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Mayor’s Youth Advisory Council to Hold Essential Needs Drive for Free Little Pantry

By
Observer Staff
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(City of Pocatello Press Release, November 12, 2025)

The Pocatello Mayor’s Youth Advisory Council (MYAC) is asking for your help to support those in need. MYAC will be holding an Essential Needs Drive Saturday, November 22, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Pocatello Police Department Substation, located at 800 Yellowstone Avenue near Fred Meyer.

During the event, MYAC members will be collecting donations of non-perishable, shelf-stable food, non-perishable snacks, feminine hygiene products, toiletries, diapers, laundry detergent, and other essential items to support individuals and families in need.

Collected items will be placed in the two Little Free Pantries established by MYAC. Currently, there are two locations, one is located in the City Hall parking lot (near recycle bins) and the other is located in the parking lot of the Community Recreation Center (near Freckleton Park).

The Pocatello Mayor’s Youth Advisory Council is comprised of 9th through 12th grade students who live within the Pocatello/Chubbuck School District boundaries. Members are appointed by the Mayor and serve until they graduate.

For more information on the Little Free Pantry, visit Ribbon-Cutting for the Mayor’s Youth Advisory Council’s Little Free Pantry.

In accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, it is the policy of the City of Pocatello to offer its public programs, services, and meetings in a manner that is readily accessible to everyone, including those with disabilities.  If you are disabled and require an accommodation, please contact Skyler Beebe with two (2) business days’ advance notice at sbeebe@pocatello.gov; 208.234.6248; or 5815 South 5th Avenue, Pocatello, Idaho.  Advance notification within this guideline will enable the City to make reasonable arrangements to ensure accessibility.

Patriots for Liberty and Constitution to Begin Discussing “The Conscience of a Conservative”, TODAY, November 17

By
Karyn Simmons
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Patriots for Liberty and Constitution

November 17, 2025

Pocatello–Tonight at their weekly meeting, the group “Patriots for Liberty & Constitution” will begin discussing Senator Barry Goldwater’s book, “Conscience of a Conservative.”  This book lays out the conservative perspective on topics ranging from education to labor to taxation and government programs, and helped launch the Reagan Revolution.  Though it was written in 1960, it remains relevant today.

Tonight’s discussion will also include the 4th Amendment and current events.

Patriots for Liberty & Constitution meets at Mountain Valley Baptist Church, 202 S. 7th Avenue in Pocatello, every Monday evening at 6:30.

Idaho’s ICONIC Program Gives Hope and Second Chances

By
Observer Staff
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(Idaho Department of Labor Press Release, November 17, 2025)

ICONIC student Jessica Kramer stands with her hard hat.

ICONIC student Jessica Kramer stands proudly at Land Lab Day with her hard hat. (Photo credit: Idaho Department of Labor)

Jessica Kramer is ready for a second chance at life and to pursue a career path that she is passionate about. The Idaho Career Opportunities – Next in Construction (ICONIC) program has provided that opportunity and opened the path to a new possible life.

Kramer has been incarcerated for the past three years and has one left to complete her sentence. While she was first incarcerated at the Women’s Correctional Facility in Pocatello, Kramer was presented with a construction class with the National Center for Construction Education and Research. That is when she was introduced to becoming a heavy equipment operator.

“I never thought about doing it (being a heavy equipment operator) a day in my life. When I started to get these ideas, I got a vision for life and I started to see that I could have something more than I had ever had before,” Kramer said.

Kramer has since moved back to Boise and is under supervision at the East Boise Community Reentry Center as she completes her sentence. There, she got connected to the ICONIC program. Her goal — to create a new life for herself in a new career.

In the program, students get a mix of in classroom education and hands-on learning to learn all the parts of heavy equipment operation. Recently, Kramer got to participate in the hands-on part of the program during Land Lab Day where program participants practice on excavators to develop their construction skills. In particular, she got to dig trenches.

This program has given her the opportunity to add this experience to her resume, further her skills and gave her a head start in starting a new career to make a life for herself. And being incarcerated, the opportunity to participate meant everything to her.

“This is just a building block like everything has been. Operating heavy equipment isn’t the end goal for me,” Kramer said. “I do want to get very efficient and know the groundwork, but I would like to move up in projects and find out what’s that all about.”

Kramer uses an excavator at Land Lab Day to create a trench in the ground.

