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Idaho school boards urge legislators to defend public education
Summary
Leaders from the Idaho School Boards Association told the House Committee on Education that local school boards play a vital governance role and asked lawmakers to partner with districts on student success.
Brian Piper, chairman of the Madison School District Board of Trustees and president of the Idaho School Boards Association, told the Idaho House Committee on Education on Feb. 18 that local school boards provide essential governance and oversight for public schools across the state.
Piper framed his remarks as both a defense of public education and an appeal for partnership with the Idaho Legislature. "Locally elected citizens providing governance and oversight of Idaho schools is a sacred trust we take pride in and need to support," Piper said.
Why it matters: Piper told committee members that public schools preserve civic cohesion, apply current research on how children learn, and provide social and academic benefits when students of differing abilities learn together. He warned against treating education solely as a market transaction judged only by test scores and urged lawmakers to look beyond narrow metrics.
Piper described his own background as a long-serving local trustee and as a professor at Brigham Young University–Idaho to explain his perspective on pedagogy and governance. He said well-run schools apply 20 years of U.S. research into instruction, rather than relying on "back to basics" models that aim mainly to boost standardized test performance.
He also urged legislators to use school board members and local education leaders as partners when considering bills that affect schools. "I would really hope that in the places where we have expertise that you would look to us as partners," Piper said, adding that school boards can help legislators process information and the local effects of proposed laws.
Piper closed by noting the scale of local participation at the committee hearing and offered the ISBA's support: "We are happy. Any of us would be happy to help you however we can in the important role that you play," he said.
The committee had no immediate action on Piper's remarks; they were presented as testimony during the hearing.
