayville tweeted. “Can we please just stick to funding real schools and real learning?”
Last year, Idaho launched the grants — $1,000 per student and $3,000 per family — with $50 million from federal COVID-19 relief funds. Then lawmakers made the program permanent with a $30 million state appropriation.
The Idaho State Board of Education and Gov. Brad Little are scrambling over disclosures that Empowering Parents grant money intended toward helping families acquire technology or tutoring wound up — 7% of the time — purchasing things such as TV sets, smart watches and home cleaning supplies. Another 13% of the purchases families made with these grants — items such as uniforms or backpacks — are questionable.
Audits are turning up problems with similar education grant programs in Oklahoma and Arizona.
Which brings us back to Mayville’s observation. If you think holding parents accountable for how they spend public funds is a challenge, imagine what would happen when tax dollars flow into private schools. There’s no assurance about the quality of the education provided, the ability of the teachers or the content of the curriculum.
Empowering Idaho specifically bars the use of its grants to cover tuition at private or religious schools. But some legislative heavyweights — Senate President Pro Tem Chuck Winder, R-Boise, Senate Transportation Committee Chairperson Lori Den Hartog, R-Meridian, and legislative budget committee co-Chairperson Wendy Horman, R-Idaho Falls, — came close to transforming Empowering Idaho into a pilot voucher program.
After the voucher bill cleared the state Senate on a 19-to-15 vote, six Republicans on the House Education Committee — including Lewiston’s Lori McCann — and three Democrats blocked the measure.
If McCann needs validation, here it is.
JEERS ... to Branden Durst.
Isn’t it astonishing how some fiscal conservatives change their tune once they come close to the public purse?
This failed candidate for state superintendent of public instruction, voucher advocate and senior policy analyst for education policy research at the Idaho Freedom Foundation may secure a job he’s not qualified to hold — superintendent of the West Bonner County School District in Priest River.
Even with a 3-2 school board vote in his favor, Durst needs a waiver from a state mandate that anyone serving in that capacity work as a full-time teacher during a four-year period.
Patrons went ballistic because the board chose Durst over their acting superintendent, Susie Luckey, who — as the Idaho Statesman’s Bryan Clark noted — had been named National Distinguished Principal for Idaho in 2018.
Wednesday, without explanation, the West Bonner County School Board tabled action on Durst’s contract — and also struck from the agenda an item rescinding the appointment.
With such a thin margin for error, you’d expect Durst to be cautious. But look at what he wants from a district still struggling to cope with last month’s defeat of its $4.7 million supplemental levy:
A $105,000 salary.
12 sick days, 20 vacation days and compensation for unused vacation days.
A car provided at taxpayer expense.
A pledge to pay half of Durst’s public employee pension contribution.
A $500 monthly housing stipend.
$2,000 to cover moving expenses.
Free lunch at any of the district’s schools.
Permission to double dip as a consultant or a public speaker.
Legal protection against lawsuits for himself and his wife.
Raising the bar for dismissal. It would take a two-thirds school board vote to fire him.
The next time Durst criticizes public spending, he ought to remember that pigs get fat while hogs get slaughtered.
CHEERS .... to Congressman Mike Simpson, R-Idaho.
Wednesday, the House GOP majority tried to haul former House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., in front of an ethics tribunal and fine him $16 million. This attempt from Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., comes in response to Schiff’s role in investigating Donald Trump’s ties to Russia as well as spearheading the former president’s second impeachment.
Reps. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., and Russ Fulcher, R-Idaho, were among 196 Republicans voting yes.
But 20 Republicans — including Simpson — broke ranks and helped table the measure.
It’s not that Simpson is a fan of Schiff’s work. He supported yanking the California Democrat from the Intelligence Committee after Republicans gained the majority.
To Simpson, this was about basic fairness. There was no hearing and no opportunity for Schiff to defend himself.
“We need to remember that if we engage in revenge politics, we can expect the same will be done to our members when we no longer hold the majority,” Simpson said. “At some point, this needs to stop, and we need to focus on solving the problems facing America instead of relitigating the same issues over and over.”
He’s right. But it hardly endears Simpson to the Trump base.
CHEERS ... to Sen. Jim Risch, R-Idaho.
Once Trump left office, Risch — the ranking Republican on the Foreign Affairs Committee — pivoted toward supporting Ukraine’s war of independence and empowering the NATO alliance.
Toward that end, Risch this week went after Hungary Prime Minister Viktor Orban — darling of the Conservative Political Action Conference. By withholding support for Sweden’s admission to NATO, Orban is doing Russia President Vladimir Putin’s bidding.
Using his leverage on the Foreign Affairs Committee, Risch is holding up a $735 million arms sale to Hungary.
“For some time now, I have directly expressed my concerns to the Hungarian government regarding its refusal to move forward a vote for Sweden to join NATO,” Risch said. “The fact that it is now June and still not done, I decided that the sale of new U.S. military equipment to Hungary will be on hold.”
That serves America’s interests, but Orban acolyte Tucker Carlson won’t be happy. — M.T.