Kramer uses an excavator at Land Lab Day to create a trench in the ground. (Photo credit: Idaho Department of Labor)

Kramer said being able to do this has been a big deal and she appreciates that east Boise has supported her while she pursues this new career path. But the community, isn’t her only support system.

Kramer has a 15-year-old daughter, and she wants to teach her that it is possible to overcome adversity.

“My daughter, she is in a place where she is trying to sort out her future and what she wants to do,” Kramer said. “I just want her to see that it’s worth investing (in a career) – in a real way – where you find something you love.”

Kramer said she worked with machinery and tools in prison, working in maintenance. Once the ICONIC opportunity arose, with her experience, everything clicked into place.

“Being in the real world and seeing myself do things that I have never seen myself doing…it gives hope,” Kramer said.

ICONIC is a free five-week intensive course which involves a mix of classroom and hands-on learning for Idahoans to earn a certification in heavy equipment operation.

The next cohort will be in Twin Falls in the spring. Dates have not been announced yet. For updates visit iconic.idaho.gov.

***

The ICONIC program is 100% funded by the Idaho Transportation Department.

-Lindsay Trombly, Public Information Specialist
Idaho Department of Labor

Guest Columnist Senator Cindy Carlson – Idaho Taxpayers: You’re Being Charged Three Times for the Same Student. Here’s How.

By
Observer Staff
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November 14, 2025

Idaho Taxpayers: You’re Being Charged Three Times for the Same Student. Here’s How.

By: Idaho Senator Cindy Carlson

IDLA’s funding model charges Idaho taxpayers twice and sometimes 3 times for the same student. The 2026 legislature needs to fix this.

As we prepare for the 2026 legislative session, I want to bring to your attention a significant issue that has come before some members of the Joint Finance and Appropriations Committee and the Senate Education Committee. It concerns the Idaho Digital Learning Academy (IDLA) and how your tax dollars are being spent. What I’ve discovered through my work on this is troubling, and you deserve to know what is happening.

The Double Payment Problem

Let me explain how this works because the numbers tell a clear story.

Your local school district receives state funding for every student through ADA (Average Daily Attendance) funding. Depending on district size and characteristics, this typically ranges from around $7,000 to over $20,000 per student, with an average around $8,000 to $10,000. This money is meant to pay teachers, cover operational costs, and educate your children.

Here’s where it gets concerning: that same district can place your child in front of a computer during the school day to take an IDLA online course. The state then pays IDLA $445 for that course, separately from the ADA funding.

The district keeps their full $8,000+. IDLA receives their $445. Your child gets a screen instead of a teacher in the classroom. And you, the Idaho taxpayer, just paid twice for the same student in the same course.

This is not good stewardship of taxpayer dollars.

The Numbers Are Staggering

IDLA’s budget has grown 158% since 2019. They now receive $25.8 million from Idaho. Nearly 29,000 Idaho students took IDLA courses last fall.

The most ABSURD ABUSE is funding for literacy interventions. Specifically, taxpayers are paying THREE times for the same struggling reader:

  1. ADA funding to the district
  2. Separate state literacy intervention funding to the district
  3. Plus payment to IDLA

All this for remote reading instruction that could be delivered by a teacher already in the building. The district keeps every penny of their funding while outsourcing the actual teaching to a screen. The K-12 Education Budget currently includes $72 million for child literacy and IDLA receives funding as well to teach literacy from the State of Idaho. You would think that after all that spending our elementary students would be fully literate at grade level but they are not.

Even worse, IDLA’s Launchpad reading program loses $1 million annually because it only receives $460 per student (state allocation plus the $30 district fee) while the actual cost is $843. That means taxpayers are subsidizing a program that costs nearly double what it’s funded for, all while the district pockets their literacy funding without providing the literacy instruction. This isn’t just double-dipping. This is taxpayers funding the same service three times while the program runs at a loss that gets covered by other parts of IDLA’s inflated budget.

In my work on JFAC and the Senate Education Committee, I review budgets and policy carefully. These numbers don’t add up to responsible spending.

They Know About This

Rep. Wendy Horman, who co-chairs JFAC, stated it clearly: “We need to make some policy changes to make sure that taxpayers are not paying twice for the same student in the same course.”

IDLA Superintendent Jeff Simmons has defended this model, claiming districts still have “responsibilities” for these students. But let’s be honest about what those responsibilities are: providing a desk and a computer. For that, they keep their full state funding (ranging from $7,000 to over $20,000 per student depending on district size) while the state pays someone else $445 to provide the actual instruction..

