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.

It isn't the holidays without a little family drama and within Idaho's Republican Party that family infighting is already playing out months before the May primary election.

I'm Melissa Devlin.

Idaho reports starts now.

Hello and welcome to Idaho reports.

This week, Kevin Richert of Idaho Education News and Betsy Russell of the Idaho press join me to discuss early childhood education and the latest election news.

But first, on Monday, the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare announced it has deactivated crisis standards of care in six of the state's seven health districts due to declining COVID hospitalizations and test positivity rates.

Only the Panhandle Health District in North Idaho remains under crisis standards of care.

During a Monday media briefing, Dr. Jim Souza, chief physician executive for St Luke's Health System, said the state is still at risk for future surges.

>>I think all you need to do is look to North Idaho to have insight into how volatile the situation remains.

Or you could look at what's coming out of Western Europe, Eastern Seaboard or now some of these hotspots, like Michigan with early influenza outbreaks.

To be clear, we're still in a contingency position.

We are very busy.

It's not mission accomplished.

Instead, this is a moment we think where we can collect ourselves reflect on the innovations that we implemented, the things that we've learned and pivot looking forward to how we're going to stop history from repeating itself by making wise decisions.

>>Souza emphasized that those wise decisions include getting vaccinated.

We'll have more later in the program.

On November 30th, Gerald Pizzuto Junior, who is on Idaho's death row, faces a commutation hearing.

The Commission of Pardons and Parole is scheduled to hear arguments on whether to recommend Pizzuto's sentence be changed to life in prison.

The commission will issue the recommendation to the governor.

Idaho reports will keep you updated on that next week.

On Monday, the Idaho Supreme Court said that two parents who sued over West Ada school district's fees for full day kindergarten do have standing in that lawsuit and remanded the case back to District Court.

The ruling was just on standing, not on the constitutionality of those fees, though the court did state quote.

In essence, the parents are contending and have made at least a facial showing that West Ada is running two separate but unequal kindergarten programs a full day program for those who can't afford it, and a half day program for those who cannot.

End quote early childhood education.

Whether it's full day kindergarten or universal, pre-K has long been a point of controversy in Idaho.

In 2018, Idaho reports visited the Basin School District in Idaho city to see its public preschool program and learn about the long term benefits.

>> I THINK I CAN BUILD THIS.

>> WE ARE A RURAL DISTRICT THAT IS QUITE LARGE.

THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL IS JUST UNDER 200 DISTRICT WIDE.

WE ARE JUST UNDER 400 STUDENTS.

>> BABY BEARING ARE CALLED CUBS.

>> WE HAVE A UNIVERSAL PRESCHOOL.

ANYONE IN OUR DISTRICT CAN ATTEND.

THE FIRST YEAR OF IMPLEMENTATION WAS THE FIRST YEAR I WAS HERE AT MASON IN 1999.

I WAS TEACHING HERE AS A READING INTERVENTIONIST.

THAT WAS THE FIRST YEAR OF THE I.R.I.

I WAS THE ONE GIVING THE I.R.I.

AND I WAS VERY SURPRISED AT HOW FEW OF THE STUDENTS PASSED THE I.R.I.

THAT FIRST YEAR.

>> A LOCAL JUDGE WAS STARTING TO NOTICE THE KIDS COMING THROUGH HER COURT SYSTEM COULDN'T READ.

SHE BECAME VERY CONCERNED.

SHE DID SOME RESEARCH, FOUND OUT LITERACY WAS ONE OF THE BIGGEST ISSUES WITH THE KIDS COMING THROUGH HER COURT.

SHE FOUND OUT THAT PRESCHOOL IS PROBABLY THE BEST ANTIDOTE.

>> THE BASIN SCHOOL DISTRICT SOUGHT A NUMBER OF FUNDING SOURCES LIKE GRANTS AND LOCAL LEVIES TO START ITS PRESCHOOL PROGRAM AND KEEP IT GOING.

>> WI HAVE A DIVERSE POPULATION.

WE LOOK AT SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS AND WHAT FAMILIES WERE ALSO VERY SPREAD OUT.

