The proposed raises don’t affect public schools, since K-12 salaries are set locally. But the pay recommendations apply to the state’s colleges and universities — which have used student tuition and fees to cover portions of the raises.

The state employee raises would come in two parts: a 1% across-the-board increase, and merit increases totaling 2%. The merit raises would allow agency heads “to distribute those funds as they see fit for retention and recruitment purposes,” according to a report from the Legislature’s Change in Employee Compensation Committee.

The next step will come Tuesday, when the budget-writing Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee is scheduled to take up the recommendations. Depending on what JFAC does, the committee might also need to revisit the “maintenance” budgets that were approved Tuesday. Those budgets — totaling $5.1 billion, according to the Idaho Capital Sun — included 1% pay raises as a placeholder.

But approving pay raises is only one piece of the puzzle, especially for higher education. Funding the raises is another big variable.

In past years, the Legislature has used general fund tax dollars to cover only a portion of the higher ed pay increases. That has forced the colleges and universities to find the balance from another source, namely student tuition and fees.

That’s what happened this year, when the state’s four-year schools increased tuition and fees for the first time in four years. The cost of pay raises was one driving factor in the tuition and fee increases.

The pay raises recommended Friday are expected to cost about $52.8 million. However, only $27.4 million of this money would come from the state general fund. About $17.4 million would come from dedicated funds — a catchall category that does include student tuition and fees.

The remaining $8 million would come from the federal government.

Survey: Idahoans trust librarians, support private school vouchers

Most Idahoans trust librarians to choose which books are available in public libraries, and a slight plurality would support a private school voucher program if it doesn’t drain public school funds, according to the latest public policy survey from Boise State University. 

BSU’s School of Public Service and Idaho Policy Institute released the results of their ninth annual survey Friday. Unsurprisingly, Idahoans still want the Legislature to prioritize education — it’s claimed the top spot among legislative issues every year BSU has conducted the survey. But there were some surprises in this year’s results.

When it comes to state budget priorities, K-12 public education was second to workforce and affordable housing, an issue that state leaders have largely brushed aside as a private sector responsibility. And for the first time in the survey’s history, more Idahoans than not believe the state is headed in the wrong direction.

Nearly 43% of respondents said Idaho’s on the wrong track. Most pessimistic respondents cited overly conservative political leadership, high cost of living and Californians and other transplants bringing different values to Idaho. 

Newcomers were about 20% more likely to say Idaho is headed in the right direction, while people who have lived here for 10 years or more were 8% more likely to give a negative response.

“The people coming to the state are happy with the direction, obviously, because it brought them here,” said Matthew May, survey research director for BSU’s School of Public Service. “But the longtime residents that have seen the changes over time, they’re the ones that generally have the more pessimistic view.”

And many Idahoans don’t trust the government to fix things. When asked which level of government — national, state, county or city — they trust the most, one third of respondents responded “none.”

Idahoans are generally so-so on the state of K-12 public schools. More than two-thirds rated the quality of K-12 schools fair or better. Fair was the most popular response at 37% followed by good at 29%, and poor at 24%. Just 4% of respondents said the quality of public schools is excellent. 

Those results are very similar to last year’s survey. This year, quality of curriculum was the most common reason (31%) to rate public schools fair or poorly. Another 17% cited low test scores and 17% cited lack of funding. At 15%, teacher pay was fourth. 

But respondents were much more likely to highly rate their home school district. Three in four respondents rated their school district fair or better and just 15% said the quality of their district is poor.

The survey also asked about specific education policies, including some of the most controversial gripping the Statehouse this session. 

One question gauged whether respondents would support a private school mechanism, through which the state would help private school families pay for tuition. Survey-takers were asked if they’d support a plan that allows parents to take the roughly $8,000-per-student the state spends on K-12 public school and use it to enroll their child in a private school. Here were the results: 

• 49% in favor. 
• 41% opposed. 
• 10% not sure.

Responses were divided along partisan lines. Most Republicans supported it, independents were evenly split and Democrats were more likely to oppose it. Respondents overall were more skeptical, however, when asked a followup question: Would your feelings change if the plan “could leave some public school districts with lower overall budgets?” 

• 42% said they would be less supportive. 
• 37% said it would have no impact.
• 13% said they would be more supportive.

“What this suggests is that public support for this policy may depend on the specifics,” said Lantz McGinnis-Brown, research associate with the Idaho Policy Institute.