IDLA has been operating with minimal legislative oversight. Their founding statute hasn’t been updated since 2008. They have been allowed to grow and operate with very little accountability to the taxpayers who fund them.

I have always supported IDLA because of the educational offerings they provide to rural school districts and their students. Rural Idaho students have traditionally benefited from IDLA’s offerings. IDLA has refused to provide information to Representative Horman Co-Chair of JFAC (Joint Finance and Appropriations Committee) after multiple requests. Let’s get to the bottom of this issue!

I have and will continue to support online and alternative learning options for Idaho families. School choice matters, and rural students deserve access to quality education. But school choice does not mean wasteful spending or lack of accountability.

Private companies provide online courses for around $150 per enrollment. IDLA costs over $500 when you add up all the funding streams. That’s a significant difference that should concern every taxpayer.

Sen. Brian Lenney has asked the legislature’s DOGE Task Force to recommend defunding IDLA and allowing private providers to compete in this space. I believe this conversation is worth having.

Moving Forward

In my work on JFAC, I have been willing to make cuts where we can and work toward compromise on spending. I believe we are moving in the right direction, but we have more work to do. The 2026 legislative session is just around the corner, and this issue will be addressed through both the appropriations process and education policy.

I am committed to:

  • Requiring real accountability and oversight for IDLA
  • Ensuring that if we fund online learning, and do so efficiently and transparently
  • Protecting the hard-earned dollars of Idaho taxpayers

I am aware that not all my constituents will agree with every position I take on appropriations and education policy. However, I review and vote in accordance with what will be best for the people of my district and the State of Idaho. When I see wasteful spending or lack of accountability, I will call it out.

What You Can Do

Please contact your legislators and ask them to address the IDLA funding issue in the 2026 session. Ask them why taxpayers are paying twice for the same student. Ask them why IDLA has operated with minimal oversight for 17 years.

And please continue to pray with me for wisdom and discernment as we work to bring responsible budgeting and fiscal accountability back to Idaho government. Together, we can continue to make Idaho great.

Thank you for your continued support and for allowing me the honor to serve as your Senator.

Guest Columnist Jeff Pierson – Boomtowns and Burnout: Idaho’s New Industrial Rush

By
Observer Staff
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November 9, 2025

Boomtowns and Burnout: Idaho’s New Industrial Rush
The Aftershock of Mega-Projects

By: Jeff Pierson

Communities Strained

When heavy industry moves into a small community, it does more than change the landscape. It changes how people see themselves. Roads fill with trucks, lights erase the night sky, and the sound of turbines or compressors replaces silence. The transformation is not only physical. It is psychological. It leaves a cultural aftershock that no reclamation plan can fix.

Across America’s interior, new forms of industrial expansion, from data centers to energy corridors, wind ranches, and solar complexes, are reshaping towns that were once steady and slow. The pattern has become clear. Economic shock comes first. Cultural dislocation follows. What begins as civic optimism often ends as fatigue, mistrust, and loss of identity.

In Williston, North Dakota, the oil boom promised opportunity. For a time it delivered it. Wages rose, hotels filled, and the town’s population nearly doubled. But so did rents, traffic, and violence. Many teachers left because they could no longer afford to live where they worked. Long-time residents described feeling like strangers in their own neighborhoods. One local pastor said, “We went from knowing everyone to knowing no one.”

Sociologists now call it community strain syndrome. It is the stress that emerges when a town’s population, culture, and infrastructure expand faster than its social bonds can adapt. The result is measurable: higher rates of anxiety, substance abuse, and domestic conflict. When local government becomes overwhelmed, the sense of belonging that once held the place together begins to break apart.

The same pattern appears wherever industrial projects arrive under the banner of progress. In southern Idaho, the Minidoka region has watched farmland give way to transmission corridors and solar installations. Residents describe a quieter trauma, what one farmer called “the slow death of normal.” The view from his kitchen window used to be open fields. Soon, it will be rows of steel poles that hum in the wind.

Displacement is not always about relocation. Sometimes it is about alienation. When familiar landscapes vanish, people lose the sense of continuity that roots a community in time. Children grow up thinking power lines are part of nature. Elders lose the landmarks that once told their story. The change happens slowly enough to seem inevitable but fast enough to feel violent.

