In all honesty,  I don’t follow local politics. Not even a little bit. Now don’t get me wrong, I vote and I read the news, but I do not spent a great deal of time researching individual candidates and their different platforms. I do care about how our state is run, and who is running it, but I tend to get caught up in my day-to-day life (raising kids and making meals can be very time consuming).

My 2018 New Year’s resolution is to learn and understand more about Idaho politics. I know that if I want to be truly involved in my kids’ education, I need to better understand the politicians and the policies that shape teaching and learning.

I want to understand the candidates so I can vote for the people who care about education as much as I do. I want to know how Idaho’s government officials plan on meeting the issues that I find important. Issues like:

• Incentives to encourage and attract highly trained and skilled teachers.
• Classes to better prepare our high school kids to enter the workforce or college.
• Tactics to make college more affordable.

I want leaders who will push our education system to evolve.

Is Idaho’s public education system preparing our kids for the real world? Are they learning skills that will lead to a job? Do they have the drive and the work ethic to be successful in a 40-hour week? Do they know how to do laundry, balance a checkbook, own a credit card or make a meal? These are the things that I worry about as a mother. Can our education system meet these needs?

I plan to start my resolution on Monday by listening to the Governor’s State of the State Address.

Who wants to join me and my resolution to become more educated in local politics? What are the issues that are important to you in 2018? Let’s talk about it.