2.24.2025 -- NLS -- HB 93, School Choice, and Taxpayer Dollars

On this episode with Neal and Julie, the conversation dives into the contentious debate over HB 93 and the broader issues of parental choice in education in Idaho. They discuss how a $50 million tax credit—if signed by the governor—would work in practice, noting that while it wouldn’t shift day-to-day operations in public K–12 schools, it could slightly improve student-to-teacher ratios by easing enrollment pressures. The hosts compare the costs of private versus public schooling, revealing that despite perceptions of private schools being prohibitively expensive, the average annual cost for private education in Idaho is around $8,500—only slightly less than public school spending per student.

The discussion turns to fairness and accountability: if public funds help a child transition from a public to a private or religious school, the state loses funding tied to that student's attendance, raising questions about whether such transfers are equitable. Neal and Julie also explore the concerns of mixing tax dollars with religious education, emphasizing that while parental choice is fundamental, taxpayers shouldn’t be subsidizing private institutions that can select their students or further religious agendas.

They reference insights from various stakeholders—including superintendents and Doctor Jeffrey Thomas from Save Our Schools—highlighting that while critics argue that public schools bear the burden of educating students with higher needs, the overall impact of this tax credit is limited to a small fraction of Idaho’s student population. Ultimately, the conversation acknowledges that an education savings account model might offer a more legally defensible way to expand educational choices without compromising public funding integrity.

This episode offers a thoughtful, nuanced look at how policy proposals like HB 93 could reshape educational funding and choice, inviting listeners to consider the balance between supporting parental choice and protecting the public education system.

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Transcript

Good morning. It is 807 on Newstalk 1079. I'm going to talk very candidly today. I mean, I hope I do that every day. And I say this knowing that among our listenership, there may be a wide range of opinion on a number of issues that we talk about, but most specifically when it comes to parental choice in education.

And I, I do absolute. My plan is that once this is over, whether the governor signs it or he vetoes it, that this leaves no lasting scars on my relationships with anyone. Okay. It's it's not worth that. So but I will say you you scan social media, you read the forums, you watch the level of rhetoric that that people have.

And I am amazed. Not in a good way, but amazed at the degree to which people seem incapable of adapting to something new, even fairly minor. E e we had a conversation earlier this morning about what's going to happen to the to the individual teacher out there, or the individual administrator out there. If HB 93 gets a signature from the governor and the state allocates $50 million for tax credits, they're not moving money.

They're not siphoning. That's a word I see a lot there that they are not siphoning money from K through 12 to fund this. What changes? What would be different for that teacher? What would be different for the students in that class? What would be different for the principal or the superintendent or the bus driver or not a thing the day to day experience for everyone in K through 12 right now will simply not change, other than student to teacher ratios may improve a little bit.

That might happen. So can I ask, first of all, much of the the fear out there is based on lies and mistruths that are and just false information. Maybe they are lies. Lies are deliberate, but sometimes misinformation gets out and nobody's meaning to. They're just repeating something they heard. But there are lots of things out there that are not true.

So over the weekend, I don't know why I spent my weekend doing some of this. So I've been really trying to be mindful and take at least a little bit of a break from the news cycle over the weekend. I can't do it completely, but, one of the things that I stumbled into because I was curious, you hear this all the time.

How much does private school cost in a state like Idaho? And so I wonder how available that information is. I'd like to know. So without much effort at all, I did find, fairly good list of private schools in Idaho. And there are a few dozen of them. It's not nearly as many private schools as there are public schools.

But based on the discourse around this issue, you would think the price tag for private school was 20, 30, $40,000 per year. And I just wanted to know. So when I looked at it, there were a lot and I mean a lot of private schools, many of them are in the Treasure Valley and in south central Idaho. There are a handful in East Idaho.

But when I looked at the the cost of tuition, I was surprised at how affordable it appeared. There were a number of them that were five, six, $7,000 per year. Yet a handful that were between 8 and $9000. And I thought, well, hold on just a second. How much do we spend as taxpayers to educate one child in Idaho on average?

Because a behaviorally challenged child or a special needs child is probably going to take a lot more resources than, just an average kid, sometimes you have kids that require very little. They learn quickly, they're well behaved. They get their assignments in the the burden. If you're going to look at children and say, okay, how what's this costing us to, to, to educate this child, they're going to be on the lower end.

Like we all understand that. But if you take the amount of money we spend each year, right now it's about $2.8 billion allocated to K through 12. And you divide that up among the number of kids in K through 12, which right now it's somewhere between 300 and 320,000 ish right in there. So I actually went highest at 320,000.

The numbers would be even bigger if I went with the lower number, but I went with the highest number that my research was finding just to counter my my own bias here. It costs more per child in public education than the average cost of private school in Idaho, which depending on how you. Yeah, you can look at an average part of the problem with, an average is that you do have a private school in Sun Valley that's like $39,000 or $36,000, like it's three grand a month to send your kid.

That's nothing to the millionaires and the billionaires that live over in Sun Valley. So they don't care that it cost that much. And to attract teachers and to, you know, to do all the things in a place like that, then that tuition is going to be higher. But for the most part, if you could eliminate the outliers, we are spending more per kid in public schools than we are in private schools now.

That's fairly close. From what I saw, the average is probably around $8,500 right in there for private school, whereas we're spending almost $9,000 per kid in public school. And I know there's some yeah, butts out there. And we could have the. Yeah, but conversations in private school, you're not paying for a football stadium. You're not paying for necessarily a big high capacity gym and all the sports stuff that goes along with it.

There may not be as big an offering for extracurricular activities like, hey, can we get all that? There is an apples and oranges comparison here, but don't let them lie to you. Don't let them have the the edge in the conversation. Based on suppressing this information that the average cost of publicly educating a child K through 12 is higher than the average tuition cost for private education.

It's not nearly not nearly as expensive as they insinuate. And can I also ask this question, which I think is a really important question. And it's it comes down to economics. The average cost per child is 80. We'll just say $8,700 K. Let's just make it easy. If you take a $5,000 tax credit, you lure them out of the public school with the tax credit, but you get to keep their $8,700 allocation.

The dollars don't follow the kids, even though that's a that's a mantra that we on the right talk about. Why shouldn't the dollars follow the kid? It's a great question. And in a different discussion and a different context, I could argue that's exactly what should happen. But in order for this bill to pass, passage required the proponents to be able to say this does not touch it a single dime of K through 12, which is absolutely true.

So for $5,000 that isn't coming from your wallet, your pot of money, you have lured a kid out of public education that you no longer have to teach, but you get to keep that money, at least in the big pot. I'm still not quite sure how all of it, all of it works out. Where does that money go?

Does it do they change the funding formula so each kid in the high school or the public, you know, did do they change it so there's a little more money going toward each kid that is going? I don't know how that works, but what I'm saying is, if you look at this holistically from 30,000ft, it's one less kid.

You've got to educate, but you get to keep all the money that would have been used to educate that kid. How is that not a win? So in about 20 minutes, we will be talking with Doctor Jeff Thomas, for whom I have the utmost respect. He's on the other side of this issue, and I'm sure that he's going to speak passionately about this.

And I look forward to the discussion. He now works for a it's an education activist group called Save Our Schools. I believe. And, they've been spending money like to, to, you know, politically to try and defeat House Bill 93. They've been involved in other, races and causes prior to this. But I have deep respect for Doctor Thomas because he was one of the lone champions against Common Core a few years ago, and you didn't get that very much.

You had a lot of superintendents that you talked to him privately, and they're like, yeah, it's not the best, but I can't really speak publicly about it, which I get, I totally get it's not a criticism, it's just an extra dose of respect for the courage for him to speak out publicly and say, we don't need to do this.

There are other curriculum standards that we should be adopting every district ought to be able to, have a choice here. So, he, you know, even though he's on the other side of this particular issue, he's, he's been. And still, I don't want to say that that it's all in the past here. We just happened to disagree on this particular issue.

