Here’s an Idaho legislator index we can all get behind: How their votes affect children

Here’s a new legislative index we can all get behind.

It’s called the Kids Matter Index, put together by Idaho Children Are Primary, a bipartisan, nonprofit, grassroots organization that seeks to highlight policies that affect children.

“What we’re doing is helping legislators learn more about the policies that are being proposed, and we can show some expertise in all the different areas of early education funding or schools or health care,” Cindy Wilson, advisory board member, said in a phone interview. “We can help legislators do the right thing in voting — and bringing forth legislation — that will help kids in Idaho and families.”

The Kids Matter Index has a simple question used to measure each bill: “Is this good for Idaho’s children?”

And that’s the guiding star. If it’s good for kids, the group encourages legislators to vote in favor; if it’s bad for kids, a “no” vote is recommended.

This year, ICAP chose 20 bills to weigh in on, including an early childhood education grant, funding full-day kindergarten and making medically necessary baby formula more available.

ICAP weighed in on 10 bills in the 2020 session. It opposed, for example, the Fairness in Women’s Sports Act, arguing that it discriminated against transgender athletes, and opposed a bill that would have allowed an unlicensed drug and alcohol treatment facility to accept teenagers in a residential program.

This is the first year the group has rated the legislators based on how they voted. The organization released its 2021 results last week.

“We tried to focus on areas where we felt like we have some background and evidence on why a bill should or should not pass,” Wilson said. “We really focus on the evidence and the data and research and expertise we have when we’re trying to educate lawmakers about the bill.”

Then, based on ICAP’s assessment of the bills, members looked at how each legislator voted on those bills and came up with a score for each legislator.

How they scored

For the most part, the results were positive.

A total of 18 Idaho legislators — nine Republicans and nine Democrats — scored a perfect 100% on the index. That’s 17% of all legislators.

More than half of the Idaho Legislature scored 80% or higher.

Almost three-quarters (74%) of the Senate and almost half (47%) of the House scored 80% or higher.

House Republicans didn’t fare so well. Only about one-third (36%) of them scored 80% or higher, compared with 68% of Senate Republicans.

The bottom 10 legislators, all Republican representatives, scored 50% or less:

• Aaron von Ehlinger 50%
• Ron Mendive 47%
• Priscilla Giddings 40%
• Karey Hanks 40%
• Dorothy Moon 40%
• Ron Nate 40%
• Tammy Nichols 40%
• Heather Scott 40%
• Tony Wisniewski 40%
• Chad Christensen 36%

Advisory board members

ICAP’s advisory board members are bipartisan, including former Republican Idaho first lady Patricia Kempthorne and former Republican state Rep. Jarom Wagoner, of Caldwell. Wilson is a former Democratic candidate for state superintendent of public instruction, and John Rusche is a former Democratic state legislator. Other board members include doctors and an advocate for children.

Among the bills ICAP weighed in on this session was a well-publicized measure to accept a $6 million federal grant to fund preschool education programs around the state. ICAP supported passage of the bill, which ultimately and tragically failed, after a ludicrous disinformation campaign alleged that the money would be used to indoctrinate preschool children to become left-wing antifa social justice warriors. A second attempt passed the Senate and is technically still pending in the House.

ICAP also supported accepting federal rental assistance money, creating a Medicaid stabilization fund, allowing local school districts to decide their own guns-in-schools policies and extending the age for foster care.

You can see a full list of the bills at https://www.idahochildrenareprimary.org.

Of the 18 bills ICAP supported, 12 passed. Six of the bills passed the Legislature with unanimous votes. Two bills that ICAP opposed failed.

The bills ICAP opposed would have directed state tax dollars to education grants that would have included students who attend private schools. ICAP argued that the state shouldn’t spend public dollars on private education when the state’s public education system is underfunded.

ICAP points out that Idaho is among the top three states in the country with the highest percentage of children: 25% are younger than 18. Making investments in children and promoting policies that benefit children helps the state’s future.

“If we can’t show people that our lawmakers and that our citizens want to do what’s right for children and families, we cannot succeed economically as a state,” Wilson said. “We are not going to be able to attract the kind of people that are looking for an excellent education system, and we can’t attract people that really have the same beliefs that we’ve always had as a state, that our families are important to us, our kids are important to us.”

What’s next for Idaho

So what more does Idaho need to do?

Early childhood education, full-day kindergarten and fully funding the public education system are among the priorities, Wilson said. She noted that Idaho is one of the only states left that doesn’t fund preschool. Meanwhile, per-pupil public education funding is still below prerecession levels and puts Idaho at or near the bottom of per-pupil funding in the country, while many school districts operate on supplemental levies on the backs of property taxes. At the same time, Idaho Gov. Brad Little announced that Idaho had a $900 million budget surplus this year.

“People say, ‘Well, education gets 50% of the pie,’” Wilson said. “Well, maybe we need to look at the pie for a little bit because it is not enough for what the needs are. I say first of all look at what your needs are, then fund them.”

Scott McIntosh

Opinion Contributor,

Idaho Statesman

208-377-6202

Scott McIntosh is the Idaho Statesman opinion editor. A graduate of Syracuse University, he joined the Statesman in August 2019. He previously was editor of the Idaho Press and the Argus Observer and was the owner and editor of the Kuna Melba News. He has been honored for his editorials and columns as well as his education, business and local government watchdog reporting by the Idaho Press Club and the National Newspaper Association. Sign up for his weekly newsletter, The Idaho Way. Support my work with a digital subscription