In Loudoun County, Virginia, home to the world’s largest concentration of data centers, residents have learned what invisible industry really means. The buildings are windowless and sealed, but their presence is everywhere, in substations, traffic, constant construction, and the unending drone of cooling fans. Rural roads now carry freight twenty-four hours a day. The sky glows white at midnight.

People describe a fatigue that is hard to name. It is not just anger about land use or tax policy. It is sensory exhaustion, the loss of quiet, of darkness, of rhythm. A farmer’s wife told a local reporter, “You can’t escape the hum anymore. It follows you into your sleep.” That single sentence captures the cost of technological ambition that planners never calculate.

Once a community begins to fracture, rebuilding trust becomes harder than fixing infrastructure. Residents who feel unheard stop showing up to meetings. Officials who feel defensive stop answering questions. Each side accuses the other of bad faith until silence replaces dialogue. This is how civic institutions die, one frustrated conversation at a time.

In every case, the cycle begins with exclusion. When projects are approved before citizens understand their scope, people feel deceived. When environmental reviews ignore social consequences, people feel disposable. The damage is moral as much as material. Trust, once lost, does not return through public relations campaigns. It returns through transparency and inclusion.

The Human Ledger

The true balance sheet of progress cannot be measured in megawatts or market capitalization. It is measured in stability, peace of mind, and belonging. When those collapse, the profit is meaningless.

Every place has a breaking point where growth becomes loss. The challenge of modern governance is to recognize that threshold before it is crossed. Williston reached it through oil. Loudoun County reached it through data. Southern Idaho is approaching it through energy expansion. Each tells the same story: when home stops feeling like home, no amount of tax revenue can buy it back.

Progress that harms the human spirit is not progress at all. It is a wound disguised as achievement.

Southern Idaho’s Emerging Community Strain

A 2020 study in Sustainability (Powerless in a Western US Energy Town: Exploring Challenges to Socially Sustainable Rural Development ) documented how rapid industrial expansion in Western energy towns eroded local identity, trust, and ecology. The same pattern is now visible in southern Idaho.

As data centers, transmission corridors, and mega-projects replace farmland, counties face the same imbalance described in the study: growth without adaptation. Infrastructure lags, governance weakens, and residents experience community strain syndrome; the exhaustion that sets in when a region grows faster than its civic and ecological systems can bear.

Without strong local authority and full-cost accountability for industrial expansion, southern Idaho risks becoming what the study called “powerless,” a host for outside interests rather than a self-governing community.

Principles of Growth

Southern Idaho stands at a turning point. Growth is no longer a question of if but of what kind. Every county, town, and valley now faces the same dilemma that has broken other Western communities: whether to let expansion dictate identity or to shape growth according to the values that built this place. These principles, grounded in liberty and property rights, exist to guide development through stewardship rather than speculation, ensuring that progress strengthens the community instead of consuming it.

  1. Sovereignty of Scale
    A community must govern the scale and pace of its own development. Growth that outpaces public consent or local capacity is not progress, it is displacement.
  2. Ecological Accountability
    All growth must respect the limits of the land, water, and air that sustain it. Industrial projects must prove they can operate without degrading shared resources or shifting environmental costs to future generations.
  3. Civic Reciprocity
    Development must strengthen the community that hosts it. Projects that erode public trust, divide residents, or weaken essential services violate the social contract that gives them legitimacy.
  4. Fiscal Integrity
    Public resources exist for public good. No private enterprise should depend on hidden subsidies, cost shifting, or ratepayer burdens. Every dollar of public investment must yield measurable public return.
  5. Cultural Continuity
    A region’s character—its quiet, rhythm, and sense of belonging—is a form of capital as real as land or infrastructure. Growth that destroys this inheritance impoverishes the community it claims to enrich.
  6. Duty of Scrutiny
    Elected officials and citizens share a moral responsibility to question and verify the claims of any project that seeks public trust. Vigilance is not obstruction; it is the foundation of good governance.
  7. Adaptive Governance
    Regulations must evolve as rapidly as the industries they oversee. Local ordinances should anticipate new technologies and industrial scales rather than react after harm occurs.

Will Jerome County or other counties in southern Idaho learn from the lessons of other regions of the country, or will elected officials repeat them, trading local sovereignty for temporary revenue and leaving citizens to bear the long-term costs? The measure of leadership will not be how quickly projects are approved, but how faithfully they preserve the human ledger: the stability, trust, and belonging that no balance sheet can record and no developer can restore once lost.