Meanwhile, this bill sits on the governor's desk, and the governor, opened a hotline. I gave you all an assignment last week, which so many of you delivered on the assignment, which was to call the governor and make your voice heard. It's all automated. You don't have to talk to a live person. You can just do it from your touchtone.

And in about 30s, you can have your voice heard. Many of you did that. I wish you could have seen our text line. It was just blowing up, alive. It was great. Okay. Dan Bongino, you. I'm sure maybe many of you have heard the news. Dan Bongino is taking the position as deputy FBI director. He'll be working for cash, Patel and President Trump.

And he will not be doing his radio show beyond mid March. Now, I don't have a lot of answers. I know you have a lot of questions because Dan Bongino has been it really since Rush Limbaugh's passing. Dan Bongino has been a staple in talk radio for the last several years, massively big podcast. And, I have initiated some conversations with other show providers and I and that's me being transparent.

I'm not going to say who they are because you know, we don't want to give any. We do exist in a competitive environment, but we are actively working to replace. Dan Bongino is one of the first things I sent out this morning. It 5:03 a.m., something like that. And so we're we're hoping to have answers very soon, and I will if we have them.

And it's in play and we've got contracts signed. I'll have a, an announcement for you tomorrow. But until then, just know we're actively figuring out how to manage the exit of Dan Bongino in a way that we think you'll like. And we'll only make our our product here at Newstalk 179 even better. So we, I just want you to know, I know I didn't mention it right at the beginning of the show.

Got a couple of weeks left, I think. March 14th. Where is that? Did I, did I read that right? March 14th is his final day, and we will miss him. It badly, but we have some options and, look, look forward to, putting those in motion. So, this happened after. Oh, I'm speaking it. This is a quick sports story, and then I'm going to take a break.

Kudos to ISU. It's been a great week. They, beat sacks state easily on Saturday night. It's been a good, couple of games for them. They're now in third place in the big Sky and doing very very well. Good for them. Boise. Excuse me. BYU played on the road in Arizona and pulled off an upset there and won.

And as they exited the gym, they were met with this.

Oh, man. Yeah. Look at me now. You. Okay. Which is Bleep the the Mormons and Arizona was it I think it was Arizona I don't think it's Arizona State but Arizona. They issued a statement of apology and said that does not represent who they are and what they stand for. Well maybe maybe not officially, but your fans representing themselves.

It was otherwise. So you know what? What is it? We always say if you want to find out who people are, just listen to them. And that's apparently who Arizona's fans are. We'll be back just ahead after this. On Newstalk 179, about 10 to 12 minutes away from Doctor Jeffrey Thomas from Save Our Schools to join us to talk about his opposition to House Bill 93.

It's coming up, Julie. I feel like we're going clubbing.

I don't know what that means, but I'm like, what does clubbing mean? I don't know, not with like seals and, you know, like but baseball bats, not with bunnies out on the desert. Oh, no. It's only a portion of our audience that got that joke. If you're if you're listening in Mud Lake, that means something different than if you're in LA.

All right, welcome back to 085421079. It's Neil Arsenal with Julie Mason. So we had a request for us to do a flagpole on HB 93. I can tell you right now it would probably be about 90% in favor of H B 93 and maybe 10% opposed to it. Our our audience very much in favor of it.

Right? Right. Sorry. Answering our upcoming guest. Oh, I got a question, so I'm making sure we're good. Okay. Yes. All right. Already I've received some suggestions for Bon Gino's replacement, which we always appreciate. And to which I will not reply. And there has been some good requests. It's been interesting. I you know, I think that there will be a, like a SRO for.

So I don't know if Sarah was the right word. Yeah. Sadness, an emptiness missing Bongino. For some of our people, it will be hard on them. Yeah, he is very, very good. And people like his no nonsense tough talk. Yeah, we don't get enough of that. You know, I'm get. I am going to miss that. And once in a while because he's got a bit of a potty mouth.

And you'll hear some words that you wouldn't necessarily want your own children to say or maybe even hear. But I appreciate how gritty and authentic he is. He he speaks his mind and there's a certain level of, of appreciation I can have for that. Yeah. Yeah I think a lot of people do. Yeah. Hopefully we can fulfill that same just and a little bit of different fashion with the people that we're looking at.

Yeah. Okay. Julie, this text came in, we chatted about this, a few minutes ago. My wife, superintendent, told all of them that if this bill passes, some of them may lose their jobs. But to be fair, any time a new levy comes up, he always tells them that as well. Why would any superintendent say that to any teacher?

That there is no job losing going on because of this? That, oh, there's absolutely no job. K through 12 remains whole. I'm sure there's a place. And if I spent a few minutes on the internet, I could figure out how many vacant teaching positions there are in Idaho, because there are. Yeah. So if there's vacant teaching positions, why are you going to lose your job?

Hey, it's just not going to happen. I'm almost I don't have this kind of time or energy, but if I had more time and energy, I would text this listener back and say, you know what? Tell me, who is this superintendent? I won't mention your wife, but I might reach out and say, why are you telling your employees this?

You're creating a culture of fear so that you can manipulate them into going out and voting against it, or or lobbying others to vote against it. It's just manipulation in industries. All right. It's 831 on Newstalk 179. We're going to take a little bit of a news break and a commercial break. When we come back, Doctor Jeffrey Thomas will join us.

We're going to we're going to we're going to hash it out over HB 93. And looking forward to hearing from him about it right here on Newstalk 107. Name. Get out of the car before it was completely engulfed in flames. Idaho State Police are now investigating the two people involved in the helicopter crash on Thursday have now doctor Jeffrey Thomas, can you hear us?

I'm going to mute and then unmute. Okay. I think your mic might be muted. Are you there, doctor Thomas? I don't see levels. If you can hear us, we're not able to hear you. Sometimes we need you to disconnect and then reconnect on occasion. We have to do that. So if you would maybe disconnect from this zoom and then reconnect in.

I just asked him if he could hear us on the zoom link. Okay. He's answering. He said no. Okay. Oh, it says I'm not connected to I'm the problem. Okay. Why is this not join audio? Okay. Now, doctor Thomas, can you hear us? Yes. Good morning. How are you folks? Good. How have you been? You know, for an older guy, I'm doing well.

Good. Well, good. Juliana. Well, Julie's almost 52. Yeah. Next month. And, guys, are you guys you're whippersnappers? Yeah. How's your family, doctor Thomas? They're doing well. Yeah. Generally, I have five children and seven grandchildren. The best, most intelligent, beautiful, wonderful, talented grandchildren on the planet. Yeah. How so? Yeah, because my two were the best and most intelligent.

We all have the same grandchildren. That's true. Yeah. I love the grandkids. Yeah, and the kids too. But good for you. Oh, there's some days I don't love the kids that much. The grandkids are way more enjoyable. So much. You know, I, I walk into the room and I'm a rock star with the grandkids. It's like it's grandpa.

Yeah, I it's so true. So are you still in Madison County or do you live somewhere else now? No. Generally. And I live in Chubbuck. We relocated. I teach for ASU. Yeah, I'll be retiring at the end of the semester, but, so I teach here. I used we moved down here to it. Most of our kids live in Utah, so it's.

And Rexburg is just a long way from anywhere. Yeah. And, so it's just really nice to be close to the grandkids. Okay. Good for you. And it's a bit warmer too, which is nice. Yeah. That's that that elevation, that few hundred feet of elevation makes a big difference. It does, it does. They don't call it iceberg for nothing.

Yeah. That's that's you looking forward to retirement I am yeah I had a significant health scare here about six months ago. And I told generally I just said, you know, it's just life is too short. We better wrap it up and, retire and travel and visit kids and grandkids and do all the things that retired people do.

Yeah, well, I hope you're feeling better. Well. Thank you. Yeah. We've got a great medical team down here in, Pocatello. And and they treat me well. And the the the prognosis is positive, so I'm excited about that. Good. All right, doctor Thomas, we're about 20s away. If you'll stand by. Oh, I thought we were done. Oh, well, okay.

