The Blog at MSPC

Just two weeks ago, the state increased the mandatory bag fee from 8 cents to 12 cents. That’s already a slap in the face to families who are being told to pay more for a product the government forced onto them—thicker plastic bags that are worse for the environment and cost more than the thin bags people used for decades.

On day one of the application window for Idaho’s new parental choice tax credit, more than 3,300 families applied. That’s 200 per hour. Four every minute. Since the window opened at midnight, applications have poured in at a pace that’s impossible to ignore.

The appeal is obvious: if prices are too high, force them down. Unfortunately, economics doesn’t work that way — and decades of evidence show that interest-rate caps, however well-intentioned, end up hurting the very people they’re meant to help.

One poll might be a fluke. Two polls might be a coincidence. But three independent polls—conducted over more than a year, before and after passage—all landing in the mid-60s is not an accident. It’s a pattern. And that pattern reflects broad, durable public support.

Yet that’s exactly what’s happening. Longtime opponents of education choice are now claiming that Idaho’s education choice law is responsible for the state’s fiscal challenges. That claim may be convenient, but it is not grounded in facts — and it’s irresponsible to suggest otherwise.

Good headlines don’t make good policy — especially when the real effects rip through the labor market and everyday life.

A small group of agitators may be determined to intimidate parents, but the rest of Idaho shouldn’t let them. These meetings belong to families. The conversation belongs to the community.

When politicians start promising cheaper milk and lettuce, it’s time to check your wallet—and your common sense.

If the courts adopt the unions’ radical theory, Idaho’s tax code could be turned upside down, creating chaos for families, uncertainty for schools, and higher costs for everyone. That’s not justice—it’s activism at its worst.

Public schools and education choice are not enemies. They are complementary tools that serve the same purpose: ensuring every child has access to a quality education that fits their needs.

There is no mention of improving outcomes for Idaho children. Instead, petitioners spend nearly nine pages of the legal filing arguing they have standing and another nine pages begging the court to require taxpayers reimburse their attorney fees.

Moscow’s school board isn’t standing up for students. Instead, it's standing in the way of parents, punishing taxpayers, and trying to take choices away from Idaho families who need them most.

Think about that: a school board, funded by taxpayers, making decisions that affect families, students, and teachers—telling the press and the public to put their cameras away.

Yes, the state technically “met its goals,” but no one should be satisfied with half of Idaho kids struggling to meet watered-down expectations.

Grocery competition doesn’t just come from the store down the street anymore—it comes from Amazon dropping food on your doorstep, Walmart offering rock-bottom prices, and Costco selling everything in bulk. Albertsons and Kroger needed each other to stand a chance.

Opponents of parental choice in education are reviving their favorite scare tactic: the "voucher" boogeyman.

Idaho’s new school choice program is turning up the heat. That’s great news — because every school, public or private, should have to prove its worth.

Most Americans are unaware that the National Education Association (NEA) — the nation’s largest teachers’ union — enjoys a rare privilege: a federal charter granted by Congress in 1906. That puts the NEA in the same elite company as storied civic institutions like the American Red Cross, the Boy Scouts of America, and the U.S. Olympic Committee.

Add outrageous cell phone taxes to the major financial difference between living in states like Idaho and Montana, versus Washington state.

The fireworks of July 4 celebrate the ideals of liberty and equality. But July 2 was when independence truly began—when courage triumphed over fear, and a group of revolutionaries voted to create a new nation.