State superintendent’s candidate Debbie Critchfield has released a list of county campaign chairs.
The Republican’s roster includes 12 current or former legislators, a number of local school administrators and trustees — and four former Sherri Ybarra staffers.
Critchfield, a former State Board of Education president from Oakley, is one of two announced Republican candidates for state superintendent, along with Branden Durst, a former Democratic legislator living in Garden City. Ybarra has not yet announced whether she will seek a third term.
Among the names on Critchfield’s supporter list:
- Former State Department of Education staffers Kelly Brady, Portia Flynn, Karlynn Laraway and Tina Polishchuk. Brady filed a whistleblower lawsuit against Ybarra in 2020, and received a $150,000 settlement in April. Through a spokeswoman, Ybarra declined comment Wednesday.
- Two members of the Senate Education Committee and the budget-writing Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee — Sens. Carl Crabtree of Grangeville and Jim Woodward of Sagle. In January, Woodward and Durst had a profane exchange in the Statehouse, after Woodward cast a vote against a parental rights bill sponsored by Durst.
- Julie Yamamoto of Caldwell, a member of the House Education Committee.
- Former Senate Education Committee Chairman John Goedde of Coeur d’Alene and former House Education Committee Chairwoman Julie VanOrden of Pingree, who is serving as a substitute senator this session.
- Clete Edmunson, a former legislator and current superintendent of the Council School District.
- American Falls School District Superintendent Randy Jensen, who ran unsuccessfully for state superintendent in 2014.
- Spencer Barzee, superintendent of the West Side School District.
- Marg Chipman, a former Weiser school trustee and president of the Idaho School Boards Association.
- Casey Morrisroe, a Coeur d’Alene school trustee.
