Reclaim Idaho turns in final signatures. Thousands ‘said yes’ to education initiative
Over the past year, volunteers and organizers with Reclaim Idaho say they have collected nearly 97,000 signatures across the state to get the Quality Education Act on the November ballot.
More than 600 volunteers, including dozens of students, knocked on more than 66,000 doors through rain, snow, heat and COVID-19 surges, according to the group.
On Monday, a small portion of them celebrated as they turned in the final 508 signatures to the Ada County elections office. Organizers said they feel confident the initiative to better fund Idaho education will be part of this fall’s election.
“Idaho is 50th out of 50 states in funding for education,” said Luke Mayville, the co-founder of Reclaim Idaho, standing in front of the elections office in Boise. “But today, we are giving the voters of Idaho a chance to do something.”
‘A whole lot of people eager to sign’
To put the initiative in front of voters, volunteers needed to gather signatures from 6% of registered voters from at least 18 legislative districts, and from 6% of voters statewide.
In total, the group needs about 65,000 valid signatures, but Mayville said earlier this year that volunteers were aiming to collect more in case of errors. He said Reclaim Idaho believes at least 70,000 of the signatures they collected will be valid based on an internal tracking system.
They also collected enough signatures from 20 different legislative districts, two more than needed, he said.
Mayville said it was difficult to collect the signatures in districts across the state. With door-knocking, people often aren’t home or they simply don’t answer.
But when volunteers were able to connect with people, they were excited about the initiative, he said.
“There was not anywhere in the state where there weren’t a whole lot of people eager to sign if we could just reach them,” Mayville said.
Over the past year, volunteers braved a number of challenges and all different types of weather — powered by “cookies and hand warmers,” April Frederick, Reclaim Idaho’s North Boise co-team leader, told the Idaho Statesman. She said she met people all across Idaho who “said yes” to the initiative.
“I’m really impressed by the people who came out and were so dedicated,” she said.
The group also received donations from more than 3,000 donors. Donations helped to cover the costs of touring the state, reserving space for public events, and distributing materials to statewide teams, the organization said.
County clerks now have 60 days to verify the signatures. They then will be delivered to the secretary of state for review. Mayville said he believes this process will be completed by mid-July. If the signatures are verified, the initiative will be approved and added to the ballot.
Initiative would bring in more than $300 million for Idaho education
The initiative would add more than $300 million per year to Idaho’s K-12 schools through restoring the corporate income tax rate to 8% from 6.5% and increasing taxes on people who make more than $250,000 per year, or married couples who earn more than $500,000. That increase, of about 4.5%, would apply only to money earned beyond those amounts.
If the initiative passes, funds would be distributed across the state on a per-student basis, and districts would spend those funds at their own discretion, under the oversight of the State Board of Education.
Money could go toward more competitive teacher salaries, or programs such as career-technical education, full-day kindergarten and special education, according to Reclaim Idaho.
Mayville said the group has plans to get the word out to Idaho voters “starting today.”
“We strongly believe that if we succeed in informing the public about what this initiative is, and how it will benefit communities across the state, we will win,” he said. “But it’s going to take a tremendous amount of work.”
The last signature he added to the pile Monday was that of his wife.
“I saved the best for last,” he said with a laugh.
This story was originally published May 2, 2022 at 3:28 PM.