THE FAMILIES CLOSER TO BOISE MIGHT HAVE MORE ACCESS TO PRESCHOOL OPTIONS OR PROGRAMMING FOR THEIR YOUNG CHILDREN.

THE PRESCHOOL PROGRAM HELPED LEVEL THE PLAYING FIELD FOR THE STUDENTS THAT MAY NOT HAVE THE SAME EXPERIENCES.

>> BECAUSE OF THE NATURE OF THE ECONOMY, A LARGE NUMBERS OF THE FAMILIES MOVE IN AND OUT OF THE COMMUNITY.

THEY WERE ABLE TO TRACK WHO STAYED IN THE PRESCHOOL AND STAYED IN THE DISTRICT DURING THEIR ENTIRE K-12 EDUCATION.

OF THOSE PRESCHOOL STUDENTS, NOT A SINGLE ONE DROPPED OUT.

THE GO-ON ROUTE AVERAGING 6 A%, THOSE WHO DIDN'T GO ON TO SCHOOL ENTERED THE WORKFORCE IMMEDIATELY WITH THE IDEA OF GETTING MORE TECHNICAL SCHOOLING LATER.

>> MORE IMPORTANTLY, SOCIAL SKILLS ARE BETTER.

THEY CAN PROBLEM SOLVE, THEY GET ALONG WITH OTHERS WELL.

YOU CAN TELL IN THE CAFETERIA LINE WHICH STUDENTS WERE IN PRESCHOOL AND NOT IN PRESCHOOL.

THEY ARE FAMILIAR WITH THE ROUTINE, TRANSITIONS, GETTING ALONG WITH OTHER STUDENTS.

>> WE HAVEN'T HAD ANY KIDS WHO HAVE GONE THROUGH THE PRESCHOOL WHO BY THE TIME ARE IN MIDDLE SCHOOL ARE ON BEHAVIOR PLANS.

ZERO.

ALL THE WAY THROUGH.

THAT IS A HUGE DIFFERENCE FOR SOMEONE IN CHARGE OF SPECIAL EDUCATION, RIGHT?

THEY GET SOCIALIZATION BETTER.

THEY UNDERSTAND HOW TO MAKE CONNECTIONS, WORK COOPERATIVELY IN A CLASSROOM.

>> THOUGH IDAHO CITY SCHOOLS HAVE SEEN SUCCESS WITH THEIR PRESCHOOL PROGRAM, THE DISTRICT DOESN'T EXIST IN A BUBBLE.

WHEN OTHER STUDENTS MOVE IN WHO HAVEN'T HAD PRE-K EDUCATION, IT AFFECTS THE WHOLE CLASS.

>> WE DO GET A NUMBER OF STUDENTS WHO TRANSFER IN.

SOME MAY HAVE HAD A PRESCHOOL PROGRAM.

SOME MAY HAVE BEEN EXPOSED TO SOMETHING.

SOME MAY NOT.

TO HAVE A UNIVERSAL PRESCHOOL PROGRAM THROUGHOUT THE STATE WOULD BE A SIGNIFICANT ADVANTAGE.

WE WOULD BE ABLE TO ENSURE MORE OF THOSE STUDENTS COMING INTO KINDERGARTEN HAVE HAD THOSE EXPERIENCES THAT WOULD BETTER PREPARE THEM AND SET THE FOUNDATION FOR LEARNING.

IT IS NOT JUST ABOUT LETTERS AND NUMBERS.

IT IS MORE THAN THAT.

>> A UNIVERSE PRE-K PROGRAM REDUCE THE STRESS OF A LEVY EVERY TWO YEARS.

>> IT IS EVERY TWO YEARS WE GO BACK TO THE COMMUNITY AND ASK FOR THEIR SUPPORT.

THEY HAVE BEEN SUPPORTIVE, BUT IT IS A WORRY.

Joining me today for the pundits is Kevin Richert from Idaho Education News and Betsy Russell with the Idaho press.

Kevin, you've been covering early childhood education, whether it's pre-K or full day kindergarten for a very long time now.

I there's not really any debate about the benefits of these programs at this point.

>>Right.

