It would be a rare individual who would not be pleased with the opportunity to have their tax obligation reduced.

It’s easy to cut taxes, and it’s difficult to increase taxes when the need for revenue is critical to Idaho’s infrastructure and services.

This popularity is used by many candidates for the Idaho Legislature to propel them to their election or re-election.

Perhaps the champion of this popularity is Speaker of the House Mike Moyle, with many of his fellow GOP friends using the same strategy.

Seldom does this tax cut involve the broader context or question, “What will be the impact on Idaho’s ability to meet its obligation in many areas, including the public schools, now and in the future?”

Gov. Brad Little has been part of this activity to reduce taxes, all the while he has expressed that education is his highest priority.

This past January he repeated the priority while proclaiming his promised priority has been kept.

One must give him some credit in that the public-school appropriation has dramatically increased and teacher salaries have gone up.

If one looks at where we were when he took office, we have made some strides in the right direction. It is difficult to give much credit, however, since our expenditure per pupil remains at the bottom of current state rankings.

Moreover, Idaho teacher salaries are not remotely competitive with those in surrounding states and many districts still rely on supplemental levies to balance a meager operational budget.

The supplemental levy is totally un-equalized, providing significant revenue for so called rich property tax districts while leaving the so-called poor districts with nothing but inadequate revenue and major fiscal problems.

The Idaho State Department of Education’s 2023-2024 teacher salary comparison data is telling, as reported by Idaho Education News (Salary Data:  Teacher and Administrator Salaries, District Comparisons).

The difference between high and low teacher salaries is shocking:

HIGH TEACHER SALARIES             LOW TEACHER SALARIES

Blaine County                   $90,942                Emmett             $52,707

Idaho Virtual                     $81,716                Gooding             $49,400

Meridian Tch Chrt          $73,438                Cascade             $48,340

Boise                                 $72,228                 Oneida               $45,512

The comparisons beg the question, “Should the quality of teacher pay, and the quality of a child’s education, be determined by zip code or district classification?”

The governor’s proclamation of promise kept would more adequately be called promise not kept, or broken.

This situation reminds me of my days when I coached high school track.  One of my mile-run athletes was plodding along, some 40 yards behind the pack of runners. I cheered him on, and he gained twenty yards on the pack.  But, like Idaho’s schools, he still finished last.

Idaho’s increase comes from measuring where we were against where we are now.

Unfortunately, or fortunately, the other states across the nation continue to invest in education and we still find ourselves at the bottom of most comparisons.

We can never improve our standing by making the same investment as other states.

If you are ever going to make headway, it will take a major effort to improve your position.

This will never happen with the current tax cut mentality.

Not only will we continue at the bottom, but we will stay there because we have reduced revenue into the State’s General Fund to the point that even in good economic times, there will not be enough additional revenue to make the large investment needed to adequately fund our schools.

To some extent, the tax cutters have decided satisfaction with underfunded schools and are guaranteeing that the situation cannot improve in the future.

Our schools do a credible job with the resources they have, yet there are so many programs and services needed if we are ever going to meet the needs of all those who show up at the schoolhouse doors.

This partially explains the attraction of the “parent choice” and “voucher” movements.

Parents hope to find in charter, private, or parochial schools what their local school is lacking, or, by some secret method will take tax payer voucher money and spend it on protein supplements and power drinks to educate their children.

Many will soon learn there is no magic on the other side of the fence, and that quality comes with investment.

Hopefully, we are not beginning a two-tier system of education where people with means buy with their tuition money what the public schools cannot provide and children from limited income families are enrolled in underfunded public schools that are unable to provide the necessary programs and services to help students find success in our society.

The bottom line is that our tax cutters in the Legislature who fail to see the impact of their work on Idaho’s ability to meet its obligations now and in the future are shortchanging our kids and jeopardizing Idaho’s future.

I see every year where Idaho’s Legislators take an oath of office to adhere to the state constitution. It clearly states that it is the DUTY of the Legislature to establish a uniform and thorough system of public schools.

Yet there is not a single legislator who under oath and with a straight face swears we have a uniform and thorough system of public schools across Idaho.

Our Idaho Constitution is clear in that it sets forth a legislative DUTY and legislators take an oath to adhere to it, yet the folks who are so intent on reducing our ability to meet the uniform and thorough standard must have their fingers crossed behind their back when they swear the oath.

Idaho’s kids deserve better.