The Idaho School Boards Association passed nine resolutions at its annual meeting on Friday, urging the 2027 Legislature to preserve local control and fulfill its constitutional responsibility to provide adequate funding for all public schools.
School board members from across the state gathered in Boise to elect leadership, approve bylaws and pass resolutions that will guide the association’s lobbying efforts throughout the coming legislative session.
“The ISBA legislative platform gives our association a unified voice as we advocate for Idaho public schools,” said outgoing President Jason Sevy, a Marsing trustee.
With a bang of his gavel at the end of Friday’s general session, Sevy ended his time as president and handed the reins over to Eric Smallwood, chair of the Twin Falls school board, who has served as president-elect for the past year.
Members elected Brett Plummer of Challis as the new president-elect and Pam Wagoner of Middleton as vice president. They were the only candidates for each position.
“My priorities are clear: Strengthening board collaboration across the districts,” Plummer said in a prepared speech before the vote. “We’re stronger when we share ideas, resources and solutions.”
But the main event on Friday was voting on eight pre-submitted resolutions and one introduced on the floor that addressed the Idaho School Benefit Trust shortfall. They all passed. Votes are weighted based on the size of the district and are not a direct one-to-one correlation with the number of trustees.
Here’s the ISBA’s new legislative platform.
Resolution No. 1: Human growth and development video
Submitted by the Boise School District
Passed: 8,866-112 (98.7%)
Boise trustee Paul Bennion presented a resolution that asks the Legislature to clean up “conflicting and impractical” language around human growth and development instruction, in particular a requirement to show a fetal development video in classrooms.
Public schools have had one year to implement a law — enacted through Senate Bill 1046 in 2025 — requiring that students in grades 5-12 watch a high-definition ultrasound video during instruction on human growth and development.
The bill has created “confusion for parents and schools, repeated notices, repeated video presentations in courses where the content is not instructionally relevant, and timelines that do not fit school scheduling,” the resolution states.
“The resolution seeks clarity, local flexibility, practical timelines, and consistent parent rights so districts and charter schools can comply with state law without unnecessary disruption to instruction.”
Resolution No. 2: Statewide educational resource development program
Submitted by the Council School District
Passed: 7,881-927 (89.5%)
Jen Hamaker, a trustee for Council School District, said it’s time to think outside the box when it comes to funding and enriching our children’s education.
While a handful of Idaho’s largest school districts might have staff dedicated to finding funding opportunities, like grants and donations, most small and rural districts don’t.
This resolution proposes a “statewide educational resource development program” that could help school districts compete for funding.
“No Idaho student’s educational opportunities should be limited simply because their school district lacks the staff, expertise or capacity to pursue resources that already exist,” says the resolution’s statement of purpose.
Resolution No. 3: Test options for students with disabilities
Submitted by the Marsing Joint School District
Passed: 7,499-1,286 (85.4%)
Marsing trustee OJ Barber said every student deserves the opportunity to demonstrate what they know and how much they’ve done.
This resolution encourages state leaders to consider additional testing options for students with disabilities who don’t qualify for the Idaho Alternate Assessment but “whose academic functioning is significantly below grade level.”
Barber said the resolution does not lower standards, but asks whether schools have the right assessment options for students with disabilities.
Resolution No. 4: Funding stability and predictability
Submitted by the Bruneau-Grand View Joint School District
Passed: 8,467-187 (97.8%)
Bruneau-Grand View trustee Raelynn Mathews said this resolution protects funding for teacher salaries, asks the state to cover the cost of special education and calls for enrollment-based school funding.
The resolution argues that predictable and stable school funding is necessary to meet the needs of students.
But the state’s current system isn’t cutting it when it comes to recruiting and retaining teachers, funding special education services or covering the growing fixed costs of school operations.
The resolution directs ISBA to support legislation that preserves the career ladder, Idaho’s teacher salary funding model. It also calls for increasing special education funding and amending the state’s school funding formula to remove “attendance-based penalties.”
“Idaho’s public school funding system should promote stability, local control, and equitable opportunities for students regardless of the size, location, or demographics of their school district,” the resolution says.
Resolution No. 5: Local control
Submitted by the Boise School District
Passed: 7,700-5 (99.9%)
Boise trustee Debbie Donovan said this resolution protects local control of public schools.