And listening to that segment, we're hearing some of the same evergreen themes that we've heard about early education for years that still hold true.

The question of how are you going to pay for it?

How are you going to fund it and sustain it long term?

And juxtaposed against the community support for it, whether we're talking about the education community or the business community, there is pretty widespread support for early education in whatever form a district can figure out how to provide it.

>>But that's the question is how is the district going to provide it?

Betsy, what are these legislative conversations been like about full day kindergarten and universal pre-k in the state?

>>Well, full day kindergarten was actually proposed through legislation last year bipartisan legislation, and it really looks like it is on a track toward being very seriously considered by the Legislature.

The State Board of Education has endorsed it.

The state superintendent of schools has proposed funding it in her budget request.

And if the state is ever going to make this move toward funding, full day kindergarten now is pretty much the time when there's this huge budget surplus and the state actually has the flexibility to think about possibly making some ongoing changes in what it funds.

But the interesting thing about kindergarten right now in Idaho is that it's not mandatory.

And most districts offer half day and some full day, but it is a spotty patchwork all over the state as to what's offered, where at which school.

Even within districts, some districts charge fees.

Some don't.

Some charge on a sliding scale.

Some are on supplemental levies to pay for it.

There's no guarantee anywhere that it's going to be provided unless the Legislature funds it.

>>And I think that funding patchwork is part of the reason why you've got legislators talking about funding this at the state level.

When you have lawmakers like Carl Crabtree and Judy Boyle talking about all day kindergarten, a big reason they're talking about it is to try to get this cost off of supplemental levies off of the property tax rolls and come up with some other way to pay for it, as opposed to these short term levies that force patrons to pay out of the property tax, which we know is the most unpopular tax in Idaho.

>>So let's talk a little bit about this West Ada lawsuit.

And again, this wasn't about the constitutionality of charging fees, whether on a sliding scale or a flat rate, it was just on standing at this point.

Kevin, what did it say?

>>Well, it it said basically that this case has to go back to the district courts of the District Court and try to figure out the merits of the case about whether these student fees for kindergarten are constitutional or not.

You know, as we as I read the ruling, as I read the decision on Monday, the Supreme Court really took pains to say that they are not talking at this point about the merits of the constitutional argument that student fees are unconstitutional.

And we've had this debate about student fees and the constitutionality applied to a lot of different educational programs.

In this case, we're talking about West Ada and we're talking about charging parents fees for that extra half a day of kindergarten that isn't covered by the state.

>>And also significant I think about the Supreme Court ruling, although standing is kind of an obscure issue that maybe the layperson doesn't deal with a lot is that this suit was essentially dismissed completely at the lower court level for lack of standing.

And what the Supreme Court said is there are two different issues here.

There's economic damage to the parents who sued, and then there's educational damage to their kids who they wanted to get a certain level of schooling that they didn't get.

And the lower court dismissed both because under economic damage, it was clear that the parents who sued hadn't actually paid the fees the full day kindergarten wasn't offered at their school.

But what the High Court said was the educational damage claim that does raise issues that should be explored on their merits.

Because if you are saying that certain people in Idaho get a certain level of education for their kids, but if they can pay, if they're wealthier, they get more.

That would raise constitutional implications.

And that's exactly what the West Ada School District does in its in its full day kindergarten fee structure.

It's a flat fee.

So those who can afford to pay can get it.

Those who can't cannot.

>>And it's a very interesting legal case that looms here because you have the constitutional language regarding education that we talk about all the time the constitutional mandate on free common uniform public education.

But as Betsy mentioned earlier, we have a state statute that says that kindergarten is optional.

So does Constitution trumps statute in this?

How would this play out in the court?

Basically, Supreme Court said, District Court, you've got to go back and sort this out.

>>And that doesn't even touch on pre-K. We're talking kindergarten kindergartners, five year olds.

But you know what we saw in Idaho city in the Basin school district was how beneficial those pre-K programs were for those younger kids who hadn't even entered kindergarten yet.

What are the legislative discussions like around pre-K?

>>You know, it's like it's two different topics, even though it's early education and you have education and business leaders saying, we need early education in whatever form we can get in multiple forms.

