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 governor rang in the new legislative session on Monday with his budget and policy priorities, and showed a willingness to sign a bill on public funds for private education.

But he has parameters.

So what do lawmakers think?

I'm Melissa Davlin.

Idaho Reports starts now.

Hello and welcome to Idaho Reports.

This week, producer Ruth Brown gives us an update on the state of emergency medical services in Idaho.

Mario Pile, associate director of student involvement at University of Idaho, shares his thoughts on the State Board of Education's resolution that led to the closure of the black and African-American Cultural Center at U-I.

Finally, House Education Chairman Doug Pickett joins me to discuss what's on his priority list this year as well as proposals to use public funds for private education costs.

But first, the state of Idaho has sent more than 100 firefighters and 25 fire engines to California to help with the multiple fires that are devastating Los Angeles County.

The Idaho Office of Emergency Management and the Idaho Fire Chiefs Association coordinated the response after California requested help from nearby states.

More than two dozen fire departments across Idaho are lending aid, including those in Kootenai, Kamiah, McCall and Swan Valley.

This week, the U.S.

Fish and Wildlife Service announced it will keep grizzly bears listed as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act.

Despite petitions from Idaho and other states to remove those protections, this week's announcement included a proposed rule change that would allow property owners to kill bears that are actively attacking livestock.

The state of Idaho sued the U.S.

Fish and Wildlife Service in 2023 over the listing, pointing to grizzly population growth that exceeds the government's recovery criteria.

Governor Brad Little criticized this week's announcement and said he is instructing the Department of Fish and Game and the Office of Species Conservation to examine the new proposed rule.

Governor little kicked off the 2025 legislative session on Monday with his state of the state address.

It was his shortest state of the state of the seven he's given so far.

But in the 24 minutes he spoke, he still managed to make some headlines.

Particularly setting aside $50 million in his budget recommendation for private education costs.

We'll have more on that later in the show with Representative Pickett.

The governor is also recommending $100 million in tax relief.

In his speech, he told lawmakers he's open to proposals and didn't single out property income or sales tax.

Later in the day, House speaker Mike Moyle and Senate Minority Leader Melissa Wintrow shared their thoughts.

Mike Moyle: The economy and everything starting to just feel like it's moving better, right?

You can feel it.

Since the election’s over, there's this feeling that everything is going to be all right.

People are spending money, things are moving.

Fuel prices are coming down.

And I think we have the opportunity, looking at his budget and I need to delve into a little more, but there's plenty of room to cut more.

And I would like to get close at least $300 million.

Melissa Wintrow: If you're going to reduce revenues from other vital resources and services that our citizens need, I think we should utilize that for grocery tax.

Davlin: One thing that wasn't in the governor's proposed budget was a recommendation to classify emergency medical services as an essential service.

That classification would set up a state funding stream for local EMS agencies.

The Idaho Department of Health and Welfare also didn't request that change in their budget.

But that doesn't mean there aren't still needs.

Producer Ruth Brown spent the last few months visiting with leaders of rural emergency medical services agencies about their ongoing struggles with funding.

Ruth Brown: If you break your leg or have a heart attack in rural Idaho, you would probably consider emergency medical services to be essential.

But the state of Idaho disagrees.

At least legally.

Efforts in recent years to declare EMS an essential service have failed in the legislature, and that means the state isn't required to fund it.

EMS availability varies widely county by county, and relies heavily on local taxing districts and volunteers.

Alan Roberts: Our EMS system is a taxing district for Elmore County that provides the base core, and then the bulk of our revenue is with our medical billing.

Brown: Not every county has an EMS taxing district, and medical billing doesn't cover the full cost of having an ambulance respond.

Many areas of the state still rely on volunteers, including Elmore County, which alone is more than 3000mi².

The size and population growth creates some unique challenges for the agency.

Roberts: We staff our populated areas with full time staff and then in our two mountainous areas, the Atlanta area, which, you know, the northern part of the county, has a QRU, quick response unit up there.

And then our Prairie area up here is also kind of a remote area.

It's a little tough to get to at times, and there's a really good roster of 12, 14 at any given time EMTs that are available up there as well.

So it's unique because we can cover any given day we'll go from three medical calls to a car crash to, you know, a lost hiker with a broken leg in the mountains.