All right. As always, attendants to stand up for Idaho's town hall is free, but donations are greatly appreciated. Stand up for Idaho's weekly town hall. Wednesday, February 26th. Snake River events under Shiloh in 780 Lindsey Boulevard, Idaho Falls, 6:30 p.m.. Doors open at 5:30 p.m.. Join me, Guy Benson, every weeknight 8 to 11 only on Newstalk 179. It's 836 on Newstalk 1079.

Neil Larson along with Julie Mason and we're pleased to be joined by Doctor Jeffrey Thomas, who has dedicated his life to education. Doctor Thomas, I was actually telling our audience earlier, how years ago, you really kind of led out on opposing Common Core. You were concerned about those, standards and and what it meant for Idaho.

And even though we're probably going to be on opposite sides of this latest discussion about House Bill 93, I was just giving you some kudos about, being courageous enough to stand up, during that pretty tumultuous time. So we welcome you to the program this morning. Well, good morning, and thank you so much for the kind invitation and the kind words.

And, by the way, I want you guys to know Neil and Julie, that even though we might agree to disagree on this one, I still love you. Okay, well, like I say, I feel the same. You. I don't even know if you remember this. Doctor Thomas, but you you were the superintendent of Madison, schools.

You brought me a Madison like, athletic workout kind of shirt. I still have that in my closet at home and wear it from time to time, so. Well. That's fantastic. Well, now I need to bring you guys some ESU swag. Yes. Oh, me. Because Neil has a ton because he works there. So yeah. Oh, look me up doctor I will, I will, I will.

So just don't you know when you see me come and don't lock the doors in the station. Well that's true. Well, I know a lot of our listeners, especially in the Rexburg area, just have deep, deep respect for you. Really quick update. You have since relocated from Rexburg to Chubbuck. You work for Idaho State University, but you're about to retire soon.

That's correct. Yeah. Well, Len, hanging it up at the end of the semester. Okay. Well, we we sure hope you enjoy your your retirement, doctor Thomas, let's talk about House Bill 93. It is now sitting on the governor's desk. It's been a few years in the making. Those of us on this side call it parental choice, that we believe that parents have the right as parents to make as wide possible choice for education for their kids, as is is feasible.

But those who are within public education and there are others as well, they see it a different way. Their concerns about diverting money away from K through 12, about accountability within whatever choice those parents may make. And you've been one of the those who have been vocally against House Bill 93. So I just want you to to take a couple of minutes and make your case as to why you hope the governor vetoes this.

Well, thank you. And thank you for giving me the again, for the opportunity. I think number one for me, and it has been and it remains I don't believe this bill is conservative, and I don't think a conservative legislative approach is to risk 50 or $70 million or whatever it might be on an unproven venture.

So that was always number one. I just like well, that's not a conservative approach to legislation. Secondly, I think it's I'm really concerned about the, and any violation of the Idaho Constitution of using tax dollars for religious purposes, because when you mix government and religion, you get government. And when you mix politics and religion, you get politics.

And, I think private and parochial schools, church based schools, those are voluntary. Those are paid for voluntarily. Our free will offering to send your kids to whatever. But I don't think that tax dollars should be used for religious purposes. I grew up in the Midwest, in the religious minority, and I went to public school. But there were two major other religions that had, their own church schools, and they wouldn't take me because I wasn't a member.

And that's okay. So those are their, churches and their schools. But I don't think that tax dollars should be used to support any institution that can be selective in the students that they take. So that's one thing about public education. It's it's wide open. We take everyone regardless of ability or handicap and condition, religion, background, you know, income level doesn't matter.

We we welcome every child. And so I just don't want my tax dollars going to support religion. I think it's a violation of the Blaine Amendment thanks to a violation of the Constitution. And, I do believe that, all things being equal, that if, public schools, when they receive tax dollars, there's a whole host of stringent requirements that we have to follow to utilize those funds.

Will that be the same for our private or parochial schools? Will they still or will they be required to have Common Core, for example? And I've got a different word, for Common Core, which I won't use because we're in mixed company. But, you know, would they, would they be have the same testing requirements, the same curriculum requirements, the same expectations, and so on, so forth.

And so those are and then I worry about and I'll wrap it up really quick here. But I see this voucher scheme as a subsidy for the rich. So let's take Neal for example, let's say Neal is just super wealthy and he's going to go out and buy a Mercedes. And the government says oh no. Hey by the way here's $5,000 towards the purchase of your Mercedes.

You go oh well thanks I was going to buy one anyway. But hey thanks for the money. But a poor person says even with five grand I can't begin to pay for it. And so that's a concern for me. And the fact that the vast swaths of Idahoans won't have access to, private or parochial schools. And so, they do in the Boise Valley and they do in Twin Falls and other areas.

But there's a big chunk of Idaho that, parents really can't, access some of these other avenues. And last but not least, I believe that parents already have complete choice and complete freedom on where to take their child. You want to sell them to public schools, you want to, homeschool them. You want to take them to a private or parochial school.

You know, if that's available in your area, you can do online schools. I mean, there's a whole host of choice and there are no restrictions on regards where parents can take their children. So I think this, parental freedom or parental choice is a little misleading in the title, but those are some of them are main things for me.

I just I don't want my tax dollars supporting, selective and can be voluntarily selective private and church schools, especially church schools. Yeah. I don't want to pay for some other church's indoctrination of their young. So so that's kind of where I'm at. So and none of these questions that we're asking you are designed as gotcha questions. But I you know, I, I am curious then if you go to BYU Idaho, you can go on a Pell Grant.

You can use a Pell Grant at BYU Idaho. If you go to BYU Idaho, you can use if you qualify, you can use the governor's lunch program for those just coming out of high school. All of that is public money that will be educating, a young person. And now this is post-secondary. They're going to college. Right. But at the same time, based on what you just told us, that would be in violation of your principle of using tax money, going to private, religious education.

So based on that, are you opposed to the governor's lunch program and are you opposed to BYU? I students being able to use Pell Grants. I had this exact same discussion with Wendy Harmon and I. I really like Wendy personally, and I respect her. She's a person of deep and wide intelligence. But my point, my point to her was, as it will be to you, is that I recognize that there have been some bleed over moneys used, for these, you know, educational purposes.

But I don't want to open the wound any further and sanction it. And the K-12 level. And, you know, I support the governor's launch program, and I can't say to support every aspect of where the money is utilized. And that's part of the problem, too, is that once you start opening that door, the Campbell puts in the nose and then the head, and pretty soon the Campbell's in the tent and you're outside the tent.

And so that's kind of my, concern with it. All right. So we talked about that was your number two concern. Let's talk about a different concern that you had. I think it might have been number three of the things that you listed. You're worried about the guardrails that the standards won't be as high as for a student at, a private school as it would be at a public school.

Wendy Horman has put those restrictions in place. In fact, homeschool parents are a little frustrated because they feel like now, this this new tax credit is too restrictive. So when she was asked to put those guardrails in place, she did. But that keeps being brought up. So can you explain why that wasn't enough? Oh well, what I would say is this, and I think Neil mentioned this earlier in the broadcast, is the fact that, you know, what public schools do is we have some children that are with us from basically age three to age 21.

And, you know, they have special needs kids and especially this severe needs children. So we have kids that are up to age 21 that are with us and we are doing I mean, the people that work with these kids are doing the Lord's work because they're just trying to get them, you know, to learn how to make a bed and tie their shoes and their their severe needs.

My, my question isn't so much about, you know, the academic rigor of private or parochial schools, but what is the incentive? For these schools, which, routinely turn down severe needs kids. So we are obligated by law to take them, and we're happy to do so. But will the church or the private school be required to take these children?

I I'm very curious to see if they they do because, in my time in Idaho, I haven't seen that. And so that's my concern is the fact that private and church schools can say, well, you know, we just don't we don't have room or we don't have this. And then there's no legal obligation to take the kids that are can be quite challenging to work with.

So I'd be curious to see if that demographic would change with those schools if this bill passes. So let me let me ask a follow up to that, because I have heard that criticism, and I think out of the a paradigm of fairness, I can understand the motivation for that question of if the if the public schools have to take these challenging situations on, then the private schools should have to.

