Sen. Janie Ward-Engelking
The Senate passed House Bill 377 in a 27-8 vote Monday in hopes of pacifying far-right lawmakers, who have held both the public and higher education budgets hostage due to unfounded concerns over curricula in Idaho schools.
The legislation, which passed out of the Senate Education Committee on a 6-3 vote the same day, seeks to dictate teachers’ discussions with students on certain topics such as racism and sexism — themes that arise throughout the United States’ history.
The seven Senate Democrats were joined in opposition by only one Republican. It passed the House last Thursday on a 57-12, party-line vote.
Sens. Janie Ward-Engelking and David Nelson spoke against the bill in committee and on the floor. Both shared the concern of creating unnecessary legislation, like HB 377, in order to pass budgets.
Sen. David Nelson
“Idaho education should be fully funded — no strings attached — especially when the state is flush with funds. We should be thanking teachers, not denigrating them,” said Ward-Engelking, the Senate Democratic caucus chair and a retired teacher. “This sets a dangerous precedent. Our appropriations budgets are being used as pawns in exchange for bad policy. It is like the boogeyman under our children’s bed; it may be scary to them, but it’s not real.”
“This bill attempts to fix a mythical problem no one can define and no one can provide any evidence that it exists. This has been a disappointing day in the Legislature to me when we deal with this divisive bill but have no time to deal with all-day kindergarten, remediating pandemic cost learning loss, or improve the pay for our hard working educators who have just experienced the toughest year of their careers,” Nelson added.
During the bill’s hearing in committee, Nelson asked numerous times for examples of students being indoctrinated in Idaho; no concrete evidence was presented. The Idaho State Board of Education also recently confirmed in a news conference this wasn’t happening in the state.
And while HB 377 doesn’t directly prohibit educators from discussing certain topics, both Nelson and Ward-Engelking said it will stifle their ability to teach difficult and controversial subjects, especially if funding is in question.
“Our children need to be taught an accurate and complete telling of history in order for them to form opinions and think critically to become good, global citizens,” the pair said following the vote. “We shouldn’t be making compromises when it comes to our children’s education and future. The price for Idaho is just too high!”