Other surveys in recent years have tried to measure public opinion on school vouchers but got varying results based on how the question was posed. Two separate polls by the Idaho Statesman and the Idaho Education Association simply asked whether survey-takers would support taxpayer money going to private schools, and responses were mostly negative. 

Meanwhile, BSU’s survey showed Idahoans overwhelmingly trust librarians to do their jobs; 69% of respondents said they trust librarians to “choose the books that are made available at Idaho public libraries.” Here’s how the responses break down further: 

• 37% said “a lot of trust.” 
• 33% said “some trust.” 
• 15% said “not very much trust.” 
• 8% said “no trust.” 

Those results come as Republican lawmakers for the third consecutive year are pushing legislation to create new penalties for libraries that host content considered “harmful” to children. 

High school students to speak at Women’s March

The Idaho Women’s March is scheduled to return Saturday, and this year’s lineup will feature several young speakers, including 16-year-old Yvonne Shen.

“While we’ve come a long way when it comes to gender equality, we still have a long way to go, especially in Idaho,” Shen said in a news release. “The Idaho Women’s March gives us an opportunity to make ourselves heard on issues we care about.”

The march will focus on health and reproductive rights, according to organizers. Three other high school students are scheduled to speak, along with House Minority Leader Ilana Rubel, D-Boise, Idaho State Director of Planned Parenthood Misti DelliCarpini-Tolman and others.

The event is at 10 a.m. Saturday at the Idaho Statehouse in Boise.

The Legislature’s budget-writing committee began spending money Tuesday.

Divided on party lines, the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee approved “maintenance” budgets for K-12, higher education and other state agencies.

These maintenance budgets include nearly $3.1 billion for public schools and $684 million for the college and university system — but this is neither the bottom line nor the final word. Later in the session, JFAC will take up new proposals and new line items for education and the rest of state government.

“These are things that were passed last year,” said Sen. C. Scott Grow, R-Eagle, JFAC’s co-chair, before the committee began casting a series of votes on the maintenance budgets. “(They’re) status quo.”

But while the spending bills might be status quo, the same can’t be said for JFAC’s operations, which provide the budgetary backbone for the legislative session.

In past years, JFAC wrote most of its budget bills in a single shot, covering an agency’s entire annual spending. And most of these budget bills surfaced late in a legislative session — creating a logjam both in JFAC and on the House and Senate floors.

The maintenance budgets should go to the House and Senate within the next couple of weeks. If they pass, these bills will ensure agencies have a spending base for the budget year that begins July 1. And then it gives JFAC and the rest of the Legislature time to concentrate on new spending initiatives — such as, for example, Gov. Brad Little’s $200 million proposal to whittle down Idaho’s school facilities backlog.

“Our goal is to try to consider things more fully than we have in the past,” Grow said.

But Sen. Janie Ward-Engelking argued that JFAC was being rushed into a series of big budget decisions. Ward-Engelking, D-Boise, said she had only seen the maintenance budget requests Friday.

“I haven’t had the time I need to dig into every single of one of them,” she said.

The House’s JFAC co-chair defended the new process.

The details in the maintenance budgets have been available since September, said Rep. Wendy Horman, R-Idaho Falls. And when Democrats questioned whether JFAC would really revisit the budgets and the proposed line items, Horman noted that the committee has an extensive series of budget hearings scheduled over the next several weeks.

“We have every intention of meeting every day,” Horman told Sen. Rick Just, D-Boise. “You can choose to believe that we might not do that.”

The maintenance budgets passed on a series of 15-3 votes, with Ward-Engelking, Just and Boise Democratic Rep. Brooke Green in opposition.

Committees want a closer look at scholarship rule

House and Senate education committee members voted Tuesday to give themselves more time to review a state rule on the Opportunity Scholarship program.

The State Board of Education needs the Legislature to approve a pair of rule changes — which align with Idaho Launch, Gov. Brad Little’s postsecondary incentive program, passed in 2023.

The education committees signed off on a rule to sunset a Postsecondary Credit scholarship. But the committees held off on the Opportunity Scholarship rule change.

As of July 1, new students can no longer use the Opportunity Scholarship for community college. They must use their Opportunity Scholarship at a four-year school, or apply for Idaho Launch dollars instead. However, students receiving the Opportunity Scholarship and Postsecondary Credit scholarships will remain eligible for the duration of their awards.