(Chuckles) Brown: Despite being within that taxing district, the town of Prairie still relies on fundraisers for some of its emergency medical services.

Victoria Davison: Our building behind us is new.

Last winter was the first time that we were able to house our vehicles in it.

Otherwise, they've been sitting outside in the weather and that especially in the winter, causes problems.

It’s a response delay, having to sweep off the snow and get everything warmed up and hope your stuff isn't frozen.

So our building has been made possible through volunteers and the donors and the sponsors that have made it all possible.

Brown: Resources aren't the only hassle.

Finding volunteers is also a challenge for all EMS agencies.

Davison: We all have real jobs outside of what we do.

So when we get a call were dispatched to the 911 Elmore County, we get a call.

Whatever we're doing, we stop and respond.

That means we have to find childcare.

We have to find someone to replace us at our jobs or up and leave whatever we're doing.

So finding people that are able to do that and make that kind of a commitment is always a challenge, especially as a volunteer agency.

Brown: Despite Moscow having a population of around 26,000 people and no ambulance taxing district, the city's fire and EMS services have one major benefit, the University of Idaho’s students.

All EMS services in Moscow are volunteer, and they require no taxpayer funding other than the administrative staff support.

Debby Carscallen: We have residents that live in the fire station, so in exchange, they run a shift.

We’ll train them in, structural firefighting and EMS, and they run a shift one day every five.

Some of them want to go on to structural firefighting or, you know, a paid paramedic type Firebase job.

Some of them want to go into medical school, some we just want to live here and play on a fire engine and run, support their community and run calls while they're getting a degree in something.

Brown: But there's a major problem with Moscow's system.

The students usually leave town during the winter and summer breaks.

Carscallen: That is a significant chunk of our volunteers.

Cause when they're gone, our small cadre has to pick up the weight, the call volume is still here.

The university town, the students bring some call volume to us, but most of the time it's it's the community that's calling.

It's not necessarily campus.

So just because the student population leaves, we still have lots of calls to cover.

Brown: There's also a lot of turnover.

Carscallen: The trade off is is we're in a constant training flux because they are if we're lucky to get them early in their college career and they stay, you know, we can get three years out of them.

They have to take the EMT class, which is three months.

And then our onboarding and just getting them through the trainee process and making sure they have all the tools and know our town, cause they're not from here.

It’s probably a good, if we're lucky, six months, but it's more like nine months before they're fully independent.

Brown: Even if every county had an ambulance taxing district.

It's up to the voters whether to support any tax increases, something that's proven difficult in many areas of the state.

Roberts: You know, what's five and ten years look like down the road?

You know, we always talk about the biggest struggles for agencies is recruitment and retention.

You know, how do how do we keep that?

How do we keep good people?

You know, how do we keep the burnout rate going?

This is a very, strenuous business.

You know, we're responding to somebody's worst day, not their good days.

Carscallen: We have to pay to have people ready to respond.

That's what some people don't understand is the cost of readiness is what we're looking at.

Brown: It's still unclear if lawmakers will consider addressing EMS services in the legislative session and offer a new funding plan.

And with so many freshmen lawmakers, it isn't certain if a bill would pass.

Carscallen: We're not just talking about crisis to talk.

We're truly everyone's in dire straits.

Paid, volunteer, everyone is struggling to meet the needs of their communities.

We need to be deemed essential so that we have a starting place.

Davlin: We'll continue to follow this issue throughout the legislative session.

In December, the Idaho State Board of Education voted to ban student centers on public higher ed campuses that are based on DEI ideology.

That's diversity, equity and inclusion.

On Thursday, state Board Executive Director Joshua Whitworth shared more information about the board's resolution with the legislature's DEI committee.

Joshua Whitworth: Diversity, equity, inclusion ideology is any approach that prioritizes personal identity characteristics which could be related to race, color, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, religion, or gender identity over merit.

So the idea is that that, you know, that they're defining this ideology as choosing personal identity characteristics over merit.

And that's how we approach the rest of the resolution.

And with, the items that we said should be, not allowed on our institutions and how we approach student success.

The question is, is, as an institution, we want to make sure that the services that they need, right are not focused down on, you know, their identity, but focused on what they need.

