Narrator: Presentation of Idaho Reports on Idaho Public Television is made possible through the generous support of the Laura Moore Cunningham Foundation, committed to fulfilling the Moore and Bettis family legacy of building the great state of Idaho.

By the Friends of Idaho Public Television and by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Melissa Davlin: The weather is finally warming up across the state, which means it's time to get out and enjoy Idaho State Parks.

So what kinds of improvements can visitors expect in coming years?

I'm Melissa Davlin.

Idaho Reports starts now.

Hello and welcome to Idaho Reports.

This week, we catch up with Senator Lori Den Hartog and Joint Finance Appropriations co-chair Representative Wendy Horman to take a look back at the legislative session and discuss potential changes to the public school funding formula.

Then, Senator Rick Just discusses the 2023 legislature's historic investments in Idaho state parks.

But first, let's get you caught up on the week.

On Tuesday, Governor Brad Little visited Kuna High School to talk about the dangers of fentanyl, along with a Lewiston mother who lost her 26 year old son after he took a pill laced with the potent drug.

Tarina Taylor: Zach didn't want to die.

Just like so many of us, he was bored.

He wanted to have a good time.

Zach got a call from a friend who offered him some OxyContin.

Zach was after a good time.

A little high.

But fentanyl changed that all in an instant.

The most important thing to remember is fentanyl.

One pill can kill.

I found Zach that day after several attempts of trying to get hold of him.

I went to his house.

I found his door unlocked.

That was not like him.

And I found his dog, Tucker.

Tucker was pacing back and forth.

I walked into his bedroom and I knew instantly my Zach was gone.

I'm here today because I never, never want anyone else to go through this.

Every day kids like Zach are taken from us before their time because of this horrible drug.

Please, please don't risk your life for a high.

Please talk to your friends and family about the dangers of fentanyl.

Even though Zach is gone, I'm still a mother.

This Sunday is Mother's Day.

As a mother, I'm here because I need Zachary’s memory to mean something.

I want his death to save the lives of all of you.

I won't ever get flowers from my son again.

I wont hear him say I love you, Momma.

You can make sure that you and the people you love get that chance.

Don't let fentanyl take all.

From you and the people you love.

Thank you for giving me this opportunity to share my sweet son Zachary's story.

Thank you.

Melissa Davlin: Later that day, Little announced he and Idaho State Police Troopers would once again travel to the southern border.

The source of many of the illegal drugs sold in Idaho.

The troopers will stay for a month long mission to assist Texas in efforts to prevent more fentanyl trafficking.

The announcement comes the same week as the end of Title 42, a Trump administration order that allowed the United States to more swiftly expel migrants who crossed the border without documentation.

On Wednesday, Governor Little and Attorney General Raul Labrador announced their intent to sue the U.S.

Fish and Wildlife Service and the Department of the Interior if the agencies don't delist the Grizzly Bear from the endangered species list.

In a letter to the agencies, Labrador and Little argue that the Grizzly doesn't meet the definition of species in the Endangered Species Act and that the bear is actually a subspecies of brown bear.

They also point to other inconsistencies in the agency's responses to Idaho's requests to delist the Grizzly, adding, quote, “We have robust Grizzly Bear populations that continue to cause conflict in our rural communities and injure Idaho's sovereign interests in managing our resident wildlife and conservation resources”, unquote.

Idaho has recorded a handful of livestock deaths related to Grizzly Bears, as well as a few Grizzly attacks on humans, but no human deaths in modern times.

You can find more, including a link to the full letter at IdahoReports.org For decades, public education debates have focused on funding.

But there's a complex formula that decides how that state money is doled out to individual schools.

Over the years, multiple lawmakers have discussed trying to update that formula, but those efforts haven't gained much traction.

But now another group is taking a swing at it.

Producer Ruth Brown sat down with Senator Lori Den Hartog and Representative Wendy Horman to review the legislative session and talk about potential changes to that public school funding formula.

Ruth Brown: Now that we're more than a month out of the session, what are your thoughts?

Sen. Lori Den Hartog: It was an interesting session.

I think it went a lot smoother than I thought it was going to.

We had so many new members, both in the Senate and the House.

A lot of people learning the ropes, figuring things out, had a lot of new chairmen this year.

I would say on the whole, it was a very good session.

Got a lot of things accomplished.

Personally, I had a long list and was able to get just about everything across the finish line with everyone's help.

But yeah, it was on the whole a really good session.

Not without its, you know, disappointments and its bumps along the way.