But but the but the best thing is to find the best place for that child. And private schools, a lot of them are not going to be properly ready or equipped or, or, you know, have the expertise and the people in place. So it's not going to be a great place for that. That child who's disabled or has special needs anyway.

And, and so I, I, I guess my point here is public education has long talked about how challenging it is to have overcrowded classrooms. This helps alleviate some of that. By law, if HB 93 is signed by the governor this week, no, not a single dime gets quote unquote siphoned off of K through 12. So they keep all the resources they have any way that they can devote even more so to help these special needs children and other children as well.

So I guess I would ask, who gets hurt by this? Who is actually hurt? If we take additional money in the form of a tax credit, we offload some of the burden from public schools. They get to keep all their money. Who gets hurt by it? Well, I think, we don't public schools don't get to keep all the money because if students, leave the public system and they go to a private or parochial system, that money, they so you get paid by the state per child that you have in your system, but not just on the number of students, but also on their average daily attendance.

And so, you let's say you have 100 kids, so you get money for 100 students, and then if the average attendance is 93%, that's the that's the money you get. You don't get the full 100 to begin with. So that's number one. And so if students leave, it does financially impact the public schools because they don't get the money because they used to be enrolled in public ed, the schools just don't get the money.

But I'm sure it's also true if they go to a charter school. I mean, it's a it's a school losing some money, but that's not a private school issue, particularly. That's an issue. Just when parents make a choice for their kid to go somewhere else. Knowing you're exactly right, Neal. You know, you're you're exactly right with the charter school thing.

And that's why I think part of the education budget has ballooned so much is because, again, with charter schools, but even public charter schools, you're creating another parallel system to the traditional, school district. And so, for example, it would be like having, a police force for Idaho Falls, and then you have a charter police force instead of black and white cars.

They have red, white and blue cars or a charter ambulance system or a charter library system. Well, you have to generate more money to cover the additional personnel, administration, custodial services, transportation and a whole host of other things. And so as you've watched the, charter school movement grow, you know, the public, it's just you have to pay for more.

And, so, yeah, so what if you feel like this is the only option that should be provided, because it sounds like charter is also falling subject to your your four things that you were talking about. So if you feel like this is the only option that should be available to children, what do you say to the parent who says public school is not meeting my child's needs?

Well, you know, and and it's a great question, Julie, because in this country there's always been parental choice. We've always had homeschooling. We've always had private schooling. And then in about the 1830s, 40s, we started to get public schooling. But, you know, so there's always been a wide array. And I'm not against charter schools per se. I just, the thing is, is when you create a new system or a new school, you have to provide money for that.

And so, I, I'm not I wouldn't ever begin to tell a parent, you can't take your child where you think is the best fit for your child, but don't ask me to pay for it if it's going to be private or parochial. So the thing about most charter schools are most charter schools are public, so they fall into the same guidelines and, expectations that traditional public schools have it.

Okay. Well, well, I, I just to be honest, Doctor Thomas, I'm actually already paying for it. It is my tax dollars and every other parents tax dollars. So if if you're you're saying to the person, sorry, this is what we have and if it doesn't meet it, you can go somewhere else. But we're going to keep your money so that, that, you know, it's not we don't keep their money per se, because if they take if their child isn't in our system, we don't get any revenue for them.

But I'm still paying them next year. But I as a parent, I'm still paying the money. Yeah. Well, you know, Julie, you make a really good point. But here's another point. I'm paying for a lot of things in the state that I don't use. You know, there's state parks I don't go to and some state roads I don't drive on.

And, you know, thank the good lord that there's ambulance services I haven't had to use. So so one I got word there, but you just said you're you sound willing to pay for those things that you don't end up using, right? I mean, right, so why not why not a why not a parental choice option. Because there's going to be plenty of parents who don't use it.

I mean, we're guessing somewhere around 95%, 95% of parents aren't going to use this. This tax credit option. So if there's plenty of parents who are choosing not to use it, it just falls into the, you know, the national parks and the public parks and the ambulance service and the libraries. There's a lot of people who don't go to libraries.

Right? Right. Well, that's also a choice, you know? Yeah, we pay for that. You can utilize that system if you wish to. But if you choose not to, that's that's a choice that you're making. But it's still there. It's like a public park. I may not walk my dog around the public park, but I've paid to help for everyone to use it.

And it's like, public education is one of the greatest blessings of this nation is the fact that we all pitch in to educate children. We don't know, your children and grandchildren and mine and others. And, you know, we've always done this as a nation because we want to have that rising tide of literacy and capability and good citizenship.

And so in one perspective, it be, well, I'm just throwing my money into the system. And, you know, whatever, I'm not using it, on the other hand, is I know that, there are in Idaho, tens of thousands and hundreds of thousands of kids. I don't know, but they're benefiting from a publicly supported public education system. And the really cool thing is they'll still get to 95% of them.

Will. Yeah, yeah. It's crazy. Even with the even with the tax credit, they'll still get all that option. It'll be amazing for them. Yeah yeah for sure. It's a great success story. But I guess my I draw the line for me and you're asking my opinion has just what exactly what it is. I don't want my tax dollars being used to subsidize a private school that can be selective on whom they choose, and I don't want to help subsidize another person's religion.

I just don't think it's a wise use of my tax dollars. And, and some of these churches, I mean, I disagree, significantly with their theological direction, and I don't want to subsidize that. How how would this be different? Because the money doesn't go directly from the state to the private school. It's not the state making that decision.

So, if, for instance, I'm a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints, and I pay tithing a 10th of my income if I were employed by the state, could you view that as part of state money going to, a private religion? And how would that be different than parents simply saying, you know what, we're taking this allocation of state money.

The choice to put it in private education is my choice, not the state of Idaho's. Well, tithing is voluntary or kind of voluntary. Yeah. And so that's right. But you get the evil eye from the bishop and then you're like, well, well okay, it's coming, it's coming. But but yeah, I think, you know, obviously, you know, if you get paid by the state and then you want to choose to take some of your money and allocated towards a budget, that's fine, that's fine.

But don't tax is not voluntary. Tax is mandatory. They're taking it from me and then redirecting it to church uses. You'd be like taking my money you're giving isn't you're skipping a step. They're reallocating it for parents to make a choice. And then those parents may choose to go to private school with it. In the same way, I might take my state paycheck and donate it to a church.

And so I there's a link there that I think is being missed in this discussion. Well, and I think if if the state has $50 million to roll the dice on an a new scheme or venture, by all means give it to me. I'll start the private school of Jeffrey Thomas, and I will. I might head down the blackjack tables in Las Vegas and learn all about counting and numbers and stats.

It's very educational. I'm just being facetious, but, Well, yeah, I know I hear, Neil, I hear what you're saying. I do, and I and you have a point in that regard. I just, I just, I, I just don't want to open up that door any wider than it already is. And it's just I've seen, in Europe, the, the negative results of when you mix church and state.

Yeah. Excessively and it just drives religion into the ground and that's not a sure thing. Well, Doctor Jeffrey Thomas has been our guest this morning. We sure appreciate your time. Doctor Thomas, thank you for joining us. We're absolutely out of time now. Very kind. Thank you for the invitation. And I still love you guys no matter what.

On this point where we agree on 99% of the other stuff, I'm feeling is mutual. All right. We'll be back. Our two coming up on Newstalk 179.

907 on Newstalk 1079 Julie, we have missed the biggest story of all today. I don't know what the world is going to do without Joy Reid at MSNBC. I have no idea either. How will people go on? This is I just want everyone to know before she's actually gone, because apparently midweek is going to be her last show.

I think Wednesday night will be the Joy Reid's final night on MSNBC, because those morons have canceled her. And, we're going to miss this level of analysis. This is a clip of her right after the election. Listen to the depth, the intellect, the sheer brilliance of this analysis post-election. I mean, this really was an historic, flawlessly run campaign she had.