“The rationale for this one is to reaffirm that Idaho public schools are best governed by locally elected school boards,” Donovan said. “You, all of you, are the closest to the students, parents, educators, taxpayers and the communities that we serve, and are best positioned to understand our local needs and priorities.”
It directs ISBA to advocate for the “preservation and strengthening of local control” while opposing legislation that “unnecessarily removes decision-making authority from locally elected school boards or public charter school governing boards.”
Resolution No. 6: 4-year supplemental levies
Submitted by the Coeur d’Alene, Kellogg, Twin Falls, Blaine County school districts
Passed: 8,541-397 (95.6%)
Coeur d’Alene trustee Jimmy McAndrew said this resolution asks the Legislature to change one word, but would have a profound impact on school districts.
“This proposal seeks to extend the current two-year levy cycle to a four-year term,” McAndrew said. “We are not looking for dollars. We are not looking for a handout. We are not looking for a thing. Instead, we are looking for a little grace.”
Currently, levies are limited to two years. The resolution asks for an option for four-year levies.
“Providing longer options for the term will allow districts to operate with greater financial stability for a longer period of time and create stability among staff to focus on their primary purpose of education, while still setting a limit for boards and electors to reassess,” it says.
Resolution No. 7: Funding formula principles
Submitted by the West Bonner County School District
Passed: 8,615-79 (99.1%)
West Bonner trustee Margaret Hall said this resolution reaffirms the Legislature’s constitutional duty to fund public schools without reliance on continual “supplemental” levies.
The resolution calls for comprehensive funding that recognizes the actual cost of education, said ISBA Region 2 Vice Chair Charlette Kremer.
State leaders for more than a decade have debated changes to the complicated and aging school funding formula, and it’s likely to come up again next legislative session.
While touring the state and meeting with educators and parents this summer, state superintendent Debbie Critchfield said her office is working on a bill that would update the formula.
“The Idaho School Boards Association demands that the State fulfill its constitutional responsibility by providing adequate, stable, predictable, and equitable funding for all public schools while reducing reliance on ‘supplemental’ levies for essential operations,” the resolution states.
Resolution No. 8: Enrollment-based funding
Submitted by the Kootenai School District
Passed: 8,356-296 (96.6%)
Kootenai trustee Richard Meyer said the Legislature’s switch to attendance-based funding isn’t realistic.
“You need the same staffing and resources whether you have 60% attendance or 100% attendance,” Meyer said.
School leaders have long advocated for a switch back to enrollment-based funding.
This resolution proposes that school districts with 90% or greater attendance receive funding based on enrollment. Just eight districts wouldn’t qualify under this threshold, according to an Idaho Education News analysis.
“Attendance is important, but ADA-based funding models should be adjusted to better account for public school variables that disproportionately affect average daily attendance,” says the resolution’s statement of purpose.
Resolution No. 9: Equalizing medical support unit funding
Submitted by West Bonner and Boundary County school districts
Passed: 7,812-604 (92.8%)
While the first eight resolutions were pre-submitted, West Bonner trustee Margaret Hall presented this resolution from the floor on Friday.
It comes in response to the collapse of the Idaho School Benefit Trust, and asks the Legislature to provide the same amount of healthcare funding for all public schools, no matter what health plan they participate in.
“This floor resolution has been brought late because we really didn’t understand the significance or the depth of the shortfall that was being felt in fiscal year 2026,” Hall said.
The resolution calls on the Legislature to retroactively adjust fiscal year 2027 funding to provide the same amount of healthcare money for school districts that are not part of the state health insurance pool.
In fiscal year 2026, the Legislature provided $21,901 per support unit in healthcare funding for all public schools, no matter what health plan they used.
But for fiscal year 2027, the Legislature provided $25,065 per support unit for those on the state insurance plan and $24,273 for all others, which is $792 less per support unit.
School districts that participated in the now-insolvent Idaho School Benefit Trust have had to cover a $13 million shortfall, which comes out to $715 per employee and dependent if paid in a lump sum. The amount comes to $783 per employee and dependent for districts that opted to make monthly payments.
Hall said the resolution would give the ISBA and Jason Knopp, the director of strategic advocacy, a “stronger arm” in asking for equity in medical funding.
EdNews reporter Ryan Suppe contributed to this report.