So if it's academic advising, it's not going to be academic advising based on some race or some identity.

It's going to be every student needs academic advising.

And how do I help wrap my resources around that student to be successful?

Davlin: That resolution affected multiple student centers on Idaho's university campuses even before the December vote, Boise State University shut down its gender equity center and student equity center.

And in December, University of Idaho announced it was shutting down its programs as well, with plans to replace them with a student engagement center.

On Thursday, I spoke to Mario Pile, the former director of the black and African-American Cultural Center at University of Idaho, to get his thoughts.

Mario, thank you so much for joining us.

First of all, what resources did your center offer?

Mario Pile: So the black and African-American Cultural Center, used a cohort model.

So one of the things that we were able to offer students that I would recruit to U of I was I would be able to offer them a scholarship.

I would be able to offer them a three credit, class, which was a college success course.

They would get meals, a secondary advisor.

And then, we would make sure that they would be able to get connected to culturally relevant, events and programing as well as being able to give them and offer them a community that was being built, through the BAC.

Davlin: Why did centers like this exist in the first place?

Pile: I think there is an existence because there is a fundamental, lapse in how higher education is created.

It's created for a particular group of people, and then other people don't get to maneuver that for numerous reasons.

You could talk about students who parents didn't go to college and, siblings didn't go to college.

And they're the first ones to go to college, or there's no one in their town who goes to college.

There's a lot of different reasons.

And so centers like mine provide resources in a safe space and a brave space for students to find someone who looks like them, to help them navigate the complexities of higher education and to make sure that they're successful.

Because the goal ultimately, which I believe, is getting everyone to graduation.

And so centers like mine really makes sure that students can accomplish that goal.

Davlin: When did you find out about the decision to close the black and African-A Pile: There was talks about that the state Board of Education was looking at making that decision in November.

And so we were, privy to the fact that this is something that would potentially come down, the pipeline, and would have some negative impacts on our centers.

Davlin: What are your concerns now that the decision was made by the university to close the center?

Pile: The concerns that I’ve shared this with our leadership is one, efforts to recruit black students came through the BAC, and now we don't have that.

I don't see the university, I don't know how the university is going to move forward to recruit black students.

And then even more importantly, how are we going to retain them?

And I think that we could see some significant consequences in students leaving the university because they don't feel supported, they don't feel seen, they don't feel heard.

And I think that could have really negative implications down the line, maybe not so much now, in the next 2 or 3 years, but after that, students may not see this as a viable option.

When making decisions to go to college, I did have a mother who I let know that the university had shut down the BAC and her email back to me was, thank you for everything you've done for my students, the high school students that are my children.

But I will not be sending them to U of I as a result of these decisions.

So I think there will be consequences, further down the line.

Davlin: We've talked about the students, but how about the jobs that are impacted?

You're now the associate director of student involvement, but you weren't the only employee who worked for the black and African-American Cultural Center.

Pile: Correct.

And, I know our president wants to make sure everyone is employed.

But I know my admin.

It hasn't been an easy fit moving them along because there's always these, red tape.

And so I think some of that wasn't necessarily considered is the emotional label as well as is it an easy fix?

Because timing was not a lot afforded to us.

And so, my admin is having to figure out, you know, does she want to stay?

Is it time to leave?

What does that look like for her?

And that's a really difficult place to be.

Davlin: Lawmakers who supported getting rid of these programs said they would prefer to see support systems in place for all students, regardless of race or sex or sexual orientation or culture or gender identity.

What would you say to those lawmakers?

Pile: I would say, I think there's a disconnect in understanding what the resources that are provided for those students.

We all understand the implications, and the importance of having, communities within side the larger community, we have Greek life.

We have different colleges.

If you look at sports, there's different sports teams.

Within those sports teams, you could use the analogy of football.

There's a linebackers coach, there's a running backs coach.

Somehow we understand that, even in Greek Life and sports, that there's it's appropriate for people to have communities with inside the larger community.

And so I would say to our lawmakers, before making decisions like this, I would love for you to visit my students, visit and see, come to our programing to see that these things.

The center was open to all students.

I have a white student in my third cohort.

I had a white student in my second cohort.

Our very first student to graduate through my BAACC program was a Mexican student.

