No other state spends less on school infrastructure per student than Idaho. As a result, many students, especially those in rural districts, deal with leaking ceilings, freezing classrooms and discolored drinking water. Some students have to miss school when the power or heat goes out.
School districts often can’t build or repair buildings because Idaho is one of only two states that require two-thirds of voters to approve a bond. Some districts have held bond elections several times only to see them fail despite having support from a majority of voters. But the Legislature has been reluctant to make significant investments in facilities. Administrators say they don’t know how they’ll keep their schools running and worry that public officials don’t understand how bad the problems are.
Every time I meet an adult who is from Idaho, without fail they’ve been homeschooled. I may be mixing cause and effect here, but I think people don’t want to pay into the public schools because they don’t participate in the schools or would rather some religious fundamentalist with no training in education and whose program is held to no particular standard provide education to the children of their state.