Note: This column is part of the Idaho 20/200 Unrestrained Development Series, © 2025 Jeff A Pierson.  To read the rest of the series, click here.

Gov. Little: Idaho LAUNCH aligns with President Trump’s Talent Strategy for America

By
Observer Staff
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(From the Desk of the Governor, November 14, 2025)

A new report outlines how Idaho LAUNCH is meeting the five pillars of President Donald Trump’s Talent Strategy for America.

We have seen the incredible success of LAUNCH in its first year all across the state!

  • 9% increase in enrollment across all institutions, with the Magic Valley experiencing a whopping 25% increase;
  • 18% surge in community college enrollment;
  • 15% increase in the number of career technical students;
  • 15% increase in the number of economically disadvantaged students going on;
  • 8% increase in the number of kids taking dual credit, meaning more students than ever before are thinking about college and careers BEFORE going on;
  • 16% increase in the number of Hispanic students going on;
  • an astounding 19% increase in students with less than a 2.7 GPA going on. These are students who may have never considered pursuing a rewarding, in-demand profession.

Idaho LAUNCH fits perfectly into President Trump’s vision for the American worker. With LAUNCH, Idaho is leading the nation in preparing our young people for rewarding careers in a dynamic workforce environment.

To read the report, click here.

W. Chubbuck Road to Close Monday, November 17 through Monday, November 24

By
Observer Staff
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(City of Chubbuck Announcement, November 13, 2025)

A new development located at 265 W. Chubbuck Road will be connecting to the City’s water and sewer infrastructure. To complete this work safely, W. Chubbuck Road will be closed to traffic beginning Monday morning, November 17th, through Monday evening, November 24th. Please find alternate routes or follow the posted detours. Thank you for your cooperation and patience.

**Update**Hawthorne Road is now open and will not affect this road closure.

Please refer to the map for clarity on the Chubbuck Road closure for the morning of Monday November 17th to the evening of Monday November 24th. The map shows where the road will be closed. There will be access to homes, neighborhoods, and businesses along this section of Chubbuck Road but thru traffic will not be allowed. Please follow the posted detour signs. This closure has been reviewed with the school district and they understand how to complete all of their routes. There should not be any water disruptions, however, if there is an unforeseen occurrence, the City will post on social media and send text messages to residents who are signed up with the text message notifications.

Bannock County Commissioners Meetings, November 17-21, 2025

By
Observer Staff
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(Bannock County Press Release, November 14, 2025; Cover Photo Credit: Bannock County)

Bannock County Commissioners Meetings, November 17-21, 2025

Monday, November 17, 2025:

  • There are no meetings scheduled at this time.

Tuesday, November 18, 2025:

  • 9:00 AM Business Meeting Agenda

Wednesday, November 19, 2025:

  • There are no meetings scheduled at this time.

Thursday, November 20, 2025:

  • 9:00 AM  Business and Claims Meeting (action items).  The agenda for this meeting will be updated on Monday, November 17, 2025.

Friday, November 21, 2025:

  • There are no meetings scheduled at this time.

About BOCC Meetings

The Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) is comprised of the three elected County Commissioners: Ernie Moser (District 1, Chair), Jeff Hough (District 2), and Ken Bullock (District 3).

The BOCC generally meets twice a week: regular business meetings are on Tuesdays at 9:00 a.m. and work sessions are on Thursdays at 9:00 a.m. Meetings are generally held in the Commissioner’s Chambers at 624 E Center, Room 212, Pocatello, Idaho, unless otherwise noted. Times subject to change within 15 minutes of stated time.

During these meetings, the BOCC may: approve contracts, expend funds, hear testimony, make decisions on land use cases and take care of other County matters, and are open to the public.

 

Guest Columnist Idaho Senator Brian Lenney – The $26 Million Question: Why Are Idaho Taxpayers Funding Teachers’ Side Hustles?

By
Observer Staff
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November 12, 2025

The $26 Million Question:
Why Are Idaho Taxpayers Funding Teachers’ Side Hustles?
Under the hood of the unregulated online learning platform where teachers collect unreported income and taxpayers pay triple what private alternatives charge

By: Idaho Senator Brian Lenney

The Idaho Digital Learning Alliance (IDLA) was created in 2002 to solve a real problem: rural students who needed access to courses their small schools couldn’t offer, like Japanese 3 or AP Physics. It was supposed to be Idaho’s answer to online learning, giving students across the state access to specialized courses through a state-run platform.

