There used to be a saying at the Idaho School Boards Association: “We’ve always done it this way, and we’ll continue to do it this way.”

But at an unprecedented time in the history of the 84-year-old organization, that is changing.

“We’re not saying those words ever again,” Executive Director Misty Swanson said.

It’s a period of transition at the ISBA, an organization that provides training, policy services and support to school boards across Idaho. A new lobbyist is taking over just as two large school districts in the past two months have ended their membership.

Jason Knopp, a school board member and past president of the ISBA, has replaced longtime lobbyist Quinn Perry, who advocated for public schools for the past eight years at the Capitol.

From the ISBA’s office in downtown Boise last week, Knopp and Swanson spoke about the past, present and future of the association and shared their thoughts on the recent West Ada and Kuna school board meetings where trustees voted to leave.

“It was a frustrating evening,” Swanson said of the West Ada meeting on June 8.

Meanwhile, the incoming president of the ISBA, Twin Falls Board Chair Eric Smallwood, reflected on his comments in January to district staff where he encouraged voting for pro-education candidates in the May primary. The attorney general said the comments violated an elections integrity law.

“I still feel like I did the right thing,” Smallwood told EdNews.

Facing fires

Knopp was undeterred on his first day working for ISBA as he sat in the West Ada board chambers listening to trustees from the state’s largest school district question the value of his employer’s services.

As an 18-year veteran of the Nampa Fire Protection District, he’s faced fire before.

Knopp, who retired as a captain on June 5, has taken command of structure fires, sized up the situation and formed an initial plan of action with his crew on Engine 1. On June 8, he started his new job where he may find himself in similar — albeit less perilous — situations.

By the end of the meeting, the trustees voted 4-1 to leave the ISBA. Reflecting on that night, Knopp said he realized he needs to roll up his sleeves and get to work.

“There’s always a little storm here and there,” he said. “You weather the storms and keep plowing forward.”

While Knopp is a new ISBA employee, he’s been involved with the organization as a school board member for years. 

He’s served as a trustee for Melba School District since 2013 and within a year joined the ISBA executive board. He was the ISBA president-elect in 2021 and president in 2022.

Knopp worked through several changes and challenges as president and is no stranger to controversy.

It was Swanson’s first year as executive director and schools were still dealing with the coronavirus pandemic. Under his watch, the ISBA pulled out of the National School Boards Association in the wake of a controversial letter the organization sent to the Biden administration seeking help in dealing with threats to board members during the era of mask mandates and critical race theory.

“My year of presidency, there was a lot,” he said.

He also has political experience. He ran for the Legislature in 2022 and lost in a four-way Republican primary to Melissa Durrant.

Knopp will bring all of that experience into his new role as director of strategic advocacy, which, notably, is a different title than Perry’s, who was the director of government affairs and later deputy director.

Swanson said she wanted a new look for the position under Knopp, and the new title is reflective of a job that goes beyond the work at the Statehouse during the legislative session. The advocacy and strategy happens year round.

She said the ISBA’s overall lobbying strategy is not changing because of West Ada and Kuna. But it will change, because Knopp is a different person than Perry.

“When you have somebody leave an organization, that’s kind of the time to revamp the position,” Swanson said.

Perry had a background in communications and previously worked for the Idaho Trial Lawyers Association. She became a subject matter expert in education policy during her time at ISBA. Knopp already knows about education and how state policy impacts schools, but he lacks some of the lobbying experience and connections that Perry had.

“That trust that the legislature had in Quinn — I need to build that,” Knopp said. “It’s not going to be given to me by any means. This year I’ve got to go hard on that.”

Knopp said he will focus on building relationships both at the Capitol and around the state. He will work on finding his feet during his first year and wants to explore ways to show legislators what it’s like to govern a school district or charter.

“Luckily from my previous employment, I have some relationships and I can build off of those as I move forward,” Knopp said. “But this year is really building those relationships, making sure that they know what I’m talking about.”

He will have support. Smallwood, the ISBA president-elect who will become president in November, said helping Knopp get up to speed is one of his major goals.

“We selected Jason and I think he’s great,” Smallwood said. “I’m going to wholeheartedly support him and do absolutely everything in my power to help him succeed.”

Before and after West Ada

Both Swanson and Knopp attended the June 8 West Ada meeting where trustees decided that ISBA’s services were no longer needed.

EdNews requested an interview with Swanson just after the meeting, but she declined. In an interview last week, she said she was afraid she would have said something she would regret.

The board’s decision did not come as a surprise. Swanson said Board Chair Lori Frasure invited her to the meeting and warned her that it was going to be a tough decision.

They spoke again after the meeting. Swanson told Frasure she appreciated the chance to present information and that the trustees were respectful and professional. She said the two are committed to keeping the lines of communication open over the next year and trustees may re-evaluate their relationship with ISBA in a year.

