Archive of Blog Articles

School District Facilities Funding

Many of you have been asking for this information. Although, estimates are available for every Idaho school district only the estimated funding for District 7 has been provided in the tables included here. This is the analysis done by the governor’s office for both the ongoing distributions (often referred to

2024 Idaho Legislative Recap

The 2024 Idaho legislative session has now ended for the year. Rep. Heather Scott does a great job summarizing the status of each bill presented. Disclaimer provided below.

Milner Trail Letter Claim

Read and if desired, print this Milner Trail Letter Claim (pdf). Next, visit the actual claim form outlined in detail and click the printer-friendly pdf at the top of that page to print and get your claim filled out and signed. Milner Trail Letter Claim is a Letter to Citizens

Notice of Claim by Citizen To The State of Idaho

Printer friendly pdf version for Download: To: SECRETARY OF STATE STATE OF IDAHOP.O. BOX 83720BOISE, ID 83720-0080 (208) 334-2852 [email protected] Name of Claimant: ___________________________________________________ Mailing Address: ___________________________________________________ City and State: ___________________________________________________ Phone Number: ___________________________________________________ Email (optional) ___________________________________________________ In Compliance with Title 6, Chapter 9, Idaho Code, the undersigned hereby presents a

Citizen questions LEVIES and the MVSD BALLOT

Two citizen questions came up regarding pending MVSD Levy: 1) Can Charter schools run levies? YES and NO… AND ANOTHER GOOD CITIZEN QUESTION 2) Does the pending MSVD levy ballot satisfy the new disclosure law? First charter schools: Idaho Code Section 33-802 expressly PERMITScharter schools DISTRICTS to run levies. “33-802. SCHOOL

Breach of Elected Official Oath

MEMO A way for citizens to hold them accountable or even oust them from office… A CITIZEN REMEDY BASED ON FIDELITY BOND CLAIMS… So I have been considering if and how local elected officials can be forced to comply with the law – asking this question is a sad commentary indeed but

Our Founding Fathers – Would they support God in Schools?

Prepared by Joshua Palken (4-3-2024) So a sincere local citizen posted some comments here in support of charter schools which really have a serious problem that has to be pointed out. He starts with the very agreeable concept, that “If our schools today reflected the intentions of those who came

The Idaho Board of Education — What does it do?

Prepared by Joshua Palken (April 2, 2024) So the basics – the Idaho Board of Education (BOE) is an institution set up and mandated by ARTICLE 9 SECTION 2 of the Idaho Constitution which provides as follows: “BOARD OF EDUCATION. The general supervision of the state educational institutions and public

Levies for Charters Schools, not if but WHEN…

Short update on charter school levies that I found after I wrote my charter school memo… And that is: The restriction in Idaho – no levies for Charter Schools is under attack by the charter school movement – can and no doubt will change unless we abolish the levy now. See

Charter Schools Levy Solution or Tail Wagging the Dog?

Prepared by Joshua Palken (3-28-2024) Article 9 Section 1 of the Idaho Constitution recites: “The stability of a republican form of government depend(s) mainly upon the intelligence of the people.” I accept that statement and this is the legal and moral basis for education being the largest single portion of

Charter schools: Should we or Shouldn’t we?

Yes, but only if they actually SERVE the students. I do not know if this is true or not. But a LOT of people think this. Even if it is not true this is a terrible image that would have to be addressed before having any chance of selling Charter

Addressing the BOND side of the proposed Abolish Levy Initiative:

The State (and School Districts) have a completely separate process and source of funding for capital improvements which is authorized by Article 8 of the Idaho Constitution. This “debt” referred to in the Constitution is commonly known as a “bond” which is just the term for what we citizens would

The nuts and bolts of the Initiative process itself

A few questions on the process were raised by the MVSD Board and Superintendent. Of course there are many important questions – about the process, legality, wording, and legal impact of this draft initiative. In other words if they were to “endorse” this draft initiative what are they signing on

Initiative Abolishing the School Levy will need School District support

Initiative Abolishing the School Levy will need School District support Levies are a local civil war in every school district year after year, state wide. The pass rate of Idaho levies is fairly high, but the constant uncertainty makes school planning and administration inefficient, difficult and stressful. Levy supporters rightly

School Levy vs School Initiative

It would be nice to end the annual civil war wouldn’t it? “…the Mountain View School District 244 board of trustees voted unanimously to hold a two-year $2.9 million levy in May… details next week’s paper” We already know the details; there will be sound reasons for wanting more funding

Memo – “School Funding in Idaho – a Festering Problem”

Written by Citizen Joshua Palken – in Support of Citizen’s Initiative to Abolish Local Funding of Public Schools The“Abolish Levies and Bonds Measure” Preface Dear Fellow Citizens: I am a retired attorney willing to donate my time to improving the quality of life here in Idaho. I am sick and

Draft Initiative Petition

DRAFT INITIATIVE PETITION (2-28-2024) To the Honorable Phil McGrane, Secretary of State of the State of Idaho: We, the undersigned citizens and qualified electors of the State of Idaho, respectfullydemand that the following proposed law… WARNING It is a felony for anyone to sign any initiative petition with any name

Letter in Objection to McColloch Variance Application.

July 29, 2023 To: Kathy AckermanFrom: Joshua PalkenCc: Mr. Matt Jessup Re: Objection to McColloch variance application. It does not comply with the law – see below. (4 pages total) So we now have two (more) variance applications before the Board on the 8/1/23 agenda. (McColloch and Anderson) Perhaps some