Quality Education Initiative eligible for Idaho’s November 2022 ballot

July 22, 2022

Secretary of State Lawerence Denney announced today that the Quality Education ballot initiative is eligible for the November 8, 2022, General Election ballot. To become eligible for the ballot, the initiative needed at least 64,945 valid petition signatures. This amount is equal to six percent of the total registered voters at the time of the last general election. These signatures are also required to be distributed across at least 18 legislative districts with at least six percent of registered voters from each district.

The Secretary of State certified the initiative exceeded that threshold today in at least 19 legislative districts, and it qualifies for the November 8, 2022, General Election ballot.

The Attorney General’s official title of the initiative is as follows:

AN INITIATIVE RELATING TO EDUCATION AND TAXATION; AMENDS TITLE 33, CHAPTER 9, IDAHO CODE BY ADDING A NEW SECTION WHICH CREATES A SUPPLEMENTAL FUND TITLED THE QUALITY EDUCATION FUND TO BE UTILIZED BY THE STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION FOR THE BETTERMENT OF K-12 PUBLIC SCHOOLS TO ACHIEVE GOALS SUCH AS REDUCING CLASS SIZE, ATTRACTING AND RETAINING HIGHLY QUALIFIED TEACHERS AND SUPPORT STAFF, PROVIDING CURRENT AND ADEQUATE CLASSROOM MATERIALS, PROVIDING FULL DAY KINDERGARTEN, PROVIDING CAREER TECHNICAL EDUCATION, PROVIDING ART MUSIC AND DRAMA PROGRAMS, ETC. AND PROVIDES THAT FUNDS BE DISTRIBUTED EACH YEAR BY AUGUST 31 TO SCHOOL DISTRICTS AND PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOLS, AND DIRECTS THE STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION TO PROMULGATE IMPLEMENTING RULES; AMENDS TITLE 63, CHAPTER 30, IDAHO CODE BY MODIFYING THE FIFTH INDIVIDUAL INCOME TAX BRACKET AND CREATES A SIXTH BRACKET FOR TAXABLE INCOME IN EXCESS OF $250,000, TAXING INCOME IN THE SIXTH BRACKET AT THE TAX RATE OF 10.925%, INCREASING THE CORPORATE INCOME TAX RATE TO 8%, AND DISTRIBUTES REVENUE COLLECTED AS A RESULT OF THE INCREASED RATES TO THE NEWLY CREATED QUALITY EDUCATION FUND; DECLARES THE ACT EFFECTIVE JANUARY 1, 2023; AND PROVIDES FOR SEVERABILITY.

A summary of the initiative can be found on the Idaho Secretary of State website by visiting https://sos.idaho.gov/elections/initiatives/2022/Quality_Education_Act.pdf.

The proponent of this initiative is Reclaim Idaho.

For more information about how an initiative qualifies for the ballot in Idaho, visit https://sos.idaho.gov/elections-division/ballot-initiatives/.