Queen Latifah never endorses anyone. She came out, you know, I mean, we she had every prominent celebrity voice she had, but she had the, the Taylor Swift. You said the Swifties, she had the beehive. Like you could not have run a better campaign in that short period of time. And I think that's still true. Okay. We're gonna you know what?

Queen Latifah, Queen Latifah endorsed Kamala Harris. Clearly it was the best run campaign. How did she lose? It's not even possible. I don't even know how she lost, but I it's really going to be sad to not hear this level of analysis in the future. Goodbye, Joy. See you. It's been good to good to chat with you. Yeah.

All right, let's go to the phones. 208542 179 caller welcome to the show. How are you today? I'm fantastic. How are you, Neil? How are you? Julie? We're doing well. I just have a couple of comments about your guest that was just on. I respect most of his opinions, but I want to point out a couple of things.

85% of the kids that go to BYU, I we see the program. You touched on that a little bit, but 85% receive a program that's federal money subsidizing a private school. And he was all for that. And and secondly, Julie, you don't have any kids at home. Why are you why are you paying into the school system? I don't have kids for the couple any year or two.

Why am I going to pay into the school system? I don't get to choose, as he said, where my money goes. I'll let you guys answer that on the other side. Yeah. No, it's a great point. And I look I think they are trying to find and I don't really mean specifically Doctor Thomas here. I think the entire set of arguments among the entire set of opponents to this are, are reaching a bit.

And when when they talk about this, all sorts of benefits go to private, schools and church run schools and churches. They don't have to pay taxes. They they would get fire assistance if their church was burning down. They get, you know, they get lots of public tax benefit, even being a religious organization. And for some reason they've carved out.

But if a parent chooses to apply a tax credit to this school, suddenly we've breached something. But I haven't heard them clearly articulate what's been breached. When a parent applies a tax credit to a private school, when lots of other tax benefits are going to to churches and, and faith based organizations. Yeah, I'm not sure. I mean, I, I feel like that argument just doesn't hold water because the money isn't coming out of the current education budget.

So I've said this before, far before our interview with Doctor Thomas. The reality is this is about butts in seats. Yeah it is. That's the reality. And I'm really tired of that not being at least Doctor Thomas said that. Yeah, in much better language than I just chose. He didn't say butts in seats, but that's that's what he said.

If 5% of the current amount of children leave, that means 5% less amount of money coming in daily for the child who should be attending school, it comes down to the money following the student. Yeah. And if the student leaves the public education system, they don't get credit for that student, which means they don't have that amount of money.

Yeah, look at it this way. You own a hamburger stand. All of a sudden you start selling 5% less hamburgers. You still have a vibrant business. Yeah. Great amount of people showing up that 95% are very happy with the hamburgers that you provide. But if you're not making the profit off of that 5%, it's a loss for you.

Yeah. That's how the public school system is looking at this. Yeah. Yeah they are. You're right. They're they're just simply looking at revenue. I think that's a huge part of it there. I think there's more to it though. Like I, I remember this was probably over 20 years ago when charter schools were starting and the, the legislature had to pass a law to allow charter schools, which basically they were we're hearing identical arguments today that we heard back then that it's going to if you pull kids from the public school system and you put them in a charter school, then that's money away from that elementary and it goes into something else.

They did not want it. They resisted it. They hated it. They predicted all sorts of doom and gloom. If this were to go through. And guess what? Everyone adapted. And now we have a vibrant charter school landscape in Idaho. Kids are getting educated in in different ways. So I'm hearing sort of the same predictions of doom and gloom.

If House Bill 93 is passed and we have just a teensy number of parents, comparatively speaking, we're talking about roughly 10,000 kids that this could educate. There's a third of a million kids in K through 12 in Idaho. Okay, this is not a lot. Wendy Harman I had her on last week. She said this amount of money compared to the K through 12 budget is 0.0 185I think.

So it's 1.8% of what the K through 12 budget is. It is literally just a sliver of of what K through 12 is. But I think it's and he used the phrase it's a camel getting his nose in the tent here. If, if it was guaranteed to be limited by that, you'd probably have people going, okay, whatever.

If the parents really want to take their kids somewhere else, then that's fine that it's butts in seats. It is the money. I also think, though, they worry not that these that that these kids will be devastated by it, but they'll actually thrive. They'll they'll do better in a private setting than they would have in the K through 12 setting.

And that's what they're afraid of. There's one thing that I can say for certain everyone will adjust if the governor chooses to sign this bill. Yeah, everyone will adjust. Yeah. This is how life works. Businesses open, businesses closed, businesses grow, businesses decrease, everyone will adjust and it will be fine. And I sure wish these people that are just losing their minds over this calm down.

Yeah, put your emotions somewhere else. Because if you really cared about the child, you would want what was best for the child instead of what was best for your job. Yeah. Or your friend's job. Yeah, yeah. We are protecting an institution at the cost of helping the individual. It's true. All right, let's go to the next caller. Welcome to the show.

Good morning. Hey. So I got a lot, so I'm going to try to scrunch it in, to be respectful to other callers. But first, I really love that you guys have people that come on, be able to share their opinions when they differ. But I gotta tell you, I am more confused, than I was before.

After this, after that discussion with you guys. And this is probably just a knee problem, so I'll, I'll take ownership of that. Here's the four questions that I have. And again, it can be really fast. I, I kind of agree with his point where I feel like there's a little bit of, miscommunication on. I thought we already had school choice, and I don't think it's really as much part of the conversation as I would have liked.

I wanted more explanation because that did not seem very clear to me. I thought we already have school choice, so I don't remember seeing the building in the first place. Secondly, the, I keep hearing two things and again, it's just my misunderstanding. I am hearing on one part. Well, the kid gets some kind of money, goes with the kid.

But then I'm also hearing, well, the school keeps the money. It's with the school. So I feel like I'm hearing two different things, and then why should money follow the kid if the. If the government is not paying, or if the student is not using the, at the school. At the school? Yeah. If the student is not using that school, then that school shouldn't be paying for that student at all.

So if they go somewhere else, then why should they? Why should she them that all And then doesn't that mean that public money is like private schools? Isn't that just the hijacking of private schools? Like, just feels like private schools are just going become an extension of public schools. That that really worries me. Last thing, which has nothing to do with anything.

We talked about Musk last week. And I just said that I didn't have a worry, but otherwise, I'm really excited about what he's doing. My worry just happened. What? The email thing. He doesn't have decision power, and it sounds like he's getting a little cow CEO, I don't know. So I am worried about that. Also. Joy read darn.

All right. Thank you for all that. Appreciate it. I was say, I'm not on the other side. Okay. Thank you. Thank you for the call. Let's let's unpack this pack there. Yeah. I think just on the education thing. This isn't so much. The money's following the student, because right now, that's not politically feasible.

That would not pass. The governor would veto it. And so you have to look at it a different way. 2 or 3 years ago, Tammy Nichols, she put forward a bill that would create an education savings account, kind of like have a health savings account, but instead the money would be used for education that ended up, failing, passed in her chamber.

But the other chamber didn't pass it. So, you know, a one way or another, parents want to have choice and, and, so this was another approach that I think is probably the more, the more popular approach, which basically is an education savings account that you get the you get the money upfront. Basically, if you do this, then you're going to get the $5,000 tax credit that, will can be applied to whatever choice you have for your kid for education.

So I think it's probably the most legally defensible, option out there for those of us who, who truly want, education choice because you're not you're not allocating proactive money to go. You're saying no, you just get a tax credit, which is a little bit different. It's still money, but it's it's structured a little different. Yeah. Can we address something?

Doctor Thomas said. And there was only so much time in that interview, I, I propose that if the big worry is that a special needs or an incredibly challenging student will not be given an opportunity at a private school, I just have a question. What makes you believe a private school won't open up that just fulfills the needs of autistic children?

Yeah, or of a certain sort of special needs child or a behavioral issue child. Yeah. Why can't that need be fulfilled on the private level as where as well as the public level? Yeah, I would, because I feel like they've automatically decided there's a guarantee this will not happen. Yeah. All who says that's true. It could happen. It could already there's a higher allocation.

