Little’s broken promise will not be forgotten

Throughout his campaign and his time in office, Governor Little has identified education as his number one priority. This is for good reason. Survey after survey shows that education is the number one priority of the people of Idaho, and yet Idaho remains dead last of 50 states in terms of education funding per student.

In his 2020 State of the State address, the governor recognized that we’re denying our kids access to qualified, experienced teachers. He spoke forcefully about the need to boost teacher salaries: “We cannot simply rely on the good hearts of teachers to maintain an effective workforce. We must pay them competitively.”

About a year ago, a grassroots movement formed with the goal of securing exactly what Idahoans have been demanding for years: Bold investments in K-12 education. Reclaim Idaho, an organization I co-founded, formed local teams of volunteers in every corner of the state. Together, we worked to collect over 55,000 signatures to put an initiative on the ballot that would modestly tax corporations and the wealthy in order to invest millions in public schools.

With six weeks left in our signature drive, we were shut down by COVID-19. Physical distancing guidelines made face-to-face signature gathering virtually impossible. When our governor issued a stay-at-home order, signature collection became a misdemeanor, punishable by a $1,000 fine and up to 6 months in jail. We appealed to Governor Little to protect our initiative rights amidst the pandemic by authorizing online signature collection. The governor declined to act.

Our next step was to file a lawsuit in federal district court on the grounds that our First Amendment rights were violated when the state failed to provide a safe way to collect signatures. The judge ruled in our favor and ordered the state of Idaho to accept online signatures. For a brief moment, our rights were restored and our K-12 funding initiative was back on the path to success.

In a move that surprised many of Governor Little’s supporters in the education community, the governor called the decision “judicial activism” and appealed it immediately. After losing two appeal attempts, the governor continued to fight our initiative tooth-and-nail, all the way to the Supreme Court.

In late July, the Supreme Court issued a stay on the district court’s ruling and effectively killed our campaign.

It was a stunning turn of events. The same Governor who had campaigned with education as his number one priority was now denying Idaho voters a chance to approve $170 million in annual funds for K-12. In the same month, Governor Little ordered $99 million in cuts to Idaho’s K-12 budget. The so-called “Education Governor” was now responsible for some of the deepest cuts to K-12 that Idaho has seen in a generation.

Why was Governor Little so opposed to the Reclaim Idaho education initiative? The likely answer is that the initiative proposed modest tax increases on corporations and the wealthy. But the truth is that any increase in K-12 funding must be paid for, and middle-income Idahoans are already paying more than their fair share of taxes. As a percentage of total income, middle-class families pay 8.5% of their income in taxes to the state of Idaho. The richest Idahoans pay only 7.2%.

The income tax is supposed to add balance to our tax structure by requiring those with higher incomes to pay a slightly higher percentage. But in Idaho, a family earning $25,000 per year pays the same income tax rate as a family earning $1 million per year.

The vast majority of Idahoans support the modest tax increases contained in the Reclaim Idaho initiative. In a poll conducted in the fall of 2019, Idaho voters were asked the following: “In general, if there was a question on the ballot to increase funding for public K-12 education in Idaho paid for by a tax increase on corporations and those making over $250,000, how would you vote?” In response, 62% said yes and only 36% said no.

If education were truly the governor’s number one priority, why wouldn’t he side with the majority of Idahoans and support our initiative?

Sadly, it appears that education is not, in fact, Governor Little’s chief priority. Instead, his priorities are closely aligned with those of Idaho’s political establishment: Protect tax breaks for the wealthy and well-connected. Cater to the demands of corporate lobbyists while neglecting the bread-and-butter concerns of working families.

The people of Idaho had such high hopes for this governor. In 2018, he won the votes of thousands of educators and working parents, and even the endorsement of the Idaho Education Association.

This all made sense at the time. This governor talked a good game and people believed him.

When it was time to walk the walk, the governor squashed a grassroots movement for education funding and slashed millions from the K-12 budget. When he goes up for reelection in 2022, voters should remember his broken promise.

Luke Mayville is co-founder of Reclaim Idaho, the organization that spearheaded the successful campaign to expand Medicaid in Idaho.