OPINION: If you don’t want vouchers, who does?

If Idaho parents truly wanted scarce state tax dollars drained away from public schools they believed were failing their children and invested in private academies, you’d hear a constant buzz of interest at school gatherings, parents’ groups and school board meetings.

You’d see the issue come up during school board elections.

Quite likely, the idea of privatization would be a counter-argument to the ever-rising tide of local property tax support for basic education programs as well as new buildings.

Some diminution of support for public schools would appear in the yearly Boise State University Public Policy Survey, which year in and year out has public education listed at the top of Idahoans’ priorities.

So if Idaho parents aren’t clamoring for vouchers, who is?

Out-of-state dark money interests.

As outlined by Kelcie Moseley-Morris last week in the Idaho Capital Sun, there are at least two national groups actively working to undermine Idaho public schools.

First up is the American Federation for Children. Founded more than a decade ago by former President Donald Trump’s education secretary, Betsy DeVos, the group has been active in Wisconsin and other states where vouchers have been passed. In the past two years, the American Federation for Children’s Action Fund has collected $7 million, including $2.5 million from DeVos and her husband, Richard; $2 million from Jeff Yass, a Pennsylvania-based billionaire and executive advisory council member of the libertarian Cato Institute; $750,000 from Cleveland Browns football team owner Jimmy Haslam and his wife, Dee: as well as another $1 million from a man who appears to be Haslam’s father, James A. Haslam.

About $200,000 from the American Federation for Children found its way into the Idaho Federation for Children PAC, which parceled out donations in the May 2022 GOP primary election. Among the beneficiaries:

l Attorney General Raul Labrador, who collected $45,818.

l Rep. Sage Dixon, R-Ponderay, who no doubt appreciated having an extra $21,310 to spend on his narrow, 52.28% win against Todd Engel.

l Freshman Rep. Jordan Redman, R-Coeur d’Alene, who got $15,701.

l Rep. Judy Boyle, R-Midvale, whose $45,068 contribution may have made the difference in her six-vote victory over former Rep. Scott Syme, R-Caldwell.

l Freshman Rep. Jaron Crane, R-Nampa, who got $12,754

l Former Rep. Gayann DeMordaunt, R-Meridian. The $20,541 she collected wasn’t enough to overcome her primary defeat at the hands of freshman Rep. John Tanner, R-Eagle, by 10 percentage points.

l Rep. John Vander Woude, R-Nampa. He received $18,824 toward his 53.4% victory over former Rep. Greg Ferch, R-Boise.

l Former Rep. Terry Gestrin, R-Donnelly, who got $19,984. In a four-way state Senate race, Gestrin came in second to Sen. Geoff Schroeder, R-Mountain Home.

In the fall campaign, Idaho Federation for Children PAC gave another $140,500, which was focused on the following:

l Rep. Dustin Manwaring, R-Pocatello, who defeated Democrat Mary Shea with 52.2%. The campaign spent $15,438 touting Manwaring and another $15,088 on a negative campaign against Shea.

l Rep. Dori Healey, R-Boise, who beat Democrat Jeff Nafsinger by 52.7%. Healey’s campaign collected $18,425 while another $12,142 was spent in opposition to Nafsinger.

l Sen. Rick Just, D-Boise, eked out a 2-point win over former state Rep. Codi Galloway, R-Boise. But he had to overcome $9,106 spent against his candidacy plus another $27,981 devoted to Galloway’s behalf.

l Rep. Brandon Mitchell, R-Moscow, collected $15,204.

Next comes the State Policy Network. As Moseley-Morris noted, the two dark-money funds — the Donors Trust and Donors Capital Fund — behind the State Policy Network have been dubbed the “ATM” of the far right. Among contributors investigators have linked to this outfit are Koch Industries, Microsoft and Kraft Foods.

However murky, this at least offers one of the few clues available about who is pulling the strings at the Idaho Freedom Foundation.

Go on the State Policy Network’s webpage (spn.org/directory) and zero in on Idaho. There, you’ll see the Freedom Foundation listed as the SPN’s Idaho affiliate.

The Freedom Foundation has been going all out against Idaho’s public schools ever since its president, Wayne Hoffman, declared them “the most virulent form of socialism (and indoctrination thereto)” four years ago.

Key among its tools is a freedom index that intimidates Republican lawmakers who fear being labeled insufficiently conservative if they vote for public education and against vouchers.

Unquestionably, there are other footprints such as the Mountain States Policy Center and the American Legislative Exchange Council that are being connected to this unmistakable pattern. Sometime this spring, those investments may pay dividends by siphoning tens if not hundreds of millions of Idaho tax dollars from working- and middle-class families to subsidize the private education of economic elites.

If that happens, it means the outside voices drowned out yours. — M.T.