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Policy

DEI Takedown Olympics: Idaho Left Behind as Red States Work to Dismantle DEI

By Ronald M. Nate, Ph.D.
September 9, 2024
A handful of red states are working to dismantle racist diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs in education and government that often and ironically discriminate against some groups of students while favoring other groups of students.  But Idaho is trailing the pack.  States like Texas, Florida, and Utah have taken steps in recent months and […]

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Needs to be Replaced with Merit, Excellence, and Intelligence

By Fred Birnbaum
September 4, 2024
The late British novelist and author George Orwell understood how language could be twisted to invert its meaning and camouflage intentions. “The great enemy of clear language is insincerity. When there is a gap between one’s real and one’s declared aims, one turns as it were instinctively to long words and exhausted idioms, like a […]
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Legislators Must Rein-In Bureaucratic Spending on Idaho Child Care Programs

By Niklas Kleinworth
September 3, 2024
This article originally appeared in Reason magazine on August 28, 2024. The original post can be viewed at Reason.com. Projections show the Idaho Child Care Program — known as the ICCP — has a nearly $16 million budget deficit due to bureaucrats over-expanding eligibility and overpaying for benefits. As conservatives rightly respond with cuts, more […]

DEI Working Group: Another exercise in futility?

By Ronald M. Nate, Ph.D.
August 28, 2024
Last week, Idaho House Speaker Mike Moyle sent invitations to a few legislators to serve on an eight-member Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) in Education Working Group. It's unclear who will lead the group and who else will serve on the panel. Please forgive the Idaho Freedom Foundation (IFF) for not falling over ourselves with […]

Idaho left behind as education choice advances nationwide 

By Ronald M. Nate, Ph.D.
August 16, 2024
Red states across the country are rushing to free their youngest residents from the confines of broken public school systems.  But not Idaho. At least, not yet.  Nationally, 11 states offer universal education choice accounts for students, allowing state education dollars to follow students to private schools and other options best meeting student needs. Louisiana […]
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School Choice 2025: Nero, Ford, and Friedman

By Ronald M. Nate, Ph.D.
August 14, 2024
In my 30-plus years of policy analysis and 10-plus years of public service, I’ve noticed one problem and its solution have stood out as the most frustratingly simple, yet near impossible to accomplish, at the same time. The problem: Idaho’s public school system lacks the incentives for efficiency and excellence. Grown-ups know it, parents are […]
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Setting the education choice gold standard for Idaho

By Fred Birnbaum
August 13, 2024
A child only gets one chance to secure a good educational foundation. When a child enters kindergarten or the first grade, parents should expect the best educational options to fit their needs. In the United States, this historically meant that more affluent families could decide whether to send their children to public schools or to […]
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Biden Poised to Make America the World’s Welfare State, but Idaho Can Fight Back

By Niklas Kleinworth
August 13, 2024
In an upcoming rule change, the Biden administration is expanding Obamacare to illegal immigrants. Using public benefits for illegals is not just a federal issue. The Gem State is supporting illegal immigration with public benefits right now — and has for some time. The Idaho Legislature must put an end to this in 2025. This […]
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Idaho Freedom Foundation announces 2025 Idaho Freedom & Family Agenda

By Ronald M. Nate, Ph.D.
August 13, 2024
The Idaho Freedom Foundation, in conjunction with its sister organization, Idaho Freedom Action, is proud to announce the 2025 Idaho Freedom and Family Agenda. This policy slate is a series of conservative policies Idaho lawmakers should advance and ultimately adopt during the 2025 legislative session.  “The Idaho Freedom & Family Agenda is a thoughtful conservative […]
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States move to end grocery tax while Idaho gets left behind

By Ronald M. Nate, Ph.D.
August 9, 2024
A handful of states are moving to end sales tax on the food their residents purchase.  Idaho isn’t among the handful.  Across the nation, 38 states either don’t charge sales tax or have ended their tax on food. In the Mountain West and Pacific Northwest, Idaho sits alone on an island. Most of its neighboring […]
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Grocery tax repeal: myths and misunderstandings

By Ronald M. Nate, Ph.D.
August 8, 2024
It’s been fascinating over the years to see Idaho families consistently ask for grocery tax relief only to encounter a barrage of falsehoods and unsubstantiated claims from lawmakers who think they know better. Here are a few of the most egregious bogies offered up, contrasted with the reality of how it works: Claim: The grocery […]
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It’s time to axe the tax on groceries in Idaho

By Ronald M. Nate, Ph.D.
August 7, 2024
Government is an overachiever in collecting taxes on nearly everything we do.  It’s hard to imagine anything in our everyday lives not attached to some sort of tax. We are taxed for our food, our homes, our property, our cars, our purchases, our earnings, our investments, and even our deaths.  It doesn’t have to stay […]
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