It's per student. Per student for kids with special needs $7,500 instead of 5000. Yeah. So that's already baked into this, that problem. In fact, I wish I would have thought of that because that problem is being addressed. Yeah. And you might say, well, 7500 is not going to be enough. But you know what? If tuition is, say, $10,000 for a special needs student, most families, if they really wanted to middle class, could probably come up with the extra 25 and it's a couple hundred bucks a month that they'd have to come up with to to make the shortfall that is within reach for the middle class.

And so, I think his point was, if public school is required to accept student X, every private school should have to accept student X as well, meaning they can't have any ability to determine enrollment and which students come in and to reject any student. I I've got clients with special needs students. I've mentioned this before. They completely love district 93 program.

They think it's amazing. Congratulations. District 93. There isn't a need that needs to be fulfilled for them. Yeah I don't and we're creating needs to stop this bill from happening. Yeah. The if there's a need being met, the needs being met. Clearly there are some needs being not being met or else private schools, there wouldn't be a desire for private schools.

Yeah, yeah. Right. That's true. Let me ask this question. Do governments build big roads? Yes they do. Right. Does that mean every construction company that the government contracts with needs to be capable of building an interstate? No, some need to do some need to do stoplights, something like this. Different need. The need may be we need you to build a small outbuilding or an addition to the jail, or name your project just because that construction company can't do the big work.

The heavy lifting they work on smaller projects doesn't mean you exclude them from having access to a, you know, that opportunity for them. So I don't know why we would have that expectation of schools that that they it kind of reminds me, Julie and I, I take issue with listeners who have this approach that if kids go to a private school with this tax credit, they shouldn't be allowed to play football for the local high school team or engage in extracurricular.

Well, now you're just hurting the kid. Now you're just being petty and you're hurting the kid. Our our arguing. Right. I'm going to say a lot of this is the kid is in the back seat and not even being paid attention to. Yeah, it's been five days and they're finally going, oh, should we feed this child because they've been so busy arguing about the other stuff?

Yeah, yeah. It's true. All right, let's go to our next caller. Caller, welcome to the show. How are you? This good? I'm good. How are you guys? Good, good. What's up? So they talk about the, the money, you know, leaving at the end of the season. And quite frankly, I see it. That's the money. You know, if it's not following the kid because he's got the tax break, who's to say that there's not more funds in the coffers that the state can reallocated to those other students that remain in the public system, becoming a net positive for those that remain?

Yeah, yeah. Better teachers or to better the system to be more competitive. Yeah. Yeah. That's all I have. I haven't heard that brought up. Yeah. No, I, I think that that's a good point. I, he talked about the whole butts in seats formula that schools get. Yeah. That, that allocation I still and I failed to ask Wendy Harmon this question because it's stated in House Bill 93 that this does not take money away from K through 12.

Like it's not we're not moving money. We're not siphoning money. So that allocation for that kid who who is taking the tax credit and going to another, that money is still there in the K through 12 budget. What happens to that money? Where is it going? How is it being used. And I think that that's a that's an important question to have answered here.

So anyway, thank you. Thank you for the call. 285421078I would also say every person desires that their program be funded more. I give give any government program the option of wanting more money. They're gonna ask for more money. Yeah. My question is, what are our public schools in Idaho currently being funded? The answer to that is yes.

Yeah. Schools happening now. Are there schools that are that have some, bond difficulties? District 90 ones. Got some issues with that. There's these needs at different schools, but we have mechanisms for them to be met. Yeah I'm, I'm a little over the concept that there there's we just don't have enough. We just don't have enough. Of course you want more.

I would like a bigger salary. Sure. I would like parts of my house to be different. We all don't get everything we did. We? We desire. Yeah, right. I don't like the representation that the needs aren't being met. Yeah, as far as what public education is trying to be for bring forward. You've got money to do that. Yeah.

Right. You do. And you're going to have a better teacher ratio to do it too. All right. We'll be back. It's at 926. All right. Did you get it to work. Is it going. Yeah I had to kill the cameras. Reload the cameras. Really? But Facebook worked the Facebook, so the Facebook side worked. It was obs. I had to kill the cameras, reload the cameras, and then they came up.

So when Jesse was in on Friday, I used a different scene. And I wonder if that's what maybe. Although, no, I shifted it over to the dual cameras. It worked fine. Friday. It was there. Yeah, the dual cameras were there. Okay. Wouldn't stream okay. And it wouldn't record. And then. So I closed down OBS, opened OBS back up, the cameras were gone.

So I killed the cameras, loaded the cameras, they showed back up, didn't work, and I started it's a it's a complicated relationship between OBS and the camera. It is. Yeah. Every camera we've had is come. I've also noticed if OBS is using a camera, no other application. Oh, yeah. It's. Yes. Wow. Yes. It's greedy. We're there though. Took a second.

We're there. The reality is, is I'm getting way faster here. Here's the thing. I can I go back to Dylan's point about Elon Musk. And he had a lot, so I didn't want to I didn't want to lengthen that, that conversation. But he's upset about, about Elon Musk and the email. Like he he doesn't think Elon has become the CEO.

Well, Donald Trump has delegated the authority for him to do call him the HR manager. Whatever the case may be, we want to find out how valuable people are in the federal government. I, I don't I can't really identify with that. I don't know why that is so egregious. I also feel like the left and I said this in the 6:00 hour, I, I feel like the left is making a bigger deal of Pete Higgs saying, no, hold on, don't send your emails.

We've got a confidentiality issue. And I want to make sure that it goes right. Yeah. That doesn't mean Pete Hegseth and and Elon Musk are doing this, you know, fighting against each other. And it's now World War three between Hegseth and Musk. Stop making it into that. Yeah. It's that they're trying to make it work appropriately. Well he probably had a conversation with Musk saying, hey, we have some special considerations because we deal with a lot of sensitive in.

And Elon said, makes sense that like there's probably no conflict there. Yeah. How listen to this headline app. It's on post Register how Trump's mass layoffs raise the risk of wildfires in the U.S West. According to fired workers. Can't do it. Okay, someone said if asked if we. Oh, we gotta go back on. Hold on. Oops.

Doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo. That was totally spontaneous. We didn't even plan that. Well. Welcome back. 930 (208) 542-1079 it's, Neil Larson along with Julie Mason, and it's all of you all. And if you'd like to reach us, you can call us or you can text us on the stones at Automotive Group calling text line (208) 542-1079.

I like your point. Earlier, Julie and I would say this either direction, whether the governor vetoes or the governor signs, it's all going to be okay. It really is. It has will be disappointed. Half will be elated. And then 2 or 3 weeks later, we'll settle back in and everything will be okay. Now I want parental choice, but I will say, and this is the other side of the coin, a $50 million school choice plan.

I have said it. It really doesn't pose a threat. Is a tiny sliver. The other side of that coin is it can only do so much as well. Like I, I think this is a good start. I hope that it it works out. I, I hope we see mega positive results from it and justifies a future expansion of it.

Now, Wendy probably doesn't want me to talk that way. Other people are like, oh, zip it, zip it. But you know what? The votes are already cast. It's in the governor's hands. I don't think he's listening to the show this morning. So, I I'll be the one to state the the part out loud. This is exactly what you should do if you own a business.

And there's part of your business that's profitable and it's thriving and it's effective, what do you do? You expand it. You put more into it because it's a success center. You identify points of failure in your business. If it's not working, you might try to fix it. And if you don't fix it after a while, you just got to get rid of it.

You got to phase it out. And so that's what you got to do. The same thing in government too. So I hope it does lead to more. But $50 million up against 2.8 billion is not it's not going to be revolutionary. I agree I agree I, I do hope that we, we come to some sort of a loose solution with school choice.

I having had children who thrived in the public education system and having had children who I'll be honest, you failed me. The public education system failed me. In some ways, that's reality. I'm not anything special. This is what's happened for other people as well. If that's occurring, let's find other options. That's just my my. If it is occurring and it is failing in some way, what's the problem with finding other options?

