Gov. Butch Otter was asked today, at the City Club of Boise, whether he supports early-childhood education, as in pre-kindergarten, as part of Idaho’s public school system. Here’s his answer:

“I am supportive of pre-kindergarten education, but not at the state level. And let me tell you why. Before you say, ‘Well there’s ol’ Butch again, just like in 1974 when he voted against kindergartens, he hates little kids.’ That wasn’t it at all. Folks, remember in 1974, we had the same argument in ‘74 we’re having in ‘07. And that is we are not doing an adequate job now of funding grades half-a-day-of-kindergarten through 12. So when we arrive at a point when we are adequately funding K-12, then we’ll consider adding additional burden to that system.”

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