House Exposes Idaho Education Curriculum
The Idaho House of Representatives sent a message to the four-state universities Wednesday, voting down the budget to fund them. The $631.4 million was the amount of money that the state's colleges were to receive this year.
Several legislators spoke out, citing several examples of students targeted for their conservative beliefs. The vote was not close as most legislators sent a message with their 13-57 vote.
Representative Priscilla Giddings shared her thoughts with the Kevin Miller Show on KIDO Talk Radio this morning. She told us why the legislators didn't approve the higher education budget. "Huge victory for the conservative people have lost trust in our colleges; they are not teaching the basics, they're indoctrinating their students."
The state legislator recounted how the funding bill failed historically. "We haven't seen a vote like this in twenty years," she said. She explained why the bill failed by the lowest vote count of this session. "The bill's sponsor said the bill was bad and not to vote for it," Giddings said. She continued, "normally, if a bill has a problem, we send it back; that never happened with this bill."
Higher education costs continue to rise in the Gem State. The Moscow-Pullman Daily News broke down the cost to fund Idaho colleges and universities. The $631.4 million higher education budget included $315.2 million in state general fund support. That's an increase of $8.1 million, or 2.6 percent, in state funding compared to fiscal '21. Representative Giddings explained that the state's four four-year colleges' total budget is $1.4 billion.
Representative Giddings detailed what is taught in Idaho schools, from elementary school to colleges. She explained the challenges in reforming the curriculum. "This indoctrination of critical race theory is going to take a lot of work to get it out of our system," she said. Giddings offered a solution, "it's cancer; we need specific laws to get it out of our system permanently." She advocates that new laws need to be created to eliminate racist, sexist, and other concepts from the state's entire education system.
Several legislators gave specific examples on the House floor of what is being taught in Idaho schools. They detailed how students, parents, and educators have contacted them.
The Idaho Press shares one example:
Rep. Dorothy Moon, R-Stanley, told the House, "We had the president of BSU come and talk to us about how wonderful things were going on campus, and we all knew different. ... It is unbelievable what the students of Idaho have been going through, and they have been pleading with us."
Representative Giddings explained how science and history are being reinvented in colleges and primary schools. "Why in is a college genetics class are we teaching that sex is a spectrum," she shared. She continued, "Kids are being taught that America did not being in 1776, but 1619."