Opportunity Scholarship rules would be updated to reflect terminology used in the new-look Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), which the U.S. Department of Education launched this year, said Jenn Thompson, the State Board’s chief policy and government affairs officer.

A few lawmakers had questions about the rule changes and suggested some of their own. Rep. Jack Nelsen, R-Jerome, doubted whether Opportunity Scholarship recipients who already have a General Educational Development (GED) certification should be required to take college admissions standardized tests, like the SAT.

Reps. Chris Mathias, D-Boise, and Lance Clow, R-Twin Falls, wondered how federal financial aid requirements limit the way Idaho scholarship programs can define progress toward a degree. The committee has “adequate time” to get answers before voting on the rules, Clow said.

Agency rule-making is a yearlong process, Thompson said, and the committee only has the authority to accept or reject rules. “You can strike a whole section, but we can’t edit the text at this point in the process,” she said.

The Senate Education, which considered the same rule changes Tuesday, voted unanimously to hold the Opportunity Scholarship updates. Sen. Scott Herndon, R-Sagle, said the committee should wait until it better understands concerns from the House side.

Bill to ban mask mandates surfaces

Four years after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, two lawmakers want the 2024 Legislature to outlaw mask mandates.

House Bill 396 would ban mask mandates “for the purpose of preventing or slowing the spread of a contagious or infectious disease.” State and local agencies could simply recommend the use of masks.

The bill would apply to school districts as well as state, city and county agencies.

The House State Affairs Committee voted Tuesday to introduce the bill, co-sponsored by Sen. Brian Lenney, R-Nampa, and Rep. Jacyn Gallagher, R-Weiser.

Without discussion, the Senate State Affairs Committee quickly introduced a bill designed to address school libraries.

It’s the second library bill unveiled in the first week of the 2024 session.

Dubbed the “School Library Material Care” act, the latest bill spells out a process to review — and possibly remove — objectionable library materials:

• School districts would be required to develop a policy for selecting library materials that align with “appropriate levels of maturity, difficulty and interest.” Library materials must also contain factual content “that is accurate, current, reliable and authoritative.”
• Districts would need to designate a library materials review committee. A school board could fill this role, or a district could create a committee of parents and guardians, educators and administrators.
• Any student, parent or employee can challenge library materials. The review committee would decide on appeals by majority vote.

The bill also calls for closing any school library that doesn’t comply with the law.

The latest bill differs sharply from the library bill introduced on the House side of the rotunda Wednesday: House Bill 384, the “Children’s School and Library Protection Act.” That bill focuses on obscene or “harmful” library materials, allows a parent to collect a civil penalty of up to $250, and addresses public libraries and libraries in public or private schools.

The bill introduced in the Senate Friday addresses only public school libraries. One of the bill’s co-sponsors, Sen. Geoff Schroeder, R-Mountain Home, is working on a separate bill on public libraries.

The Senate’s bill is not meant to compete with the House bill, said Schroeder, who added Friday that he has not read the House bill.

The Idaho Library Association is reviewing the Senate bill. “We just received the bill a short while ago,” President Lance McGrath said in an email to Idaho Education News.

The ILA voiced its opposition to HB 384 in a Thursday post on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Libraries are likely to be one of the most divisive topics of the 2024 legislative session.

In 2023, lawmakers clashed over several competing bills. Gov. Brad Little vetoed a bill that was similar to the bill introduced in the House Wednesday; a veto override narrowly failed in the House.

Analyst: State could weather recession 

Idaho tax revenue is down from the highs of the COVID-19 pandemic, but the state could sustain a recession, an economic analyst told lawmakers Friday. 

In a presentation to the Legislature’s budget committee, Erin Phipps, economy and revenue analyst for the Legislative Services Office, detailed revenue forecasts for the state’s general fund. About half of the fund goes to public schools. 

Income tax and sales tax revenues are the primary driver of the general fund, which should remain steady in 2024. Individual income tax collections are expected to rise, while corporate income taxes and sales taxes likely will decrease. 

Despite a recent income tax cut and a declining workforce participation rate, individual income taxes are expected to climb about $142 million. That means Idahoans’ personal income is growing, Phipps said, “which means the taxes on that income continue to come in strong.”

