Idaho’s government education bureaucracy has failed our students. From school board trustees and the state board of education to superintendents to principals — and most notably, to State Superintendent Debbie Critchfield — our so-called education leaders have presided over an embarrassing decline in student achievement.

The latest results from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), commonly called the Nation’s Report Card, reveal a bleak picture of Idaho’s math proficiency. NAEP is the gold standard for measuring student performance across states, and its findings leave no room for spin: Idaho’s students are struggling, and the people in charge are doing nothing but making excuses. More money has been poured into the system, but the returns on that investment are abysmal. It’s time to stop rewarding failure and start demanding real leadership and real reform.

The numbers speak for themselves. Nearly 60% of Idaho fourth graders cannot do math at grade level. Only 31% of Idaho eighth graders are proficient. And when we look at high school seniors, the picture is even worse — less than one-quarter have the math skills they should. These statistics are beyond alarming; they are proof of total system failure. And yet, the people in charge keep pushing the same tired solutions: more money, more programs, more bureaucracy.

Even worse, Idaho’s eighth-grade math scores have plummeted. In 2022, Idaho eighth graders scored an average of 282 on the NAEP math assessment. In 2024, that number fell to 278 — a four-point drop in just two years. That might not sound like much, but in percentage terms, it’s a significant decline that represents thousands of students falling further behind. Meanwhile, fourth-grade scores remained stagnant compared to 2022, despite all the promises that “investments in education” would yield improvement.

You don’t have to be a math whiz to see that Idaho’s math scores just don’t add up.

The real problem? The education bureaucracy is more interested in protecting itself than in fixing what’s broken. Instead of acknowledging failure and seeking new solutions, education leaders double down on the same failed policies. The cycle is predictable: bad test scores come out, the bureaucrats feign concern, they ask for more money, and then they go right back to business as usual. It’s a scam, and Idaho’s students are the ones paying the price.

We’ve seen significant increases in education spending in Idaho, yet we’re getting worse results. If spending more money worked, we’d be seeing improvement. Instead, Idaho taxpayers are being asked to foot an ever-growing bill for a failing system. Money isn’t the issue — accountability is. The solution isn’t to dump more cash into the same broken model; it’s to rethink the entire structure.

We recognize that many in the education system are working hard and genuinely believe they are doing what’s best for students. However, effort alone is not enough when the results speak so clearly to failure. What is being done isn’t what is best for students, and that is the fundamental issue. We also acknowledge that some education leaders recognize the need for major reform, but they are fighting against an entrenched system that resists meaningful change.

It’s time for major reforms. Idaho needs more school choice options, including universal Education Savings Accounts (ESAs) that empower parents to choose the best educational environment for their children. We need a complete autopsy on teacher training — because clearly, something is wrong with how new educators are being prepared, especially in math education. We need to raise the bar for parents and hold them accountable to it. And most importantly, we need to bring in leadership from outside the broken education system to run school districts and the State Department of Education. The current insiders have had their chance, and they have failed spectacularly.

The failure of Idaho’s education system isn’t just about test scores — it’s about an entire culture of distrust toward parents. The education bureaucracy is out of touch with the people it serves, prioritizing administrative control over parental involvement. Instead of respecting parents as the ultimate decision-makers in their children’s education, bureaucrats and administrators continue to push a top-down model that sidelines families. This disturbing trend was made clear when, on January 24, 2025, on Idaho Reports, State Superintendent Debbie Critchfield was asked if parents could be trusted with their children’s education and taxpayer dollars. Her response was a flat out “No.” That kind of thinking is exactly why Idaho’s education system is failing. We need leaders who will empower parents, not dismiss them.

Idahoans deserve better. We deserve leaders who believe in parents, who demand results, and who have the courage to break the bureaucratic stranglehold that is holding our students back. The test scores are in, and the verdict is clear: Idaho’s education leadership has flunked. It’s time for a new equation — one that puts students and families first.