IEA Reporter Podcast

In this episode, we discuss the expiration of the Idaho Educator Career Ladder, the funding framework the Idaho Legislature has used for 10 years to provide predictable funding and raises to educators in Idaho. We’ll talk with IEA Region Director Jason McKinley, who works in IEA’s Region 2 in the Lewiston-Moscow area, and IEA Associate Director Matt Compton about what challenges these changes to may mean for educator contract negot...

This week, we take a brief look at the second week of the 2025 legislative session in Idaho, including a new bill trying to ban flags and banners like the Pride flag in classrooms. We also take a look at the impact of 2024's "BandAid Bill," which prohibits educators from providing any medical attention to students in their classroom. Boise Education Association President Lara Luthy and IEA Political Director Chris Pa...

This week we take a brief look at what happened during the 2025 Idaho Legislature's first week, including lots of talk about voucher legislation, and have a conversation with Idaho Education News Senior Reporter Kevin Richert. A 40-year veteran of Idaho journalism, Richert discusses what educators can expect from this year's session, the state of journalism in Idaho, and his observations after four decades of observing th...

The Idaho Legislature adjourned last week and the results for public education and IEA members were nothing short of monumental. 

Historic pay raises for both certified educators and education support professionals and the defeat seven voucher bills proved the influence of IEA members is real and important for education policy in Idaho.

In our final HOTLINE Podcast of the year, IEA’s Political Director Chris Parri and Assoc...

This episode’s topic is Week 10 of the 2023 legislative session. With adjournment likely next week, lawmakers are done with committee hearings and working through a long roster of legislation so they can go home. The Idaho Legislature is winding down its business for 2023 and, absent any last-minute surprises, this session’s outcomes for students, educators and public education promise to be historic. Those bills include pay raises...

In this episode of Idaho Education Association's HOTLINE Podcast, we discuss Week 6 of the Idaho Legislature’s 2023 session. Our panel's discussion centers on:

• The real fiscal impact of the session’s first voucher bill
• A bill requiring school districts to provide separate bathrooms and locker rooms based on students’ gender at birth
• A legislative committee’s rejection of expanded protections from abuse for school employe...

In this episode of IEA's HOTLINE Podcast, we discuss Week 5 of the Idaho Legislature’s 2023 session. Our panel's analysis centers on the advancement of the session’s first voucher bill earlier in the week, the outlook for Gov. Brad Little’s proposals on educator pay, attempts politicize traditionally non-partisan institutions in the state and a renewed effort to censor libraries. 

Joining  today’s conversation are:

• IEA’...

In this episode of IEA's HOTLINE Podcast, we discuss Week 4 of the Idaho Legislature’s 2023 session. Our discussion centers around bond and levy elections on March 14 and proposed legislation to limit school district opportunities to put such measures before voters (House Bill 58). We also discuss legislation (House Bill 114) expanding protections for educators from physical violence —  a problem educators face all to often — ...

In this episode of HOTLINE, we discuss the first three weeks of the Idaho Legislature’s 2023 session. There’s been quite a bit action around education at the Statehouse as those with a wide variety of perspectives about public education begin bringing their proposals forward. 

Our panel discusses:

• Three key factions among lawmakers looking to influence education policy
• An unlikely proposed amendment to the Idaho Constitu...

This episode of IEA's HOTLINE Podcast discusses Jan. 16's  2023 IEA Lobby Day, IEA members’ annual opportunity talk directly with Idaho lawmakers about their legislative priorities for making Idaho public education the best it can possibly be for Idaho’s students and families. 

This year, more than 150 IEA members came to Boise for this year’s event, which was one of the most successful ever. Our panel also discu...

In this episode of IEA's HOTLINE Podcast, we discuss Idaho Gov. Brad Little's recommendation to bring starting teacher salaries into the top 10 among all states — an extraordinary commitment to public education and the future of the state. 

Our  panel discusses Gov. Little's recommended pay raise for both certified educators and classified school employees and the positive impact such an investment will have...

In this episode of IEA's HOTLINE Podcast, we discuss vouchers — taxpayer funded government subsidies for private schools or vendors that syphon scarce and desperately needed tax dollars away from public school classroom. The panel discusses how voucher proponents cloak voucher schemes in benign language like "school choice" or "scholarships" and how other states that adopt the concept have not seen promised...

In this episode of IEA's HOTLINE Podcast, we discuss Idaho's decades of chronically underfunding Idaho public schools and cascading impacts it has on students, learning and public school educators. The panel discusses the Idaho Legislature's continued failure in meeting its constitutional mandate to provide an equitable public education to all Idaho students, how that failure creates uneven learning outcomes for stud...