Twenty-three years later, IDLA has become something else entirely.

With a $25.8 million annual budget (a 158% increase since 2019) and virtually no oversight since its founding statute was last updated in 2008, IDLA has evolved into a side hustle for public school teachers who collect thousands of dollars in “unreported” income, often (allegedly) while they’re supposed to be teaching their regular classes.

If you’ve never heard of IDLA, you’re not alone. I didn’t know what it was until I got elected. That’s because it’s flown under the radar for two decades, operating as a “governmental entity” that’s not quite a state agency, not quite a school district, and not subject to the procurement rules, competitive bidding requirements, or accountability measures that apply to almost every other entity spending taxpayer money in Idaho.

Here’s what you need to know about where your tax dollars are going.

The “Off-the-Books” Payment System

Here’s how it works:

Public school teachers sign contracts with IDLA to teach online courses, getting paid between $87.50 and $170 per student enrolled. With a typical class of 30 students, that’s $2,625 to $5,100 per course, and when you add in bonus payments of $35 per student, teachers can pocket another $500 to $1,000 per course.

So, a teacher running multiple IDLA courses while holding down their full-time teaching job can easily make an extra $3,000 to $5,000 per course, which means that per semester, they could be pulling in an additional $10,000 to $20,000 in income.

And here’s the kicker: this money is completely off the books.

It doesn’t appear in the salary data reported to the legislature or in any public accounting of teacher compensation, which means the legislature thinks they know what teachers are being paid when they actually don’t.

The Problem Gets Worse

These teachers aren’t just moonlighting in the evenings; many are teaching IDLA courses during regular school hours while they’re being paid their full-time salary by their school district.

Think about that. You’re paying a teacher’s full salary to teach at your local school, and that teacher is also getting paid thousands more by IDLA, but during the school day, they’re managing IDLA students instead of focusing on the job you’re already paying them to do.

Why isn’t this prohibited? Why isn’t there a rule that says if you’re going to teach IDLA courses, you do it on your own time, not during hours covered by your employment contract?

What Are We Actually Paying For?

I’ve talked to IDLA parents and students, and the picture they paint is concerning.

This isn’t traditional teaching; there’s no 1:1 time between students and teachers, and students describe it as an email exchange course where you watch videos, complete assignments, and occasionally email questions. It’s correspondence education (maybe like taking a course on YouTube). Some have even had to hire tutors to help with IDLA because they said “the teacher doesn’t teach us anything.”

Is that worth $500+ per student per course?

Because that’s what IDLA costs when you combine the $445 in state funding with the $40 to $75 in fees that districts and students pay. Compare that to private sector online learning platforms, which charge around $150 per enrollment for the same format, the same correspondence-style instruction, at one-third the cost.

The PERSI Problem

Here’s another oddity. IDLA has roughly 80 employees (not counting the contract teachers), and all of them are enrolled in PERSI, Idaho’s public employee retirement system.

But IDLA employees aren’t state employees, and they’re not technically school employees either. IDLA is defined in statute as a “governmental entity,” but it’s not a school district, not a state agency, not an independent corporate body. They’re in a special category that lets them enjoy public employee benefits while avoiding the accountability and oversight that comes with being an actual state agency or school district.

IDLA teachers are paid more than many teachers around the state, but they’re not held to the same standards as school teachers because they don’t follow state salary schedules and don’t participate in the career ladder system.

Why Not Let the Market Work?

The state legislature funds IDLA at $445 per course enrollment while districts must pay private sector providers out of their own budgets, which means IDLA is “free” to them (paid by the state).

This creates a distorted market. Of course districts choose IDLA over private providers when they can pick the option that costs them nothing.

But taxpayers are footing a bill that’s more than three times what the private market charges, and we’re protecting IDLA from competition while paying premium prices for what students describe as correspondence courses.

If IDLA is providing value worth $500 per course, great! Let districts pay for it from their operational budgets and see if they still choose IDLA over cheaper alternatives (or let families use Advanced Opportunities funds to pay for it if they think it’s worth it).

But stop forcing all Idaho taxpayers to subsidize a program that costs triple the market rate and has minimal accountability.

The Transparency Gap

IDLA was created in 2002, and the underlying statute hasn’t been updated since 2008, which means for 17 years, IDLA has operated without much supervision, doing whatever it wants.