You have, I think there's an excellent chance that an all day kindergarten bill will become law next year.

Because of all the reasons Betsy mentioned.

There's a lot of support behind it, and there's a lot of money available to make this happen.

You're getting into pre-K.

It becomes a very visceral conversation.

I also saw in March when the House voted to reject a 6 million dollar a year federal grant it wasn't state dollars it was federal money.

I don't see pre-K necessarily going very far in the Legislature next year, but I do think that all day kindergarten, if I had to bet right now, I think in all the kindergarten bill passes.

>>And that was a federal grant that had the support of Idaho's Republican senators, U.S. senators Rich and Crapo.

>>Again, we saw a real demonizing of it in the House, not in the Senate, just in the House of really the entire idea of pre-K. That somehow this was was a a big, scary, awful thing where someone's trying to get to your little kids when that's really not necessarily reflected in the grant of the legislation they were considering.

>>And next year, of course, is an election year.

And whether we like it or not, that always shapes discussion around legislation.

And let's talk a little bit about some of this election drama that has been playing out.

Let's start with the Legislature.

We talked a couple of weeks ago about how, with the map that made it to the Secretary of State's Office, that has a couple of different legal challenges now.

There were several incumbents who were redistricted together.

Some of those incumbent versus incumbent races are already starting to sort themselves out because some of those lawmakers are either retiring or have declared for other office, Kevin.

>>Well, yeah, I think we've got a long way to go to sort a lot of this out because we've got some contested races in the House that haven't really sorted themselves out.

But as Betsy reported a few days ago, Patty Ann Lodge, the senior member at the state Senate, has decided that she's not going to seek reelection .

And that's one of those districts where you had two sitting senators, Lodge and Senator Todd Lakey.

But we have a lot of other ones.

Still, we have Jim Rice and Abby Lee in the same district.

We have Scott Grow and Steven Thain, the chairman of the Education Committee in the same district.

We have one in north central Idaho with Carl Crabtree and Dan Johnson, who's now the mayor of Lewiston, so we'll see how all that sorts out.

And you get these, you know, logjams in the house that could translate into some of these House members looking at a Senate seat.

A lot to work out.

>>Yeah, that's right.

I mean, there are a couple of house districts of the new districts on this map should it withstand the legal challenges that have four House incumbents and only two seats, and there are a few more that have three.

And so something has to give there, and it hasn't really all shaken out yet, but I think that that was a definite undercurrent.

The reconvened legislative session, I could hear legislators sitting behind me in committee rooms saying, Oh, what sounds all going to do?

Oh, what are you going to do?

And I'm not sure that's all been sorted out yet.

>>Well, I know ten years ago there were so many people who opted to either retire or run for different offices instead of facing one of their colleagues.

And at the end of the day, you only had two incumbents who were running against each other, and that was then-Senator Tim Quarter and Senator Burr Bracket I had.

I'm thinking we might have some more races than we saw ten years ago if this map stands.

>>I think that's possible.

I mean, there have been others, as you mentioned, announcing for higher office.

For example, Representative Dorothy Moon is running for secretary of state rather than seek reelection.

Otherwise, she would be in a district with four House incumbents.

And so we could see some of that.

But yes, I do think we will see some contests with people running against each other.

Representatives Moyle, Skog and Nichols are in the same district.

I haven't talked to all three yet, but Representative Moyle told me, Bring it on.

I'm running for the house and I have had several legislators tell me, so we run against each other.

>>Think about a district like District 35, which is in that southeast corner of the state.

You've got four House members in that same district, but you also have a sitting senator who I would imagine is probably not going anywhere .

So there's no clear path for any of those four House members to move into the Senate.

I mean, it's a textbook logjam.

>>We also have Representative Greg Chaney, who has decided to run for the Senate instead of running for his House seat and his new district.

>>And that's that's a case where the Senate seat in his new district will be open.

There's no incumbent, and I did talk to him about that and he said, You know, that's a that's an opportunity, and I thought it was a good fit for me and.

If you're ever going to make that change, this is the time.

Also, Representative Ben Adams has announced that he's going to run for the open Senate seat in his district.

