Nuking Public Education, Women's Vote, and Inflation

February 8, 2020

"The way to right wrongs is to turn the light of truth upon them."
-- Ida B. Wells-Barnett

Nuking Our Education Standards

This week the House Education Committee voted down several Idaho Content Standards.  These standards were written by highly skilled teachers, then taken around the State for public review and input.  After public hearings, the standards were rewritten to reflect parent concerns.  This was a three-year process before the standards were brought to the legislature.  It is a waste of taxpayer dollars and a waste of the time and talents of the educators and parents who worked so hard on these standards to repeatedly attempt to undo them.  It also puts over $200 million dollars in federal funds at risk.
 

Women's Suffrage

This year is the 100th anniversary of women's suffrage in the United States.  Women gained the right to vote nationwide with the passage of the 19th Amendment in 1920.  Idaho, the fourth state to grant women the vote, did so earlier, in 1896.  Wyoming was the first state and all of the first ten states to grant women the vote were west of the Mississippi, perhaps because younger states and territories' pioneer independence and survival depended on women, or perhaps because they were hoping to increase their population for purposes of acquiring statehood.  Our State is marking this 100th year nationwide anniversary in many ways.

A display on the early history of Idaho women legislators was recently moved to a more prominent spot in the Capitol building at the urging of Anna Wiese, a grade-school age resident of my district.  Another was a portrait of an early Idaho woman legislator, Emma Drake.  The Senate and the House have passed a resolution naming March 14th Idaho Women's Day.  This day is to acknowledge the influence, impact, and importance of women in Idaho's past, present, and future.  The resolution makes specific mention of Idaho's seal, which is the only State seal designed by a woman.

I am on the Commemorative Silver Medallion Committee, which is working on a Women's Suffrage Medallion to honor Idaho women veterans.  

Need for Idaho to Adjust for Inflation

Indexing is a way to adjust dollar amounts automatically so they keep up with inflation or other price changes.  The Office of Performance Evaluation recently completed a study on the way the State accounts for inflation across many areas of government.  Unfortunately, Idaho rarely adjusts price indexes, despite inflation significantly impacting any policy that references a dollar amount.

Without anyone intending it to, inflation has changed tax policy.  We last set a tax credit for those with elderly or disabled dependents in 1981.  This tax credit has lost 63.9 percent of its value over the years. The credit for investing in qualified broadband equipment has lost 30.5 percent of its value since it was set in 2001.  At the same time, our State is in desperate need of improved broadband service in many geographic areas.  The credit for donations to educational institutions was set in 2008 and has lost 29.7 percent of its value.  Our educational institutions are suffering from very constrained budgets and need every bit of support we can give them.

If Idaho's tax brackets had been appropriately adjusted in 2000, we would have assessed $7.4 million dollars more in personal income taxes in 2017 alone.  This is an area with broad implications and one where Idaho is behind.  Some of our tax indexes are as much as 60 years old.  

Failure to index, or failure to index appropriately, also has a big impact on purchasing, transportation, and public works contracts. These are major cogs of government that contract and provide services for the public.

Sen. Michelle Stennett is the Senate Minority Leader. She represents Blaine, Camas, Gooding, and Lincoln counties in the Idaho State Legislature.

Respectfully,

Michelle