Meanwhile, sales tax revenue is expected to drop from about $2.3 billion to $1.8 billion. Housing is a major factor in sales tax collections, and residential construction rates have lately oscillated, Phipps said. Also, skyrocketing home values have leveled off after the Federal Reserve hiked interest rates to combat inflation. 

“When people buy homes, they fill those homes with things and babies,” Phipps said. “These home purchases result in consumer purchases and therefore sales tax collections.”

Overall, the state’s general fund revenue is expected to drop about 2% year-to-year, from $5.95 billion to $5.83 billion, by June 30, the end of the current fiscal year, according to a December report from state revenue analysts. 

Despite the projected dip, Idaho is still seeing “strong economic momentum,” Phipps said, and remains highly ranked compared to other states in terms of personal income, employment and population growth.

“My comment last year was that I believed Idaho could weather even a medium-sized recession,” Phipps told the budget committee. “I do still believe that.”

Lawmakers gave a lengthy charter school overhaul bill the initial go-ahead Thursday — even as they scrambled to figure out what’s in the legislation.

The House Education Committee introduced the 31-page bill, dubbed the “Accelerating Public Charter Schools Act.” That means the bill will now go public, and will come back to the committee for a full hearing.

Among other things, House Bill 386 would allow new charter schools to operate for six years, up from five years, while established charters could get a 12-year renewal. The bill would move the state’s Public Charter School Commission under the umbrella of the State Board of Education, making it a free-standing entity.

During brief discussion, the bill’s co-sponsor said the proposal would consolidate 26 years of charter school policy tweaks into one complete overhaul. For years, lawmakers have “fussed around the edges” of charter school law, said Rep. Judy Boyle, R-Midvale.

Gov. Brad Little’s office, the State Board and the charter commission have vetted the bill, Boyle said. The commission voted to endorse the bill in December.

But as lawmakers began their vetting, several of them seemed overwhelmed by the complexities of the bill. And the title, and the pledge to accelerate Idaho’s system of 78 charter schools, gave Rep. Steve Berch pause. “This sounds like more than just a cleanup, streamlining bill,” said Berch, D-Boise.

Fellow Boise Democratic Rep. Chris Mathias asked the committee to put off the printing of the bill, so lawmakers could have more time to study it. Rep. Ron Mendive, R-Coeur d’Alene, argued for introducing the bill immediately, which will also allow Idahoans time to vet. “We’ll have lots of time for hearings and things,” he said.

Mendive’s motion to introduce the bill passed unanimously.

House Education Chairwoman Julie Yamamoto said she could understand why colleagues are “reasonably concerned” about a complicated bill they’ve just seen. She said she wouldn’t bring the bill back for a full public hearing until the week of Jan. 22 at the earliest.

“Let’s give it time, let it percolate,” said Yamamoto, R-Caldwell.

Republicans propose repeal of constitutional barrier to school vouchers

Since the 19th century, the Idaho Constitution has barred taxpayer money from going to private religious schools. Whether that’s still the case will be a matter of debate in the Legislature over the coming weeks. 

A pair of Republicans Thursday proposed repealing Idaho’s so-called “Blaine Amendment,” a longstanding provision in dozens of state constitutions, now seen as a potential barrier to private school spending programs. 

Recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings have rendered the provision “null and void,” Rep. Elaine Price, R-Coeur d’Alene, told the House State Affairs Committee. Price and Sen. Brian Lenney, R-Nampa, are co-sponsoring a joint resolution to repeal the amendment. The lawmakers unsuccessfully pushed identical proposals last year.

Democrats Thursday questioned Price’s interpretation of Supreme Court rulings. In 2020 and 2022, justices evaluated similar constitutional provisions in Montana and Maine, respectively, and ruled that their private school tuition assistance programs couldn’t discriminate between secular and religious institutions. 

In other words, if state funds go to a non-religious private school, they must also be available to religious private schools, the court ruled. 

Idaho’s Blaine Amendment is “only null and void to the extent that we’re giving money to private schools and not religious schools,” said Rep. Colin Nash, D-Boise. “It’s not my understanding that we’re giving money to private schools right now.”

That could soon change. Repealing the Blaine Amendment is part of a broader “school choice” movement that seeks to direct taxpayer funds to private schools through mechanisms often called vouchers. 

Sen. Lori Den Hartog, R-Meridian, and Rep. Wendy Horman, R-Idaho Falls, leading “school choice” proponents in the Legislature, last week unveiled their latest proposal: a tax credit program for private school expenses. Other ideas for tuition assistance mechanisms are likely to follow this legislative session. 

