Herndon no champion for schools

By Sara Trautwein
Sagle

Scott Herndon wrote an article that was published in the Reader on December 27 touting all the great things that he did for Idaho schools. He brags about his support for HB292, which tackled property tax relief and provided some funding for school infrastructure.

Based on Idaho Education News, districts across the State are getting around $106 million from the fund. However, a recent study showed that it would take about $850 billion to bring all public school facilities in the state up to good condition.

What Herndon failed to mention is that buried within this bill was a new election regulation that prohibits the state’s March election date, which is when many school districts run elections for school bonds and levies.

Since the state continues to deny funding to public schools, our districts rely heavily on levies we must have the right, as a community, to vote on those levies. Do not be fooled, HB 292 was not about improving public schools and Herndon is not a champion for public education.