He's a freshman.

He's the only incumbent left in that district, I believe if I'm keeping them all straight here.

And the other thing this plan did was create a ton of open seats in both the House and the Senate all around the state.

So in addition to forcing incumbents to face off, we may see a lot of new people brought into the Legislature as a result of this.

>>Now you realize that if the court throws out this map, we are going to have to do all of this all over again.

And look, everyone's address.

Well, it's what we do, what we did ten years ago or so.

Let's talk about some of these statewide races because in the past couple of weeks, there have been some really, really interesting moves.

Raul Labrador and Lawrence Wasden both announced campaigns for attorney general, joining Art McLemore, who had announced that he was going to challenge Wasden in several months before that.

That's going to be an interesting race.

>>A very interesting race.

And you know, it really underscores, you know, people talk about how this next primary is this primary.

This battle for the soul of the Republican Party is the phrase that keeps getting used.

Well, let's put that into personal terms.

If you're conservatives, you're looking at this ticket, you're thinking, Do we have a chance to take out Brad Little, Scott Bedke, Lawrence Wasden and Mike Simpson?

I mean, for a moderate Republican, are you looking at and saying we have a chance to take out and maybe preempt the political careers of Janice McGeachin and Priscilla Giddings, Brian Smith, Dorothy Moon?

The list goes on.

I mean, that's that's why it's a battle for the soul of the Republican Party.

I mean, and I think the attorney general's race may be the most interesting of the two because you have two veteran politicos, you know, and in a four person race , I see the fascinating, fascinating.

>>Another really interesting race is lieutenant governor.

It's not the most powerful position in our state government, but we did have a three way race shaping up in the Republican primary.

And this past week, former representative Luke Malek dropped out and endorsed Scott Bedke So now that's a two way race between Scott Bedke and Priscilla Giddings.

Once again, two very clear different factions of the Idaho Republican Party, which one will come out on top in a head to head statewide ace?

>>There is a little bit of animosity between Scott Bedke and Priscilla Giddings.

>>I've noticed.

>>Just a touch.

Let's talk about Luke Malek dropping out because he had a number of high profile endorsements in Idaho political land.

I mean, we're talking former House Speaker Bruce Newcomb, and we're talking former joint budget chairwoman Maxine Bell had donated to his campaign.

He was running hard.

He was the first one to announce.

And so for him to drop out at this point and then wholeheartedly endorse his, his opponent.

What does that say to you, Kevin?

>>Well, first of all, this is a very sudden announcement because as you said, I mean, you know, Malek had been campaigning really hard for this race and had been campaigning now for about a year.

So for him to announce it and to announce it the way he did on Sunday night over social media was, well, it was very surprising.

I mean, I'm looking at my Twitter feed and it's like, Whoa, no news actually happened here, and it really is news and it really does set up this, you know, head to head battle between, you know, the moderate wing of the Republican Party and the hard line conservative wing.

>>And it was surprising to me as well because Luke Malek had been quite adamant early on that he was not going to do this.

He was not going to bow out and make way for others.

But he got into this race six months before either the other two candidates did.

And that was when he rolled up the endorsements and a lot of funding, and the race changed once it became a three way race with two other high profile candidates.

And notably in his announcement, he didn't really say, I'm withdrawing.

He said he's deferring it for a future election cycle, and he's still interested in running just not this year.

>>And I have to say Representative Priscilla Giddings is running hard for this seat, too.

She is actively campaigning around the state.

And I think that what we saw during the reconvened legislative session in mid-November was very much campaigning on the House floor, you know, when she was addressing not just her colleagues, she even said, Nothing I say is going to change your vote here.

She wasn't addressing her colleagues.

She was addressing the people of Idaho in that moment.

>>Her debate.

That was her moment to, you know, to make her case, not just to get me, her colleagues.

I mean that that vote was pretty much sealed, but it was her chance to make her case to her constituents, her potential constituents, potential voters.

I mean, that was, you know, you know, there were campaign overtones on both sides of this.

>>You know, as we talk about these other crowded primaries, might we see more people dropping out and deferring to other candidates who are similarly politically aligned?

