OPINION: What kind of help is the Freedom Foundation offering? – Lewiston Morning Tribune

Idaho Freedom Foundation President Wayne Hoffman does not want to improve public education.

I dont think government should be in the education business, he wrote in 2019. It is the most virulent form of socialism (and indoctrination thereto) in America today. The predictable result has been higher costs, lower performance and a system that twists itself in knots to prove its educating kids when its not.

So why is the Idaho Freedom Foundation offering to assist you in selecting local school board members?

Of course, if that offer were sincere, the Freedom Foundation would help you decide which candidate would perform better at the tasks that really matter.

Such as implementing the mandates imposed by the Legislature and the State Board of Education.

Such as finding a way to offer quality programs in a state with the lowest level of per-pupil expenditures in the country. More often than not, that means finding a way to persuade patrons to voluntarily pay more property taxes to support academics and buildings.

Such as recruiting and retaining qualified teachers and staff in a job market where the Gem State typically finds itself at a disadvantage.

Such as finding ways to improve graduation rates and student test scores.

And such as serving as a conduit between local schools and their communities.

But those are not the Freedom Foundations priorities.

What the Freedom Foundation cares about, as reflected in its school board candidate questionnaire, is:

lCritical race theory and whether it differs from simply teaching history? Critical race theory is a graduate-level concept that eludes most parents and even some public school teachers. But that hasnt stopped the Freedom Foundation from blowing on a dog whistle that discourages giving even a remotely accurate rendition of American history in the classroom.

l Social-emotional learning. However reasonable dealing with the emotional and social components of learning a year after COVID-19 forced so many children to spend a year isolated at home, the Freedom Foundations Anna Miller insists that the new goal of SEL is to divert all educational resources toward political activism and indoctrination.

l Sex education. State lawmakers have more to say about that than school board members. Just ask state Rep. Barbara Ehardt, R-Idaho Falls, whos been trying to undermine it.

l The Idaho School Boards Associations recommendation that transgender students be allowed to use the bathroom of the gender with which they identify. Never mind that on this question, the federal courts decide. The ISBA is passing along those rulings.

l Face masks and other COVID-19 mitigation strategies. Theres nothing new here. From the start of the pandemic, the Freedom Foundation has lobbied for the virus and against anything that might restrain it. And when called on it, the organization would rather change the topic and shift the blame to Idahos hospitals.

Across the state, some 236 school board seats are up for election next month and 185 of them are uncontested. Even so, as Idaho Education News reported, 179 candidates are running in the remaining competitive races and that marks a notable increase in contests.

So far, fewer than 30 candidates answered Hoffmans questions. Within north central Idaho, Jon Lang of Lewiston as well as Larry Dunn, Bernadette B Edwards and Vincent Rundhaug of Mountain View School District filled out the questionnaire.

Is it any wonder? The school board candidate who responds faces a stark choice: Either get in bed with the Freedom Foundations agenda or risk retribution from the far right.

Nothing in this questionnaire helps voters, and it certainly doesnt help schools.All it does is conjure up wedge issues that polarize and divide. Who would do such a thing?

Someone who wants to get government out of the education business, thats who. M.T.

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OPINION: What kind of help is the Freedom Foundation offering? - Lewiston Morning Tribune