But yeah, very good.

So it's always nice to be able to be out and to reflect back a little bit from being out of the day to day craziness of it.

Rep. Wendy Horman: I have to agree with that.

Significant property tax relief, massive investments in public schools and higher education, for that matter, with the Launch program and a balanced budget.

Tremendous investments in one time dollars in parks and recreation.

Transportation.

Local roads and bridges.

A lot of we talk a lot about the direct property tax relief, but there was a lot of indirect property tax relief, too, in terms of the state picking up costs that local governments now will not have to pick up.

So I agree, some bumps and bruises along the way.

But on the whole, a very good session.

Ruth Brown: Both of you mentioned education.

The Empowering Parents Grant program has become permanent.

Both of you supported it.

We'll start with you, Representative Horman.

Are you happy with how that has rolled out so far?

Rep Horman: We were thrilled to see Governor Little recommend permanent ongoing funding for that.

It really is focused on helping those kids who may not have the resources they need to be successful in whatever learning environment they're in.

So, you know, our lane is the policy lane to set up what the rules are.

The implementation lane is not our role and there have been some bumps along the way there, but we hope the state board is looking to repair some of those and improve improve it as this program becomes permanent.

Sen Den Hartog: So the other part of that is they'll be starting the parent advisory panel, which was part of the legislation that we had gotten passed the year before.

And we're hoping that that parent advisory panel can help smooth those things out in implementation as parents are, you know, going on the the website and using the digital wallet and making purchases and trying to find out if the thing that they're interested in using the funds for their child.

You know, if it makes sense, if it's easy to use.

And so I think we're looking forward to that.

I know Superintendent Critchfield and the speaker and the pro tem are looking at the appointments that they'll be making to that parent advisory panel.

I think that will be really important.

The permanent funding part of it is is so important.

We've heard some great stories about how families have been able to use those grant dollars to supplement their kid's education.

Ruth Brown: Do you want to share any?

Sen Den Hartog: Yeah, I think we've heard about music lessons.

Computer equipment was a big one early on.

I don't know that we'll see as much of that moving forward.

I know some families were able to purchase supplemental curriculum for things that they were interested in.

Yeah, a wide variety.

And all across the state we're seeing we're seeing students and families access those funds from all across the state.

Rep Horman: And the more we review how those uses are, the more we can refine the program over time.

Really helping students focus in on maybe more of the speech therapy or the therapy side of this or the tutoring side of it.

And so I agree this advisory panel will be really key in helping us refine and improve that program over time.

Ruth Brown: Already in the interim, both of you are working on the public school funding formula.

For those that are not a legislator or a superintendent.

They may not understand that.

I'll start with you, Representative Horman.

Can you walk me through a little bit?

What does the public school funding formula currently look like?

How does that work?

Rep Horman: Oh, we'd need a lot longer than this, show to say that.

Ruth Brown: Maybe condense it.

Rep Horman: Well, what I will say is that it’s celebrating its 30th birthday next year.

So it was created in a time, you know, we didn't have charter schools, We didn't have online learning.

We barely had the Internet right.

In 94.

And so it was created for a different time.

And it was an improvement at that time.

But it's now time to modernize it and really focus on a formula that is based around students and their needs.

We know that some students need additional resources to be successful, and we want to move to a per student formula that really focuses on transparency.

It's not great to have a formula that very few people understand how it works.

And so transparency, flexibility, simplicity, those are some of the guiding principles we're talking about moving forward with the draft that we worked on yesterday.

Ruth Brown: So one of the differences between it is the, or I assume, it hasn't gone into law, is funding based on attendance versus enrollment.

Senator, can you walk me through a little bit some of the controversy around that?

Sen Den Hartog: Yeah.

Years ago when we were doing the public school funding Formula Interim Committee, that really was a time when states all across the country were shifting from attendance to enrollment, really going back to the even before the early nineties.

It really was all about seat time.

And that was how most states had their formulas.

So that had been our focus with the interim committee as we've gone through these last couple of years with the pandemic, we've had a temporary rule that funded based on enrollment.

So it didn't change all the things about the formula.

It was still very, very complex.

We just did fund based on enrollment.

Since that time, we have learned a great deal about the impacts of the pandemic and the types of students who have been impacted more by by these changes.

And so I think the latest that we're working on and that we're we've seen from across the country is that attendance was really important.

And if kids aren't in school, they're not learning.

And and it's more than just seat time, but it's about that meaningful time in the classroom with the teacher.

And so what we're working on now is I would call it kind of a hybrid.

