BOISE, ID – Idaho lawmakers introduced legislation Wednesday declaring state support for eliminating the federal Department of Education, after a committee debated whether the public should weigh in on the subject.
Ultimately, after a divided voice vote, House State Affairs Chairman Rep. Brent Crane, R- Nampa, ruled that the motion to introduce the bill, known in the legislature as a “memorial,” which serves as a formal quest, and hold a hearing passed.
House Majority Leader Jason Monks, a Meridian Republican, said Gov. Brad Little’s office asked him to carry the joint memorial, which would be sent to Idaho’s congressional delegation to show the Legislature’s support for turning over education oversight fully to the states. Monks said Idaho Superintendent of Public Instruction Debbie Critchfield also supported the federal department’s elimination.
President Donald Trump has said the elimination of the federal Department of Education, established in 1980, is a top priority for his administration, though that would require an act of Congress.
Joint memorials do not change the law and are merely a formal request or declaration.
Rep. Joe Palmer, R-Meridian, made a motion to introduce the memorial, but also send it to what’s called the House second reading calendar, which would bypass the usual public hearing process and send it straight for a full House floor debate.
Monks had said he didn’t have a preference on if the memorial had a public hearing or not.
Rep. Monica Church, a Boise Democrat, strongly opposed circumventing a public hearing and made a substitute motion to introduce the bill and recommended that it return so the committee could gather input from the community.
“If we believe that this memorial is important, I believe we need to let the public have an opportunity to talk about it,” Church said.
She said if the federal Department of Education were eliminated, there would potentially be significant changes in state systems to oversee compliance with federal laws, such as those related to civil rights, gender discrimination, and special education.
Committee members discussed for around 15 minutes whether a public hearing was needed.
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Rep. Anne Henderson Haws, D-Boise, noted that the memorial made statements such as the department’s elimination would “cause taxpayer dollars to be spent more efficiently and therefore lead to better student outcomes.”
“I don’t think that it’s fiscally responsible to make statements like this without any backing behind this bill,” Haws said. “And so we should at least have a hearing on this in this committee, so that we can further discuss whether there is evidence that that’s actually true.”
When the committee voted on Church’s motion to introduce the bill and have a hearing, the “aye” and “nay” votes were very close. It was unclear how many voted either way, but Crane ruled it passed.
The joint memorial may return for a public hearing and another vote at the discretion of the committee chair.
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