So to say that students aren't accessing the resources that we have is to not know what we're doing.

And I think that that's, what I would like to say to our lawmakers is, representation matters.

And to take representation.

This country understands that.

Isn't that the taxation without representation?

The Boston Tea Party was all about was we're not being represented in these decisions.

And why should I not, and my students, not be allowed to be represented in the decisions that are made when it affects us directly?

And so I would ask our, our legislators and those, state leaders before making decisions like this going forward.

Before making a decision, please think about the people who are affected by that and bring them into that conversation.

Davlin: Mario Pile, associate director of student involvement at University of Idaho, thank you so much for joining us.

Pile: Thank you so much.

Davlin: The big news from Governor Little's State of the state address on Monday was his recommendation for $50 million to go to private education expenses after years of hesitation on his part for such programs.

Brad Little: Any school choice measure I would consider must be done the Idaho way.

That means it is fair, responsible, transparent and accountable.

It must prioritize the families that need it most, and it must not take away funds from public schools.

Davlin: When speaking to reporters later, both Governor Little and House Majority Leader Jason Monks expanded on their thoughts on accountability for these public funds.

Little: It's a little hypocritical for me to demand accountability for public schools and then give money to somebody else who doesn't have any accountability, I think.

I mean, it's just a credibility issue.

Jason Monks: You can't get more accountable than a parent.

Who cares the most about a child's education?

It's a parent.

There's not a bureaucrat out there who cares more about my child's education than me.

And so I think it's really difficult when you start saying, who's going to be more accountable than the parents for those dollars.

Davlin: Also Monday, Representative Wendy Horman announced she is introducing legislation for refundable tax credits for private education expenses.

Wendy Horman: It allows a parent to receive a refundable tax credit for educational experiences.

They have incurred up to $5,000 per child.

$7,500 if their child has special needs in a in a nonpublic setting, whether that is a private school, a micro school, a learning pod or a home school.

Available to all of those options.

An eligible student will be an Idaho resident 5 to 18, unless you're special needs and it'll be 5 to 21.

Qualified expenses are what you would expect.

Tuition at a nonpublic school, including, micro schools and learning pods, tutoring, national, college admission tests, AP exams, prep courses, textbook curriculum and, transportation costs.

Davlin: Joining me to discuss school choice and other education issues is Representative Doug Pickett, the new chairman of the House Education Committee.

Representative Pickett, thanks so much for joining us.

What will you be looking for in a school choice?

Bill?

Doug Pickett: Well, thanks for having me, Melissa.

It's good to be here and good to see you again.

You know, we're long acquainted and so I appreciate the opportunity.

Davlin: Yes.

Connection.

Pickett: Yes.

Yes.

It's always good to reconnect.

And I appreciate what you do here.

I want you to know that.

So thank.

Yes.

We're going to see some school choice options this this session.

The governor made that quite clear, I think in his state of the state address.

We've been seeing these options for some time.

There was, there was a bill that came through my committee last session.

And rather than tax with regard to school choice, which I ultimately ended up supporting in committee, even though it failed.

And that will certainly be one of those choice options coming forward this session as well.

Davlin: It's basically a refundable tax credit for parents or guardians who incur private education costs.

Pickett: Yes.

Pickett: Correct.

Davlin: Same sponsor, Representative Wendy Horman.

Pickett: It sounds like.

Yes.

Representative Wendy Horman and Senator Majority Leader now, Lori Den Hartog, are still working on that bill.

They've, been working with the governor on that bill.

And so I think that was kind of, revealed in the governor's state of the state that they've that they are working together.

Davlin: Now, the the, outline of Representative Corman's bill sounded a lot like what the governor would be looking for in a school choice bill that he would consider transparent, accountable.

$50 million.

The price tag of the two was the same.

You also brought up a good point.

The last version went through the Revenue and Taxation Committee on the House side.

It didn't actually go in front of the House Ed Committee.

So there's a really, really good chance that depending on what this bill looks like, it won't even go before your committee in the first place.

Pickett: Yes, it is a tax credit.

So, the Germane Committee would be revenue and taxation, even though it's an education related subject.

It affects tax policy.

And so, like last year, it would probably go through that committee.

However, we may see other options or other versions of choice that will come into the education committee as well.