Yeah, I don't get it. I the part that I have Julie and Matt, you know how we take things that happen in government and then we say, what if this is happening in a private relationship? What what if you had a relationship where someone is trying to prevent your escape? Yeah. You want it out. You wanted to dial it back.

You wanted to just be friends or are you? What? Does that make sense? And and they were using political machinations to try and prevent you from getting where you wanted to be and preventing you from saying, you know what? This isn't really working for me. Like this anymore. I don't want to harm you. I don't want to hurt your life.

I don't want to destroy anything that you're doing. But I need another option. But they're actively trying to prevent you from having that other option. I genuinely believe the people talking about, oh, I don't want the money going there or whatever. You don't care about the money. The. He already said in a previous part of the conversation. He pays for lots of things that he doesn't use state parks and water libraries, whatever.

You're not you're not having heartburn because the state is going to spend $50 million. Okay. We spent billions and billions. You're not having heartburn over this or else there's a lot of other heartburn you'd be having over other expenditures. Your issue is you want to create an obstacle for these kids who need a different option. And the parents want them to have a different option from pursuing that option.

That's manipulative. You need to let people go and be and do whatever they need to do in their lives within reason, like I don't. I don't think we need to fund $30,000 a year private education, but I think $5,000 for 10,000 kids in Idaho, as a start, is a very modest proposal to put forward. I could also flip the script on him.

I think this is a weak argument, but here I go. I'm going to flip the script on him, which is that, he said he felt like it possibly might not be constitutional. It was the first point that he made. Right? Yeah. Okay. Is it constitutional to take my money and then force my child to go to someplace?

Because you do. Yeah. It's written we had a law proposed to get rid of it and it failed. Yeah. That's right, it's written you I my kid has to attend some sort of schooling, and now you're telling me the only schooling that's possible is the one you decides. Okay. Yeah, that feels real. Controlling. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's that's a really good point.

Really good point. It's not what I'm going to hang my hat on and make repeatedly. But it's just a question. Yeah. And it's a very good one. Let's go to the phones. Caller welcome to the show. Oh hi Neil and Julie. Hi. How are you guys? Good, good. After after hearing what Doctor Thomas had to say, sounded like his main objection was that taxpayer money would be going to religious institutions and made me think, currently, taxpayer dollars are going to what I would consider antique religious institutions.

The eye stuff and LGBTQ stuff, which of my understanding is correct? Public schools have to, tolerate, for lack of a better word. Yeah, I'd rather have my six go into a, truly religious organization. Yeah, to the current institution that espousing the the I and the LGBTQ and the transgender issues. Yeah, well, I will, and thank you for the call.

I want to speak to the issue broadly, this whole issue of Blaine Amendment. There's a number of states that have Blaine amendments in their constitution that prevents, money going to religious educational institutions. We've already litigated that. And as long as there's that intermediate gap where the state's not choosing a specific religion to support or a specific religious, religious school, they can give money to an independent party that then may indepen lly choose to go there like a parent, wanting to send their child to it that's already been litigated.

And there these programs exist. We're we're late to this game. There's a lot of states. What is it, one of 13 or 1 of 13 states that do not have parental choice. Yeah. Yeah. Right. And and so, I, that argument I understand it because we are so church and state oriented and have been for a number of decades in this country.

And this, this aversion to it. But that particular issue has already made its way through the courts. And I think as much as you can have settled law, that's pretty settled law. That's why BYU, I can get Pell Grants and take Pell lunch money and lunch money, like there was no issue there. So, let's go to the next call.

Welcome to the show. How are you today? Hey, this is Matt in Idaho Falls. So you guys do a good. Matt, what's on your mind? Today will be some fascinating discussion on, on school choice. Parental choice. But I'd like to take a dive off the school choice train right now. And I was wondering your, any kind of thoughts on Dan Bongino being, put in as deputy director over the FBI?

I think he'll be fantastic. We're sad to lose him, and we'll have him for, a couple more weeks, but I think he's going to do a great job. That was my next question is, how long did you go to be recorded? Yeah, I love listening to him. I believe I got the email from the rep, yesterday, and I believe it's March 14th.

Let me let me get the exact date for you, but. Okay. It should be good, but, look, they're prepared. I this is for some, carriers. This is, like, striking gold because it opens up a spot for other shows to come in. So the negotiations are happening this morning, and it's pretty easy to be a bring a show up and on board.

Yeah. Fairly quickly. Yeah. Right. Yeah. About this. So I guess that was they'll go to network and now what. Yeah. But you know I think he's a fantastic choice. You know I know what his he puts it right out there. What he believes he calls in no countries and yeah. And so I think it's a, I think it's a brilliant, yeah.

That myself. I also think him and Kash Patel will work well together. I don't see a lot of strife happening in that position, so. And and that's important because it's number one and number two, it's the, it's the president and vice president if you want to look at it in a different realm. So I think they're going to work well together.

Yeah. Well it's going to be fascinating to see. Oh I appreciate you guys. So thoughts on there. Yeah. No. Thank you. And yeah I can confirm Friday, March 14th will be Dan's last show. So our intent of course is to carry it right up until the end. Yeah. But it's also our intent to announce to you as soon as we can.

What the replace ment will be and what it will look like. Someone texted in earlier. Hey, I got a flagpole. Who do you think should replace Dan Bongino? There's no way I would do that. Because you don't understand what sort of a tricky situation it is. Sometimes we can't just add a show that we want to add, because it can only air at certain times.

There's certain provisions of contracts we're already locked into. So you you can winnow your options down pretty quick. I don't I just don't want to have someone win. And then I tell them, yeah, we can't have that. Sorry. So. Well, it's like showing somebody for desserts, but you can only actually provide them to. And then you rip two away and go, sorry, you cannot have the boysenberry cheesecake.

That one wasn't really available. Yeah. So, my top choice would be Rush Limbaugh. Yeah. And darn it, he's for good reason. He's not available. Yeah, he said to waiting on the other side now. So yes. All right. We're going to, break away. We'll come back. (208) 542-1079 burner out there. You know, I look at Dan, look at his career.

He is not the kind of guy that settles in and does one thing for 25 or 30 years. Like, that's not him. I don't think that's him either. So I, I knew this probably wasn't going to be a long term show. We had him for, what, three years? Something like that. So that's the point I was trying to make earlier is that I think that some people think that we have easy jobs.

It's not easy. Is it enjoyable. And do we choose it and we try to do our best. Absolutely. But there's a lot that comes along with it. Yeah. It dominates your mind. It changes your emotional status. It I think there's and the grind is real. It gives you A.D.D.. Yeah. So you know it. And for some people, it's really great to do it for a bit, but then they want to move on because that's the way their personality is built.

And that's okay. You know. Yeah. It is. It's. Yep. Takes all kinds, you know, you know, it's fascinating though I probably wouldn't say this on the air, but I'll, I'll share it with our Facebook audience. There are some people that are just truly devoted to radio. Because it's started early in their careers and other people. Radio is a temporary thing they dally with.

And when when Ben Shapiro started a radio show, obviously he's super great talent and very smart. There was this internal thing because I've been in the industry for a very long time. I said, you know what? Shapiro's not going to be doing radio forever because it it's the core of his brand was his digital, brand. The daily content.

The radio was a tentacle. Whereas you take another artist like Rush Limbaugh, radio was the core. The tentacles were his website, his. He did a TV show for a while and the whatever your tentacle is, that's probably going to be your temporary thing. I think the same thing is true for Dan Bongino. He had a podcast, he had a, YouTube channel here, and they added the radio show, but I thought he's he's not a radio lifer.

He's not he's not, Hannity grew up in radio, started doing it at a very young age. Glenn Beck, you know, Rush Limbaugh started when he was a teenager. And so they are that is the core of who they are. And from that they do extra things. But but if if radio's an add on, you're they're not going to be around for 5 or 10 years.

You got maybe 3 or 4, right? And both are good, by the way, because I'm not here. Yeah. Shapiro I'm impressed. People changed people's minds, moved the needle by doing the radio show. He just didn't want to do it anymore. It's not a criticism. It's just an observation of how it's structured in so. And thank goodness for the people who have it in their soul because it it we need those long term voices.

