TWIN FALLS, Idaho (KMVT/KSVT) — Gov. Brad Little said he’s made education one of his top priorities over the past several years. Key initiatives include tripling literacy funding, building and expanding charter schools, and focusing on career technical education.
This past legislative session, the big topic was school choice, and Little signed a bill allocating $50 million for tax credits.
“This is just the next logical step,” Little said. “There’s been criticism of it, but it is means-tested at a level and it is overweighted for children with learning disabilities. That is what doesn’t exist in many of the states where there is a lot of criticism.”
He added that despite concerns over school choice, he still supports public education.
“In my heart, I’m always a public-school person, because I know everyone has access to a public school, and of course, it’s embedded into our constitution that we have that obligation.”
Another area of focus has been retaining and recruiting teachers in Idaho. To help in those efforts, teachers are now included on state health insurance and other state benefits. Little said that it has made an impact.
“We had too many teachers who were starting there in the classroom, and then they left and did something else. With our retirement system and our health benefits, we are able to retain the best and the brightest in the classroom and recruit students to go into the teaching profession.”
It’s not just future teachers. Other in-demand careers are also getting help thanks to efforts from state leaders. Idaho’s LAUNCH program provides tuition assistance for specific jobs and has been incredibly popular in the Magic Valley.
“CSI is really ground zero; that’s the place where LAUNCH is making a huge difference in enrollment and the kids in the Magic Valley getting an opportunity to better themselves,” Little said. “It is probably my one community with the most use of LAUNCH.”
Even with the expansion of education choices in Idaho and new options beyond kindergarten through twelve, Little said there’s still more to do to set students up for lifelong success.
“What do we do to make sure kids are college and career ready, and particularly that career ready part to when they get through their senior year, they either have a skill or they have a path to a career.”
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2025-08-23 14:01:00