It really is not just enrollment and it really is not just seat time.

It's maybe reimagining what attendance looks like as we move to simplify and modernize the the funding formula.

Rep Horman: Idaho is part of a much larger trend nationally of declining enrollment across the country.

We have a confluence of events going on with, you know, the declining birth rate, just a demographic fact.

We have the pandemic and school closures and student parents and families looking for alternatives.

We've seen, unfortunately, some classrooms turn into political and cultural battlegrounds around gender ideology and racial ideology and and which has led to an increased demand for other options, school choice.

And so Idaho is not immune to those factors.

And so, you know, the bottom line is whether we go attendance or enrollment, we're looking at fewer children in the future.

We have a strong in-migration.

So Idaho is a little bit behind the national curve.

But bottom line is we we really want to make it work for schools.

We want to create incentives for schools to get students to school.

Ruth Brown: This is a complicated formula.

What has been the hang up in the past?

Legislators have discussed this for years.

Senator, we’ll start with you.

Sen Den Hartog: So many hang ups.

All the hang ups.

One of the early things was we had three years of an interim committee that really was a very, very collaborative process.

Everyone was at the table for three years.

Superintendents, business managers, teachers, parents, legislators, the executive branch.

I mean, everyone was at the table when we came to and I don't even remember what session it was when we came to that session.

I think our bill draft was around 100 pages, very complex and really we got lost in the weeds on that one and we weren't able to get through.

And then by the following session I think was when we were dealing with starting to deal with the impacts of the pandemic.

And so we've kind of been on pause the last few years.

And so there still is a goal and a desire to get things changed, but maybe different ideas about how to get there.

And that's true with almost all legislation.

So it'll be as we work on my draft, it will again be a collaborative process.

There's no formal interim committee, but we know, we know the players and who really cares and has good insight, so.

Rep Horman: We'll get that draft ready and get it out to them and work with them this summer to hopefully finalize it and have it ready to go by fall.

One of the good pieces of news is regardless of how the money is distributed or even expended, is there’s so much of it right now.

School districts still have over $300 million in ESSER Funds.

Those are COVID relief funds that the federal government sent with almost no strings directly to school districts.

School districts are sitting on over a half a billion dollars in their savings accounts.

$2.3 billion was the base we built on from last year.

We added $380 million to that this year through the formula and then another $200 million on top of that through legislation like Superintendent Critchfield’s CTE bill, the school safety money, the property tax relief, $85 million directly out to school districts.

So school districts really do have access to a lot of funding right now as we transition out of pandemic mode operations back into hopefully new and improved operations.

Ruth Brown: There was a tremendous amount of funding invested this year.

But on March 14th, we will see many bonds and levies across the state.

What do either of you make of that?

We'll start with you, Senator.

Sen Den Hartog: Well here in I represent part of the West Ada School District.

There’s is a bond.

So new capital improvements, I believe it's around $500 million.

So a huge ask of the property taxpayers.

Um, I think, you know, the folks will have to assess if what the school district is proposing makes sense to them.

West Ada historically has been a very fast growing district, although some of the numbers Representative Horman had found is that they're pretty flat on enrollment right now.

So I think we'll see what the assessment is from the voters about whether or not they've made the case for the use of that.

I believe it's, you know, some new elementary schools and some refurbishment of some existing facilities.

Um.

The challenge on the levy side, which is different than the bonding for capital improvements, on the levy side, is looking at what we've done as a legislature, the investments that we've made not only through the property tax relief bill, but some of the other investments that we've made through the formula and specific line item distributions to the school districts as some of those levies.

If someone were to sit down and pencil it out, you know, it makes sense to the property tax payers as they go to the polls, as they consider what actions the legislature took to fund education this year.

Ruth Brown: Representative, you chair the Appropriations Committee.

What is your take away when you see so many bonds and levies on the on the ballot?

Rep Horman: Well, we've heard for years that there is concern that state’s not spent enough.

But until last year there was no law requiring districts to disclose on the ballot why they were levying for supplemental levies.

And so we added that last year.

I personally went and did an analysis of what they were levying for.

And so every box that we checked this year, certified teacher salary, classified staff, teacher salary, which means bus drivers and lunchroom workers and playground workers and those sorts of positions in the school paraprofessionals that was on the list, school safety was on the list.

So really, we have come in and checked those boxes.

You know, a year ago, we heard that if we made this investment in literacy funding, which in many districts pays for full day kindergarten, they would not need to levy for that.

