IDAHO School Funding Reform
April 29, 2024 To: Idaho SOS – 4-29-2024 reply to AG Final Draft From: Joshua Palken Re: Comments from AG on Initiative petition We are confirming and following up on our telcon of April 25, and the letter from Deputy AG Adam Warr’s letter of April 10 addressed to you SOS McGrane. It certainly would have […]
REVISED DRAFT INITIATIVE PETITION (4-29-2024)
REVISED DRAFT INITIATIVE PETITION (4-29-2024) WARNING: It is a felony for anyone to sign any initiative petition with any name other than his own, or to knowingly sign his name more than once for the measure, or to sign such petition when he is not a qualified elector. To the Honorable Phil McGrane, Secretary of […]
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 LEVIES. (6) A charter district may […]
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 well justified… In particular I […]
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 to America to start a new […]
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 school system of the state […]
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 this article the push for […]
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 our entire state budget. That […]
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 Schools to the majority. And […]
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 call a “loan.” Bonds are […]
