Letters to the editor: Teaching civil rights, early education, initiatives, electric vehicle fees, critical race theory

Teaching civil rights

The late civil right leader Julian Bond facetiously summarized what most Americans think about the civil rights movement: “Rosa sat down, Martin stood up, then the white folks saw the light and saved the day.” If right-wing Republicans in the legislature have their way, Idaho children will likely have no idea who Rosa and Martin are.

Lynne Mattison, Boise

Electric vehicle fee

Bad ideas in Idaho’s Legislature often resurface. Rep Joe Palmer’s bill to more than double electric vehicle registration fees is dead for this session, but it will boomerang back next year in some form.

Electric vehicle owners in Idaho are willing to pay their share for road maintenance. But pulling numbers out of the air is not a fair approach. There will continue to be more alternatively fueled vehicles in Idaho, so the gas tax — a reliable source of revenue since the 1920s — will be less useful every year.

Tying a use fee to the miles driven by each vehicle is a better, though not perfect, approach. If, as in Palmer’s failed legislation, 2.5 cents per mile is a number that would be fair for electric vehicles as an alternative to paying a flat fee, then it is also fair for gasoline-powered automobiles.

Legislators need to find a better solution to funding roads than spitballing fees to discourage the use of electric vehicles.

Rick Just, Boise

Early childhood education

We are a group of retired early childhood educators who have worked and lived in Idaho communities for decades. We are deeply alarmed by the current state legislative inaction to release public funds targeted to address the safety, learning and well-being of young children in our state. We are perplexed why some legislators are not responding to the evidence-based data coming from their local school boards, local agencies, community collaboratives, and local child care programs about the needs of young children and their families in their own legislative districts. Our state legislators seem to be at a current impasse--holding Idaho’s young children as hostages! We hope that reason not fear, and documented evidence not random anecdotes, will prevail in our state legislators’ decisions. Their votes have long term consequences on the safety and learning of young children in our state!

Mary Lou Kinney, Sharon Bixby, Barbara Wilson, Sue Moore, Brenda Breidinger, Mary Tucker, all of Boise

Budgetary threats

The Idaho legislative session needs to end now. legislators have made it their priority to take away control from the federal government, the governor, local agencies, schools/universities, and the people of Idaho. The extended session has resulted in rushed bills with long-lasting negative effects. House Bill 377 was rammed through the session in record time with only 19 hours between its introduction and public hearings in both houses. Public input was limited and final votes occurred under the suspension of rules. This bill has more significance than the fact that it gives the legislature power to remove funding if schools and universities do not abide by a very vague policy statement. It sets a dangerous precedent for future legislatures to dictate policy using budgetary threats. This is not how our government is supposed to work.

Legislators need to go home to their constituents and explain why their children’s teachers will likely avoid discussions of the history of racism in our state and nation, why their property taxes are still high, why they will not be able to get a citizen-led initiative on the ballot, and why their community will not receive grant money for pre-K programs for working families.

Kathy Dawes, Moscow

Indoctrination

I keep hearing the word “indoctrination” thrown about the Legislature as a scare tactic. I hate to break it to you, but Idaho is already deeply indoctrinated by a large swath of the voting population. I’m talking about the folks who vote “R” no matter the candidate’s level of ignorance demonstrated during the primaries and beyond.

Shannon Wilcox, Boise

Initiatives bill

Dear Gov. Little,

Once again you and the representatives have failed the people of Idaho. You stand up bold and veto a bill that passed both houses that would strip power from the governor’s ability to set a state of emergency. If every emergency situation required a committee there would be very few true emergencies taken care of and those tied to the business people, in the elected positions, would take primary positions over the needs of the people.

Secondly you failed in protecting the rights of the people by signing the law requiring a six percent signature from the electorate, in each county, to have an issue by the people brought before the people of the state. What you have done is strip the people of their rights. Every citizen could sign a bill request, except for one county, and because the one county refused to get 6% the bill before the state, as a whole, would go away, nice protectionism.

The right to vote falls on the citizenry on Election Day, that’s when the people decide. If the people are denied to even bring an issue to the people the process fails. Mr. Little, you failed.

David Behunin, Boise

Critical race theory

The Idaho Senate by voting for the critical race theory bill proves they are racist and to deny there is systemic racism in the United States proves they are living in their own very white bubbles. It is just another example of Republican political showmanship and disgrace. What a waste of precious time and great embarrassment for Idahoans!

Kurt Smith, Boise

Cancel culture

There have been so many letters comparing the new anti-critical race theory bill to McCarthyism. I wonder where those writers were when the real McCarthyism of “cancel culture,” campus speech codes and advocating Trump supporters be sent to reeducation camps reared their ugly heads. Hypocrisy, thy name is Leftism.

Chris Bolton, Meridian