Idaho’s supplemental levy bill has hit an all-time record this year. Property taxpayers will shell out $188.8 million in voter-approved supplemental levies in 2016-17 — up from $186.6 million in 2015-16. The previous high-water mark was $188.1 million in 2013-14, as Idaho schools were digging out from the after effects of the Great Recession. But the rising supplemental levy bill comes after Gov. Butch Otter and the Legislature approved 7.4 percent funding increases for K-12 for the past two successive years. Supplemental levies are a flashpoint in the ongoing debate over Idaho education funding/Kevin Richert, Idaho Education News. More here.

Question: Do you see now how the Idaho Legislature has shifted school funding to local property owners? Couple that with the move by the 2016 Legislature to freeze the homeowners exemption, and you have a Legislature that has stiffed regular Idaho Joes and Janes big time. And yet we keep voting to put these people back in office. Amazing. Thoughts?