Risch hurt schools

Sun., Oct. 12, 2014

When Jim Risch served as fill-in governor for Dirk Kempthorne in 2006, he called the state Legislature into a one-day session and rammed through a bill that eliminated $260 million of property tax support for public schools and replaced it with about $210 million in sales taxes. The recession hit and sales tax revenues tanked, decimating funding available for schools.

Now, Idaho public school districts are underfunded and critically dependent on supplemental tax levies for funding. That is just one of the reasons I’m voting for Nels Mitchell for the U.S. Senate. Idaho is long overdue for a break from shortsighted career politicians like Risch.

Mike Young

Boise

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