“I hope by then we can make any adjustments that may be necessary, if there are any, and then show them some return on investment to come back,” Swanson told EdNews.

In the days following the West Ada meeting, Swanson said she received calls, texts, emails and cards from school board members from around the state who think “everything is going really well.”

“I’m getting so much support from members saying, ‘Keep doing what you’re doing, don’t let this get you down, we appreciate you across the state,'” Swanson said.

From Knopp’s perspective, he said he was hoping West Ada would stay. As a lobbyist, he would prefer to tell legislators that he represents all school board members, instead of the majority of school board members.

Trustee David Binetti was the most critical board member at the meeting, and eventually made the motion to leave ISBA. The general consensus was that a large district like West Ada has a large staff of experts that can provide the same services as the ISBA.

Binetti said any organization like the ISBA, with lots of different members, is effectively a “zero-sum game.

“You just can’t please all the people all the time,” Binetti said.

In an interview, both Knopp and Swanson disagreed with that perspective.

Knopp said if ISBA was a zero-sum game, members would have never voted to let charter schools join, or change the voting structure to give more weight to districts with larger enrollments.

If there is a conflict between small and large districts, Knopp said, they try to find common ground so no one gets hurt and to avoid having winners and losers.

“I don’t see how somebody could construe that to when we go to the Legislature that we’re going to fight for just a big school or just a small school,” Knopp said.

Also at the meeting, Binetti and Superintendent Derek Bub both questioned the politics and policy positions of the ISBA. Binetti said the association has taken some “aggressive social positions” and Bub said the ISBA has advocated for legislation that West Ada would never support.

Swanson said she doesn’t think the ISBA leans in any political direction. School board members — not staff members — from around the state vote on resolutions that determine the organization’s direction.

“We lean towards what is best for Idaho’s public school students, that is the direction we lean,” Swanson said.

When asked if the ISBA is too liberal, Smallwood said he thinks some people perceive it as being too liberal, but that’s a total misconception.

“Idaho is a very conservative state, and the ISBA is made up of a wide representation of Idahoans, and if you were to sit in on any of our board meetings you’ll find you’re sitting there in a room full of some of the most just conservative people around,” Smallwood said. “Myself included.”

He added that he doesn’t think anyone could accuse Knopp of being a liberal, or pushing a liberal agenda.

Concerns in Kuna

As Binetti was the most critical trustee in West Ada, trustee Hillary Lowe took on that role in Kuna.

Lowe suggested there are other organizations in Idaho that advocate for public education besides the ISBA.

“This is just one that supposedly represents school boards,” Lowe said.

Her main concern was politics. She said there are “quite a few school board members and community members” that take issue with the ISBA’s direction.

“Some people have brought it up as a concern about their positions and it fitting with the way that Idaho should be,” Lowe said, adding that she personally has not paid attention to the legislation and did not provide any examples.

Trustee Freddy Wheeler said he hasn’t found much value in ISBA membership. He said he found a recent training on open meeting law lacking and could have just spent an hour reading through the law himself.

In an interview, Swanson said she was surprised to hear that was his experience.

“We’ve had rave reviews from lots of other school board members that say, ‘I’ve learned a ton,’ or ‘I’ve been on my board for seven or eight years, and I didn’t know a lot of this that was presented to me,'” Swanson said.

She said Board Chair Michael Thornton invited her to the meeting. Swanson sat in the audience but was not invited to speak. The board voted 3-2 to leave, with Thornton and trustee JD Walker voting to stay.

“We are stronger together”

Nothing is static, incoming president Smallwood told EdNews.

School boards change and he is hopeful that after a few years of turnover, West Ada and Kuna might rejoin ISBA.

“It might take a few years, but I would assume that boards change and that we will be in a position to encourage them to rejoin,” Smallwood said. “We are stronger together than divided.”

At the West Ada meeting, Binetti mentioned Smallwood. He said some people took umbrage with Smallwood’s remarks in January to Twin Falls staff. Smallwood encouraged participation in the primary and support of pro-education candidates, but did not mention any specific candidates.

“[The remarks] certainly caused at least, I’ll say, some controversy that could produce some headwinds,” Binetti said.

Smallwood told EdNews that he doesn’t know Binetti, and he wished Binetti would have reached out before talking about him at a board meeting.

“I would assume that I have way more in common with that guy than not in common,” Smallwood said.

Reflecting on the past six months since those comments in Twin Falls, Smallwood said he made some people mad, but he made a lot more people happy. He felt vindicated by the increased voter turnout in the May primary.

“I go to sleep just great every night with a clean conscience,” he said. “I’m comfortable in my own skin.”

The departure of West Ada and Kuna will pass, Smallwood said, and the mission of the ISBA will continue. The organization is in a strong financial position, and they have a passionate new lobbyist in Knopp.

“I think he’s going to be great,” Smallwood said.