Or are we going to see what we did in 2018 where we have five or six way primaries and people winning that primary with, you know, 27% of the vote?

>>I think it really depends on the race and it depends.

On the candidates, certainly in the governor's race, we have a plethora of candidates on the Republican side and none of them have given any sign that they're going to back out.

So I think we are in for a multi way primary there and and sometimes those can be the most exciting election year.

>>Well, just what we saw earlier this month with Dorothy Moon announcing for secretary of State.

I mean, on paper, it seems like Moon and Mary Souza are going after the same constituency within the Republican primary.

But, you know, Moon decided to jump into that race.

You know, we're several months away from the filing period, so who knows what direction this is going to go?

>>And of course, that now is a four way race because we already had Phil McGrane and Chad Houk, the current chief deputy secretary of state, as announced candidates in that race along with Mary Souza So.

So there's another crowded primary.

>>I can't wait.

It's going to be good.

You're it.

But how?

How are these elections going to shape debates in the 2022 legislative session?

We already saw a hint of how this might go in during that mid-November reconvene session between COVID mitigation efforts and the elections looming.

What are what are you going to be keeping your eye on, Kevin?

>>I'm going to watch for a lot of the same bills that we saw in that short session.

I mean, just because we have 36 bills introduced and none of them passed doesn't mean that these ideas aren't going to come back.

And especially if the authors of these bills see these as winning issues that they can take back to their districts.

I think we're going to see a lot of these bills come back with a lot of political overtones to the debate.

>>Absolutely.

And election year sessions in Idaho in the Idaho Legislature are notorious for hot-button issues being brought up things that maybe won't even change much as far as the law, but will give incumbent slash candidates a chance to go on the record and appeal to their base or to hold the people they're going to run against to a record that they think won't appeal to their base.

And certainly the COVID bills are are in that category.

So are traditionally those bills have been guns and abortion, and who knows what all else, but it's the same legislature that we have now.

Looking ahead to that election, when there's going to be big change and that will be very clear to them as they conduct themselves through that session.

>> We have about two and a half minutes left and thankfully we are on a downside a downward trajectory with COVID cases.

This week, Idaho deactivated crisis standards of care in six of the seven health districts, but also we're hearing from public health officials and hospital officials that we're not out of the woods yet, that we need to start thinking about this as potentially an endemic disease.

You know, what's the picture looking like for schools and how might that shape public policy discussions?

>>Well, I think what you're seeing with schools that we saw it just the past few days, with the West Ada School District going away from its mask mandate, it'll have, you know, it will have no mandate when kids go back into school next week.

I think you're seeing that.

But at the same time, you look at the numbers and you listen to the health officials, talk about the numbers, you're hearing two things you're hearing Yes, things are improving case numbers, positivity, you know, test rates, hospitalizations, all these metrics that we watch so closely are improving, but all of them are higher than the health officials really want to see them.

And you know, one of the thing that looms is that, you know, we're seeing COVID case numbers increasing across much of the country.

You know, we were listening Tuesday to the AARP conference call.

You know, Health and Welfare Director Dave Jeppeson talked about how the case numbers are increasing in 28 states.

Idaho isn't one of them right now, but that tells you that this virus continues to kind of ebb and flow and come in waves, which suggests, you know, that you know, this wave that we're just seemingly coming out of may not be the last.

>>And Betsy, what are you going to be watching for?

>>Well, I think that that COVID has certainly had an impact on Idaho politics.

Imagine what Idaho politics would be like right now without for without COVID, but for COVID.

But it is here and it's continue to.

It is going to continue to influence our politics in Idaho.

>>You know, after last week's reconvened session, do you?

I we didn't hear a lot about crisis standards of care in those discussions.

It was like a completely different debate than what public health officials are having.

What do you expect to see specifically with COVID during that 2022 session?

>>I think it will be front and center, even if it has abated, even if the pandemic has abated because it has a real, it has become such a political issue that the political undertones and overtones will be debated and will be legislated.

>>All right.

Betsy Russell with the Idaho press.

Kevin Richert with Idaho Education News.

Thank you so much for joining us.

And thank you for watching.

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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.