There are no procurement rules, no requirement to follow state purchasing laws, no competitive bidding on contracts. The board is mostly made up of school district representatives who are also IDLA’s customers, with only two independent members.

When an entity gets nearly $26 million in taxpayer funding, we should expect transparency.

We should know how money is being spent, whether teachers are double-dipping on public salaries, and if we’re getting value for our money.

Right now, we don’t.

What Should Change?

The fix isn’t complicated:

Maybe we should just stop letting full-time public school teachers teach IDLA courses during school hours… if they want the extra income, fine, but do it on your own time, and require that IDLA payments be reported as part of salary data so the legislature knows what teachers are actually making.

Maybe we change the funding model… let the entity that benefits pay the cost, whether that’s a district paying from their operational budget, a family using Advanced Opportunities funds, or anyone else who wants to use IDLA. If IDLA is worth the price, people will pay, and if not, IDLA will need to deliver better value or adjust their pricing.

Maybe we stop double-paying… if a student is taking an IDLA course during the school day, the district shouldn’t get ADA funding for that student while IDLA also gets paid. Pick one.

Maybe just kill it overall… stop funding IDLA directly and let schools and families choose what works best for them.

IDLA can continue to exist, but it should compete on merit, not on preferential funding that shields it from market pressures while inflating costs for taxpayers.

Idaho taxpayers are spending $25.8 million per year on a program that pays teachers off-the-books income during school hours, costs three times what private alternatives charge, provides what students describe as correspondence courses with minimal direct instruction, operates with minimal oversight or accountability, and enrolls employees in public retirement systems despite not being a state agency.

That makes no sense and it’s not fair to taxpayers.

It’s time for the legislature to shine some light on IDLA’s budget and practices, because the more people know about how this system actually works, the harder it becomes to justify maintaining it in its current form.

Guest Column – ID GOP Chairwoman Dorothy Moon: Taxation is Not Charity

By
Observer Staff
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November 13, 2025

Taxation is Not Charity

By: Dorothy Moon, IDGOP Chairwoman

Dorothy Moon, Chairwoman of the Idaho Republican Party

Caring for those less fortunate is one of our God-given responsibilities, as Americans and as human beings. The American people—especially Republicans—have always been generous. Surveys consistently show that conservatives give more money to charitable causes than progressives, and I think there’s a simple reason for that: unlike liberals, we don’t see government as the answer to every societal problem.

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) began in the 1960s as part of President Lyndon Johnson’s “War on Poverty.” It was built on the failed premise that government can cure poverty. Rather than giving struggling families a hand up, SNAP and other welfare programs institutionalized poverty for generations. People became dependent on handouts, believing that money comes from government programs rather than hard work.

I’m sure you saw the videos on social media of SNAP recipients complaining about not getting benefits this month—often recorded on expensive new mobile phones. You can’t make that stuff up. Yet those with genuine needs should not have worried, because the American people had their back. More than 300 food banks throughout our state overflowed with everything families and children might need.

Just last weekend, a group of young Republicans volunteered at the Boise Rescue Mission. This wasn’t a photo op or a publicity stunt, but real generosity by our conservative young people. I mention it to show that Republicans don’t need to be told to help our neighbors—we do it because it’s the right thing to do.

Government welfare is not real charity. How many times have you seen a politician vote to increase a welfare program, patting themselves on the back for their “generosity”? It’s easy to be generous with other people’s money. But as Margaret Thatcher said, the problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people’s money.

That’s the kicker: that money belongs to taxpayers. Taking it robs them of the dignity of giving of themselves to help their fellow man. Welfare crowds out real charity not only by taking money individuals could otherwise share, but by creating the impression that taking care of our neighbors is the government’s job.

And that’s not even to mention the overhead of offices and bureaucrats needed to manage these programs.

The renewed focus on SNAP due to the government shutdown should spark a conversation about how far government should go in addressing people’s needs. Do such programs actually work? Are they reducing poverty, or just making people dependent on government for life? Can private charity do a better job taking care of those who truly need help

Idahoans are generous people, and we don’t need the government confiscating our hard-earned money to give to those in need. I’m confident that Republicans will once again step up this holiday season, as we always have.

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The Pocatello Chubbuck Observer seeks to be a fair and objective portal, where readers can find the local, regional and national news, recent facts and entertainment.
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