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Policy

Brad Little’s budget boasts 17.1% spending increase, not 8.1%

By Fred Birnbaum
January 12, 2022
When Gov. Brad Little took over the reins from Butch Otter, fiscal conservatives were hopeful.  The last four years of Otter’s tenure were marked by the growth of unsustainable spending. For example, Otter requested in Fiscal Year 2019 a 6.6% increase for the general fund, but it ended up being  9.2% because his administration cleverly […]
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Education myth no. 2: Education choice programs defund public schools

By Kaitlyn Shepherd
January 12, 2022
These excerpts were taken from “Myth-Educated: Debunking common education choice misconceptions in Idaho.” Read our full analysis online at: https://idahofreedom.org/research/myth-educated/.   Fact: Giving families money to spend on their children’s education through a choice program does not defund public schools or irreparably harm the remaining students. In fact, forcing families to subsidize public schools their children […]
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Myth 1: Education choice does not benefit rural students

By Kaitlyn Shepherd
January 10, 2022
This excerpt was taken from “Myth-Educated: Debunking common education choice misconceptions in Idaho.” Read IFF's full analysis online at: https://idahofreedom.org/research/myth-educated/.  Fact: Education choice helps rural students who are not adequately served by their local public school by expanding the number of educational opportunities available to them and enabling them to supplement the limited opportunities available […]
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Full text of Gov. Brad Little's 2022 State of the State address

By Idaho Freedom Foundation staff
January 10, 2022
Mr. Speaker, Mr. Pro Tem, Madam President, honored legislators, my fellow constitutional officers, Mr. Chief Justice and members of the judiciary, my family, friends, and my fellow Idahoans.   It’s good to deliver this speech back in the chambers. Last year I closed my State of the State address by saying, “In times of hardship, opportunity […]
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A pre-response to Gov. Little’s upcoming State of the State address

By Wayne Hoffman
January 10, 2022
There’s a possibility that I’m completely wrong about what Gov. Brad Little will say and propose in his State of the State address today. But Little has dropped enough clues over the years that I think it’s fairly reasonable to release my response before he gives his speech. If I’m wrong and I need to […]
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This new year, students can make smarter choices on higher education

By Anna Miller
January 3, 2022
The pandemic’s disruption of the traditional college experience combined with daunting prospects of student loan debt have left students wondering: Is college really worth it?  From an economic perspective, the answer is yes. Higher education still has the ability to be an engine of upward mobility, opening up new opportunities to students.  But these outcomes […]
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Make 2022 a year for being fearless

By Wayne Hoffman
January 3, 2022
A number of years ago, a friend advised me that one must never say these words in sequence in public: "The government should not be in the education business."  I didn't listen. My new year’s resolution is all about being fearless, saying a lot of other things that need to be said but aren't. The […]
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Business advocacy groups should learn from the data which degrees are bad bets

By Anna Miller
December 20, 2021
Idaho students, parents, businesses, and taxpayers rely on universities to produce graduates ready to contribute and compete in the workforce and lead fulfilling lives. Dozens of programs at public universities do so, but dozens more leave their students with dangerous levels of student loan debt and taxpayers on the hook when graduates default on their […]
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Let’s lift up Idahoans by getting government out of the way

By Wayne Hoffman
December 17, 2021
Ronald Reagan famously used to say, “Government is not the solution to the problem. Government is the problem.”  Contrary to what Marty Trillhaase told readers of the Lewiston Tribune on Dec. 8, this was the point of my speech to the Kootenai County Republican Women. It was not, as Trillhaase reported, a State of the […]
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Women and men could use a break from government college peddlers and careerism

By Wayne Hoffman
December 13, 2021
When my daughter and son attended Idaho’s government-run schools, they were routinely cajoled to enroll in college. My daughter’s public charter school class was small enough that each student’s post-high school plans were read aloud along with their names at graduation. All but two graduates in a class of about 45 indicated they planned to […]
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Bad Returns: How Idaho college degrees fare on debt-earnings tests

By Anna Miller
December 7, 2021
Students and parents no longer need to ask, “Is college worth it?” The latest report by the Idaho Freedom Foundation’s Center for American Education explains the financial prospects of studying in a particular field at Idaho’s colleges. Stakeholders deserve to know which programs are serving students well and which should be held accountable by policymakers […]
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Idaho’s colleges and universities should face major consequences for disregarding lawmakers

By Wayne Hoffman
December 3, 2021
A year ago, I wrote that there should be hell to pay for Idaho’s colleges’ and universities' continued advancement of a clearly left-wing social justice agenda. Thankfully, our state’s elected representatives and senators agreed that they needed to act in order to get the higher education system back on track and under control.  Lawmakers voted […]
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