Repealing Idaho’s Blaine Amendment could avoid a potential legal battle over whether religious schools could benefit from such a tuition assistance program. But amending the Constitution is an arduous process in itself. 

The joint resolution requires two-thirds supermajority support from the House and the Senate. Then, Idaho voters get a say — a majority must agree to the change. In 2012, Florida voters rejected a ballot measure to repeal their state’s Blaine Amendment. 

A slate of three incumbents won with relative ease in Caldwell.

Three sitting incumbents were re-elected in West Ada — with one incumbent trouncing a challenger who put more than $50,000 in his race for a volunteer post.

Incumbents also swept to victory in Moscow. And in Blaine County, an incumbent easily won re-election in a spendy race.

But there were exceptions. Kuna voters picked two newcomers and ousted a pair of sitting trustees. An Idaho Falls incumbent lost Tuesday night — but by the narrowest of margins.

Here’s the breakdown from nine key districts.

West Ada

Incumbent René Ozuna easily won the spendiest school board race in Idaho. Ozuna captured 57% of the vote to defeat Tom Moore, a newcomer who moved to Meridian in 2014, and Jeremy Cutler, a candidate who suspended his campaign and threw his support behind Ozuna.

Money was a big factor in this Zone 5 race. Moore loaned his campaign $50,000 to self-fund his campaign. Ozuna reported more than $9,000 in donations, including large donations from Meridian Mayor Robert Simison and several builders and developers.

Zone 4 incumbent David Binetti — appointed in 2022, after leading the criticism of West Ada’s pandemic-era mask mandates — won his race with 46% of the vote, defeating Miguel Deluna, a Moore running mate, and Mari Gates.

Binetti self-funded his first run for a full term; Moore was Deluna’s biggest donor.

A relatively low-key Zone 2 campaign ended Tuesday night with a seesaw election. Incumbent Lucas Baclayon, another 2022 appointee running for his first full term, pulled ahead and won with 51% of the vote, edging challenger Susie Schuetz.

Coeur d’Alene 

In a pair of high-profile Coeur d’Alene school board trustee races, voters rejected a pair of candidates backed by the Kootenai County Republican Central Committee.

Newcomer Jimmy McAndrew received nearly 50% of the vote in an open, three-person race, while incumbent Heather Tenbrink held 55% of the vote.

Tenbrink, whose four children have attended district schools, has raised $5,295 in her reelection bid against challenger Richard “Matt” Blatt. A U.S. Army veteran, backed by the Kootenai County GOP, Blatt raised $6,820, according to updated financial reports posted Wednesday. That included $300 from Brent Regan, Kootenai County GOP Central Committee chairman and an Idaho Freedom Foundation board member. 

McAndrew, Yasmin Harris and Mike Stavish vied for an open seat held by Casey Morrisroe, who is not seeking reelection.

McAndrew has raised $17,523, including $200 from former Idaho Lt. Gov. Jack Riggs and $50 from former North Idaho College trustee and state Sen. John Goedde, R-Coeur d’Alene.

Harris, also supported by the Kootenai GOP central committee, has raised $15,884, including $100 from Regan.

Coeur d’Alene trustees serve four-year terms. 

Nampa

The Nampa School District board of trustees will have two new members, after newcomers Stephanie Binns and David Jennings won their bids to fill two vacant seats, according to Tuesday’s unofficial election results. 

Current trustees Mandy Simpson and Marco Valle aren’t seeking reelection to the board, which has made some controversial decisions over the last year, including to ban teaching about gender identity and sexual orientation. 

Jennings, a real estate broker and district parent, narrowly defeated educator Adam Schasel. Unofficial results showed Jennings collected 51% of votes. 

The race attracted significant donations. Schasel raised $5,122, including $100 from Reclaim Idaho co-founder Luke Mayville. Jennings was backed by current board chairwoman Brook Taylor, who is not up for reelection this year. Taylor donated $492 to Jennings, the majority of his $814 in total donations. 

In the other Nampa contest, Binns secured 60% of the vote, over Jay Duffy. 

Binns, an educator, and Duffy, a general contractor, appear to have opposing views on debates around gender identity in schools. 