So I will be observing with a very watchful eye how these levies go now that the state is sending funds for those needs that have been previously had to be on property taxes, according to some districts, and their patrons have agreed with them, we'll see how that rolls out in in the coming months.

Melissa Davlin: Possible changes to the public school funding formula are still in draft form, but Idaho Reports will keep an eye on them in the next legislative session.

One of the best parts of living in Idaho is our access to public lands, including the 30 parks the state owns or manages.

And we aren't very good at keeping that a secret.

Word has gotten out and those parks have seen record visitation levels in the last few years.

That, coupled with long delayed updates and maintenance to facilities, caught the governor's attention.

Associate producer Logan Finney sat down with Senator Rick Just to talk about the 2023 legislature's historic investments in state parks to address deferred maintenance and capacity issues, as well as the senator's first year in the legislature.

Logan Finney: Senator Rick Just from District 15, West Boise.

Thanks for joining us today.

Sen. Rick Just: You're most welcome Logan.

Logan Finney: So we're here to talk about investments in state parks.

But first off, I want to ask you, this was the first year of your first term.

How are you feeling about how the session went now that we're a few weeks out?

Sen Just: Well, there are regrets, of course, about the session.

But I have to say, for the most part, I loved it.

I really did.

I enjoyed representing District 15 and and Idaho in the legislature.

Certainly there were subjects that I totally disagreed with.

And, you know, I will get into those, perhaps not today, but another time.

But I found that every single person over there I could get along with just fine on a personal basis.

And I think that's the way to get things done.

You might have someone who you disagree with nine times out of ten, but that 10th time where you can agree, maybe you can get something done there.

Logan Finney: Sure.

Well, one of the things that by definition lawmakers have to agree on eventually is the state budget.

Sen Just: Yes.

Logan Finney: And you serve on the Budget Committee, JFAC.

There were a lot of investments in infrastructure this year, transportation, broadband.

And when it comes to state parks, the Department of Parks and Recreation received $95 million for deferred maintenance and other projects in Idaho state parks.

For people who maybe don't know about the whole system, they only know the state park that's just up the highway from where they live.

Can you give us kind of an overview of what Idaho's park system looks like?

Sen Just: Sure.

Well, there are 30 state parks, and that's a little bit of a deceptive number because a lot of people think of a unit of a particular park as their local state park.

So there may be 50 units around the state, but 30 actual state parks and they range from Priest Lake all the way down to Bear Lake.

And a lot of them are in northern Idaho.

We've got land at the Yankee Fork in central Idaho, Harriman State Park, one of my favorites over in eastern Idaho, many of them along the Snake River.

And just this last week, we I was at the dedication of Chalice Hot Springs unit of land at the Yankee Fork State Park.

It's our first park on the Salmon River.

And very pleased to see that.

Logan Finney: Oh, very good.

So I referenced that $95 million investment from the general fund.

About $70 million of that was for deferred maintenance at the parks.

Sen Just: Yes.

Logan Finney: When we're talking about deferred maintenance at the parks, what sort of items are we talking about?

Sen Just: Well, it could be just about anything.

If you've seen a problem in a state park in the last few years, maybe a restroom that wasn't up to par or a parking lot that was cracked and broken or that kind of thing, it's probably going to get fixed.

This is a lot of money and it's going to do a lot for deferred maintenance.

We've needed this for many, many years.

And finally we had the opportunity with some of the money that came along with COVID and with a state surplus as well to to address that.

And I mentioned COVID because that's the time that we found out that people loved their state parks so much, 7.2 million people visiting state parks nowadays.

That is just huge.

They love them and we want to make sure they don't love them to death.

So we have to keep the maintenance going.

And that money will also provide some some new capacity as well.

Campgrounds.

We’ll provide some picnic shelters, boat ramps, parking lots in some cases, are at capacity.

Bear Lake State Park is one that during the summer we get a lot of Utah visitors down there.

It's almost like the Caribbean and Idaho.

It's a turquoise lake and one of the most beautiful beaches anywhere.

And we have to make sure that people have a place to park their cars and so we we we stop them at the gate, I should say they, I was with the agency for 30 years.

They stop them at the gate because they can only park so many cars there.

Maybe we'll see some improvement on that parking lot.

I don't know.

Logan Finney: Sure.

Like you reference, you worked for the agency for 30 some years?

Sen Just: Yes.

Logan Finney: Would you say that these investments and these improvements are a long time coming for the parks?

Sen Just: I would say this is our our our biggest investment since the very beginning and since 1965 with with no doubt.

