Idaho’s new governor, Butch Otter, is behind the learning curve when it comes to Parents as Teachers, a highly regarded program that sends educators to new parents’ homes to teach them how to prepare their toddlers for school.

Rather than educate himself, he cut $1.5 million in early learning funding, which suddenly threw more than 2,000 kids out of the program and dozens of people out of work.

The move caught legislators, educators and children’s advocates off guard.

“There has been no discussion about the merits of the program,” said House Minority Leader Wendy Jaquet, D-Ketchum. “You just don’t, you don’t do it this way.”

Otter said he didn’t know who in state government was responsible for the program. That’s because he didn’t assign anyone. He said he couldn’t find hard data on its effectiveness. That because he didn’t look hard enough.

The two previous governors didn’t have this knowledge gap. He could’ve asked them. He could’ve asked Idaho Parents as Teachers, which has reams of data.

Even a quick Internet search would’ve produced these remarks from Dr. Edward Zigler, who co-authored a recent study of the early-learning program:

“School readiness is the most important benchmark in a child’s education. School readiness predicts everything, from whether a child is in the right grade to whether he eventually drops out or not. I know of no other study able to get rid of the achievement gap at school entry.”

A little more digging and he would’ve learned that students in Parents as Teachers programs have higher school readiness scores and were less likely to need help catching up. A University of Idaho study found that 87 percent of 5-year-olds in the program pass a reading readiness test. The national norm is 35 percent.

This is a program that ought to be dramatically expanded, not cut. Recognizing this, Congress is considering a bill that would funnel a lot more federal funding into programs such as Parents as Teachers. The U.S. Defense Department has enlisted the program to aid young military families.

Otter admits that he knows little about the program and its effectiveness, but he didn’t like the way previous governors had organized it. He says he was also worried that the feds were about to crack down on the state for the way it tapped Temporary Assistance to Needy Families for education programs.

But other states have figured out how to fund early learning without running afoul of federal rules; there’s no reason Idaho couldn’t do the same.

The Legislature was wise to invest in Parents as Teachers. Money spent now staves off greater sums in remedial education programs later. Plus, the state got the happy news last month that it could expect a $75 million surplus.

It’s true that new governors have a lot to learn. That’s also true of new parents. Both need guidance.

Maybe the state needs an early learning program for governors, too.