This year, Binns advocated for classroom discussions about gender identity. Duffy told the Idaho Press that he opposes transgender students participating in sports or using restrooms that don’t align with their birth and that he’s “tired of certain views being pushed upon our children.”

Nampa trustees serve four-year terms.

Caldwell

In three races with an ideological flavor, voters stuck with a slate of three incumbents.

In Zone 3, eight-year incumbent Travis Manning rolled to re-election with 63% of the vote. The former Democratic legislative candidate defeated Nicole Trakel, the wife of hardline conservative state Sen. Chris Trakel, R-Caldwell.

Zone 4 incumbent Andrew Butler captured 57% of the vote to win over Nicole Hyland, a political ally of the Trakels.

Zone 2 incumbent Manuel Godina won 55% of the vote, defeating challenger Ray Horrell.

The politics of this election actually began to take shape earlier in the year, when Caldwell trustees considered a policy to allow students to use restrooms and facilities aligned with their gender identity. At a January board meeting, Chris Trakel argued vociferously against the policy — which was tabled a month later. The 2023 Legislature later passed a law overriding Caldwell’s proposed policy; the law, still mired in court, requires students to use facilities aligned to their gender assigned at birth.

Kuna

Two incumbents lost big Tuesday night.

Hillary Lowe — the owner of Lowe Family Farmstead, a popular corn maze and pumpkin patch — captured 64% of the vote in Zone 1. Lowe ousted two-term incumbent Joy Thomas, a Democratic legislative staffer.

In Zone 5, a rural district taking in pieces of Ada and Canyon counties, challenger Michael Thornton won with 60% of the overall vote, ousting incumbent Russell Johnson.

In an open Zone 2 race, James Grant won 68% of the vote, easily defeating Kristi Hardy.

Out-of-state money factored into these suburban races. Lowe and Hardy each raised around $15,000 for their campaigns — including large donations from two Arizona developers with ties to a Kuna-area project, and large donations from two residents that reported a San Ysidro, Calif., home address, according to the secretary of state’s office.

In the spendiest of the three races, Thomas sought to counter Lowe’s support by tapping into a base of prominent Boise Democrats.

Idaho Falls 

With all votes tallied in the Idaho Falls School District 91 trustee race, unofficial election results Tuesday showed two incumbents easily retaining their seats. A third race was decided by a single vote.

In the Zone 4 race, newcomer Shay Ricks edged incumbent board treasurer Elizabeth Cogliati by a 359-358 tally, according to unofficial results. Ricks, a real estate agent, told the Post Register that he hopes to hold school leaders accountable to“abysmal” test scores. 

Incumbent Hillary Radcliffe collected 55% of votes in Zone 5, according to unofficial results. Challenger Melissa LaPray finished second at 38% and Kari Vogel notched 7%. 

A local business owner and consultant, Radcliffe is completing her first full term after winning election in 2019 following an appointment to the board earlier that year. 

With 62% of votes, incumbent Jeremy Westwood handily defeated challengers Patrick Jackson and Jordan Oseen in the contest for Zone 3. Oseen was second with 21% of votes, while Jackson tallied 16%. 

Westwood, a housing developer, was appointed to the school board this year following a resignation. 

The Idaho Falls Education Association endorsed all three incumbents, while the Bonneville County Republican Party endorsed challengers Johnson, Ricks and LaPray in the nonpartisan races. 

Idaho Falls trustees serve four-year terms, starting Jan. 1 following their election. Terms on the five-member board are staggered, and trustees for zones 1 and 2 will be up for reelection next year. 

Pocatello-Chubbuck

Incumbent Jim Facer secured re-election, earning 56% of the vote and defeating challenger Martin Simmons.

In an open race, Raymond Knoff also received 56% of the vote to defeat Marty Vizcarra.

Blaine County

One of the state’s spendiest trustee races turned out to be a romp.

Incumbent Lara Stone easily beat back a challenge from Bailey Brooks, commanding 76% of the vote. The candidates combined to raise at least $20,000 for their race.

In an open trustee race, Nora Roebuck captured 75% of the vote, easily defeating Phillip Rainey.

Moscow

Three incumbents swept to easy wins.

In Zone 2, Jim Frenzel won 71% of the vote to defeat Cody Barr. Zone 3 incumbent Dulce Kersting-Lark captured a 66% majority, defeating Gay Lynn Clyde. In Zone 4, Dawna Fazio picked up 72% of the vote, trouncing Jim Gray.