Idaho School Boards Association president urges lawmakers to defend public education

Brian Piper, president of the Idaho School Boards Association and chairman of the Madison School District Board of Trustees, told the Idaho Senate Education Committee that public education must be defended as “vital” to democratic society.

Piper, who identified himself as a professor of physics at Brigham Young University–Idaho and a long-time school board member, said the ISBA brought roughly 200 board members and administrators to the Capitol to ‘‘talk to you about the great things going on in our public schools, but also to share some ideas about where a partnership with the legislature is needed.’’

Piper urged lawmakers to support local governance, research-based teaching and inclusive classrooms. He summarized four reasons to defend public education: it sustains the civic fabric of democracy; it preserves research-based pedagogy beyond adults’ flawed memories of schooling; integrated classrooms benefit all students; and local schools produce daily, tangible successes. "Public education may be the only way to perpetuate the connecting cultural fabric necessary to ensure the continuation of our democracy," Piper said.

Piper cautioned against treating education like a marketplace and relying solely on standardized tests. "Back to basics drill and kill performs well on standardized tests but does not inspire and cannot measure creativity, morality, reasoning, or comprehension," he said. He also argued for inclusive classrooms for students of varying abilities, saying research shows academic and social benefits from integration.

Piper closed by urging continued legislative support for the state’s roughly 170 local citizen school boards and invited committee members to meet ISBA members at a scheduled lunch. He offered to stand for questions or continue later in the agenda.