Pickett: As chairman, would you consider other bills that are not tax credits?

Davlin: So that's been a part of the conversation over the many years is what should this look like?

ESAs other type of vouchers.

Davlin: Savings?

Pickett: Education savings accounts.

And so, there are some members that are wanting to look at those ideas as well and have done or, or have proposed, essays and other things before.

And so I think we'll, we'll take a look and we'll see.

It might be a matter of timing.

I'm not sure how that's going to play out.

But, there may be a factor of, well, what does the committee want to see you know, and I'm, I'm interested in their thoughts and what they would like to see come before the committee as well.

Davlin: We know that the governor said that he wouldn't consider an option that didn't have transparency and accountability.

But the question is, whose definition of accountability and transparency are we going to use?

Are there any specifics that you are going to be looking for in any of these proposals?

Pickett: Yeah.

So as far as transparency and accountability, it's one of the reasons I do like the tax credit is because, in that way you have to demonstrate what you've done.

And when you apply for the tax credit, you have to be able to back that up.

And so I think that in and of itself is transparent.

The accountability has always been something that, it's been one of the motivators of, of parental choice is the fact that parents are wanting more, say, in the accountability.

Whereas traditionally the accountability has been the responsibility for accountability has been held by the public education system through their accountability measures.

And parents are saying, we would like a little bit more say in that and more responsibility, because obviously, if you have choice, you're going to have to have accountability.

The two go hand in hand.

Davlin: This is the first time that Governor Little has proposed something along these lines, or said that I am willing to set aside $50 million for this.

I'm willing to meet you halfway.

Here are my parameters.

Why do you think this year was the year?

Pickett: It's been an interesting year.

I think everybody will agree that the election cycle was a very interesting result, and I think everybody has their take away from that.

Davlin: Both the primary and the general.

Pickett: Both the primary and the general.

By and large, year after year, there is an increasing desire among parents to have choice and more choice options, even though, as I've learned in the short time that I've been education chair, Idaho has a very diverse and robust, choice options for parents.

But this is something that increasingly parents are wanting for their for the families and for their kids.

And I think that the governor is responding to that.

Davlin: You just brought up that you have been chair of this very important germane committee for a short amount of time.

I know a lot of people were thinking that other representatives might be appointed to the chair of education committee, and a few people were frankly surprised that it was you, you you've served on other committees in the past, you weren't on education previously.

Were you also surprised?

Pickett: Oh, I was probably the most surprised.

Honestly, I, I'm, I have no fear in saying that because very comfortable.

I was very comfortable on revenue and taxation.

I was I felt like I was getting grounded there and doing what I needed to be doing.

But, this opportunity came to me for various reasons.

I had my own ideas of who should be education chair, but I think at the end of the day, with everything that's going on, the thought was that we need somebody to come in to facilitate who maybe hasn't been a part of some of the diverse and complex issues in education, with a clean slate, so to speak.

Davlin: We have about 90s left.

But school choice aside, what is on your priority list for the upcoming session?

Pickett: Well, I I'm very fond of natural resources.

That's my background.

And so, I'm concerned about water issues aside from education and those things.

I'm working on several bills related to, things that would, would involve the use of natural resources, be it wildlife or, even we have some issues regarding the management of our solid waste in Idaho.

I have a bill on that this session.

So, those are some of the things that I'll be focused on when I'm not in education committee.

Davlin: In the education committee chair, what are you going to be looking for when it comes to proposals on teacher pay or, funding their benefits?

Pickett: I agree with what has happened on, teacher pay over the past few years.

Governor Little's made a point of increasing that and becoming competitive.

I think that that that has been a good approach and I think that it has been successful.

My concern is always going to be to raise the, the bottom up to make sure that, our teachers who are entering the profession are able to do so competitively and that they are sustained in their careers.

I think we still have some work to do there.

Davlin: Any insight into what that work might look like?

Pickett: Well, I think they've proposed 5%, I think is what the governor was proposing.

So the takeaway from that is going to be how do we balance that with all of our other objectives.

So something along those lines.

Davlin: Representative Doug Pickett, Chairman of the House Education Committee, thank you so much for joining us.

And thank you for watching.

We have so much more online.

You can find our writing at Idaho reports.org.

We'll see you next week.

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.