We had a pretty good year last year, too, by the way.

But this investment in upkeep and some new capacity is certainly historic.

Logan Finney: And of course, there's fixing and maintaining the things that have existed because, of course the parks are popular with Idahoans.

But like you referenced during the pandemic, a lot of non Idahoans, people from outside the state discovered Idaho as well.

Campsites are often booked out months, if not a full calendar year in advance.

Sen Just: Yeah.

Logan Finney: Do you expect that we'll start to see some improvements, lessening of wait times, better capacity?

How long until Idahoans who want to go to their local state park but haven't been able to get a spot, how long until they see an improvement there?

Sen Just: It might be a while, but yes, there will be some improvement on that.

And I always tell people that the best time to go if if you're if you have the capacity, if you have the ability to do it midweek, what used to be the shoulder season, any time after Labor Day, it's not so much of a shoulder season anymore because it's pretty, pretty full then, too.

But we have some great weather at that time.

But yes, this will increase the capacity.

I think that probably our visitation will just follow right along with it.

So I'm not guaranteeing that you're going to have to you can now wait till the last minute to get your reservation.

You got to put it in about 11 months in advance in a lot of cases, which is is too bad.

But that's the way it is.

Yeah.

Logan Finney: When it comes to working in the legislature, of course, this being your first time when it comes to parks and these types of issues, do you hear any opposition from your colleagues in making these kind of investments?

Sen Just: Not so much.

There were there was a little bit of money that was left over from ARPA funds, about $5 million, which when I say a little bit of money, it would look great in my bank account or yours.

But for a state agency, that's not a whole lot of money.

That that came along and we had some some folks that were a little concerned about that because that's federal money and they they they want to vote no on budgets that have federal money in it because they're concerned about the deficit.

Well, I, I have a different view on that, but I understand that view and respect it.

But they weren't saying we don't need state parks.

It was just a philosophical thing on the on what money to spend.

Logan Finney: Sure.

Where it should go.

Sen Just: Yeah.

Where it goes.

Sure.

Logan Finney: Well as we're here in the interim the 23 session is on closed out on the books.

Of course you serve a two year term so you have at least one more session ahead of you.

Sen Just: Yes.

Logan Finney: What sort of things are you working on during the interim and getting ready for next year?

Sen Just: Well, you know, as a member of JFAC, I don't have a lot of time to work on bills myself.

I've got a couple that I'm thinking about, but most of it I'm also on the Legislative Council on Indian Affairs.

That's an interim committee.

I'm really looking forward to that.

Going to make a trip up north here in a couple of weeks to visit the tribes up there and get to know what their needs are and their issues and I'm looking forward to that and bringing some of that forward.

I met, I’m also on the interim Committee for Federalism and we met a couple of days ago on that.

And there are some issues that are kind of bubbling up, and I won't say that I'm eager to see those come forward, but I'm thinking that they probably will.

Logan Finney: And are the the Federalism Committee, of course, sometimes puts out legislation.

Does the Council on Indian Affairs do?

Is that a legislative group or an advisory group?

Sen Just: It's it's it's a it's a council.

It's it's several legislators, but also members of the tribe that get together to just have a dialog.

I mean, the federalism committee doesn't put forth legislation either.

Logan Finney: Oh, thank you, yeah.

Sen Just: But but they they do put forth ideas and can and can bring legislation during the legislative session.

So that's that's always a possibility.

I would think in this case we're talking about some major rules that are proposed for the Bureau of Land Management.

I'm thinking that there might be some joint resolutions or something either for or against them.

Logan Finney: All right.

Well, if viewers are interested in that, we've got a little bit of coverage on those Bureau of Land Management rules online.

Senator Rick Just from District 15, thanks for your time this week.

Sen Just: Thank you.

Melissa Davlin: That's all we have for this week.

For more of our online content, head to IdahoReports.org There, you'll also find links to the Idaho Reports weekly podcast.

This week, Associate producer Logan Finney spoke to Markie McBrayer of the University of Idaho's Department of Politics and Philosophy about what we know and don't know about ranked choice voting and how it has impacted the few states that have implemented it.

You can also find the Idaho Report's podcast on all your favorite podcast players.

Thanks so much for watching and we'll see you next week.

Presentation of Idaho Reports on Idaho Public Television is made possible through the generous support of the Laura Moore Cunningham Foundation, committed to fulfilling the Moore and Bettis family legacy of building the great state of Idaho.

By the Friends of Idaho Public Television and by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.