I would say Brian Kilmeade is one of those. I it kind of like radio's freeing to or his. I'm going to call it a podcast. Yeah. His his like it unleashes him. He's not somebody who just wants to sit and read a teleprompter. Yeah. And so that's a different form of it. He's made his impact in TV, but it opens him up to kind of just be unfettered for a minute.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So tomorrow Lieutenant Governor Scott Bedke. Oh you'll be on. We're going to talk water among other things. So yeah that might be another interview where we have a few disagreements and it's okay. Look this is what I want to say to Kootenay County.

Did you see how we could have a conversation. And because Doctor Thomas was genuine in his argument, which he was. Yeah. And we were genuine. An argument. We both walk away and we're okay. We're okay. He. The last thing he told us was he still loves us. And yeah. And and we had other people who say, you guys just trash me when I'm gone.

Well, that's because you're not being genuine. Yeah. If you would come forward with a genuine argument that you were presenting to everybody and you weren't hiding in this circle, and then being this in this circle in a we're going to walk away and have mutual respect for each other. Yeah. Because we're not we're not pretending to be somebody else somewhere else.

No. And Doctor Thomas is not pretending to be somebody else somewhere else. No. And so when you know the the boundaries of who they are and it's clear then you're able to do that. That's true. That's a really good observation. Representative rebel. Yeah. Not pretending to be somebody else. Rep. Yeah. Out of, like the Pocatello Tropic area.

Yeah. Not pretending to be somebody else. You know, Julie, you bring up a good point, Matt. Our issue is not that they see things a different way. Absolutely not. Our issue is when they hide part of who they are for their own benefit. That's the problem. That's the problem because I've lost my respect at that point. Yeah. That's really important.

Yeah. If you're coming, if you're coming forward and this is who you genuinely are and okay let's chat. This is why I've never really had issues with Bernie Sanders. He's an idiot in my book and I completely disagree with his politics. He's the same guy he is. Nothing's changed. Yeah. He's not hiding no hiding big parts of him.

So I look, I'm going to have mutual respect for him. Yeah. 950 on Newstalk 107 92085421079. Lest you accuse me of fake news, it's actually 949 so yeah, Julie just, mentioned something that is super important because I feel like our discussion with Doctor Thomas was really good this morning. We disagree on this issue. But he's genuine.

Like, he's true to what he believes. And we talked with Alana Rubel last week. The minority leader in the House. She's true to what she believes. We're going to talk with Lieutenant Governor Scott Bedke tomorrow morning. We're going to we're going to press him on water. That might be a really interesting conversation. The problem that we have is when people are hiding parts of who they are for personal, usually political benefit.

That's that's when our dander gets up. When you try to say, oh, no, I'm a conservative. But you say things like, I'm just not a crazy conservative. Like, that's, that's just one of those areas where I'm like, state honestly who you are so we can have some mutual respect. But when you try to hide it, you try to lie.

When you try to conceal things about where you really are so that it'll better your chances of getting ahead. That's when we have a big problem. That's absolutely the the issue. We can disagree on stuff all of the time, and the reality is a lot of bills are nuanced and and there are reasons to disagree. Yeah that's reality.

The problem is, is when you're pretending to be somebody you're not. I look, you already forfeited the respect. I didn't take it away from you. You did it. And so now I don't have to respect you if you're if you're coming forward and publicly lying or publicly pretending to be something that you're not. Yeah, you're the ones who forfeited that, not me.

Yeah, yeah, I agree, I agree. Also, can I just say this too? I like the fact that Republicans have a solid majority only because it reflects where the electorate's at. It's because Idahoans want Republicans to control things. But I, I lose some of my excitement when I look at the actual ideological makeup of the legislature, because it's not nearly as reflective of conservatism as the party makeup would, would indicate.

Yes. It is right there in the platform that parents have choice. And if you truly believed as a good Republican, voting for Wendy's bill would be a no brainer. Every Republican should have voted for it. The governor should sign it. But for some reason, you have Republicans who feel like there needs to be some part of their soul that needs to be Democrat lite.

And I don't understand why you you feel that need if you're confident in who you are and what you believe will make the better society and more freedom, and then you don't need to sort of make those concessions to appear enlightened, to think you're different or better or whatever. But I wish that just be honest about who they are, and if they were honest about who they are, they'd be a pretty powerful contingent.

If if you if you have the Democrat Party and I would say most Democrats are Democrats. Yes. You have to agree, I would agree. But you look at the Republican Party, it's more complicated. And if you were to say, okay, we're going to have a Republican Party, but we're also going to have the sort of Republican Party or the convenient Republican Party that actually be a sizable contingent that could get some things done in the legislature.

Just be honest. But you got it. You'd have to convince your fellow, quote unquote, convenient Republicans, to be honest as well. Yeah. This is no different than the conversation we had about Hyrum Erickson. He showed up and gave the same argument at all. Did we do 3 or 4 interviews with Hyrum Erickson? Yeah. Multiple interviews. He didn't change who he was.

Yeah. Art, we obviously disagreed about, voter initiative in Idaho clearly disagreed, but he showed up and said who he was. The only question I have is, why do you have an R behind your name? It should be D, I agree with that. It's and so, you know, it is okay. And it's okay for me to ask that question of other people.

It's okay for me to look at Josh Wheeler and his voting record for this session and go, wow, you're sure voting a lot with Democrats. Why do you have an R behind your name? Yeah, I didn't call him a name. I didn't question is an I. I am asking a political question. And you're the one that chose to go into this job.

Yeah. No one forced you into this job. Yeah. So if you put an R behind your name, but you regularly vote with the Democrats, the obvious question is, well, are you really a Democrat? Yeah. That's so no one's attacking you by asking that question. You know, you're you're asking a very you're a question that has a very logical flow to it.

Yes. Yeah. Well, don't we know the answer to that? But he's the one who should answer it. Yeah, I agree, I, I agree and and I will say party labels should not simply be used to elevate your electoral prospects. Right. But I feel like we have a number of people in the, in the legislature, Julie, that if they wanted to win some seat in Chicago, then flip to Democrat in a heartbeat, they would have no problem doing that.

Right. All right, quick break. 955 Newstalk 179. We'll wrap it up on the other side. Yeah. Okay. Someone said, will this be a nail in the governor's reelection coffin? Well, we don't know how he's holding. We don't we don't know yet. Just want to, Dylan, you're saying that the show line up says Shapiro, seven, Walsh eight, nails nine.

That was our old line up. Where are you saying that? Up. I fixed it on Facebook. I'm pretty sure I fixed that on the Newstalk page. Let me make sure. I mean, there's possibility it didn't save on Facebook when I fixed it. But you were sitting here when I fixed it on Facebook. Oh no, I know it's not fixed, so thank you for pointing that out.

So it's on the website. Well, I went in there. Maybe you did what I just said. Maybe you didn't click save. Maybe that's POS and we uses Facebook template where there's like an extra layer of saving that you have to do. So I didn't do that. Thank you for pointing that out. I will go in and fix all that here because I have a specific memory of moving, Bill O'Reilly up to the 7:00 hour and yeah, it's correct on the Facebook page.

So we're good there. Okay. We'll come back. We'll have like, 40s. Okay. Bump up. I had quite possibly the best barbecue I've ever eaten in my life. This brilliant place called Caldwell County. Tim Gilbert, Caldwell County barbecue. I don't know why it's Caldwell County. I have no idea. So I got him. Oh, my goodness, that mac and cheese.

Wowsers! We'll be going back. Yeah.

Okay, that's going to do it for the show today very quick. This morning went by fast tomorrow. Lieutenant Governor Scott Bedke what time? Eight 3535 okay. So join us for that. We're going to probably focus a lot on water because there's a lot there to unpack. But everyone have a wonderful Monday getting the workweek kicked off here.

And it's going to be a great week. Let's do this. All right Mark Van and Robbins up next.