Terry Gilbert is a career educator and a former president of the Idaho Education Association.

And he believes Idaho’s public school system is under attack.

This week, Kevin Richert interviews the Democratic state schools superintendent candidate about his vision for education in Idaho — and his priorities if he’s elected on Nov. 8.

(Next week’s podcast will feature an interview with Republican state superintendent candidate Debbie Critchfield.)

This week, Carly talks with Karen Lauritzen, the 2023 Idaho Teacher of the Year. With her new platform, the fourth-grade teacher plans to tout Idaho’s successes.

“What’s going on in our public schools is: dedicated educators doing amazing amounts of work to accomplish miracles every single day with kids,” she said. 

But she’s not going to shy away from obstacles in Idaho education, either, and said more funding and resources should be diverted to addressing student mental health and behavioral challenges; creating lower class sizes; and developing more early childhood programs — like completely state-funded preschool.