It appears that the Idaho Freedom Foundation (IFF) does not care about children. This a harsh statement, but it is undeniable.

From the mouth of the IFF Executive Director, Idaho public schools are “grotesque,” and “public schools are the most virulent forms of socialism” in our society. In fact, the IFF calls for the entire dismantling of our cherished public education system enshrined in the Idaho Constitution.

Who are these people?

It is one thing to want your children to attend private or parochial schools, but to entirely deny that opportunity to hundreds of thousands of children statewide whose parents work outside the home or simply cannot afford expensive private schools is clearly meanspirited.

The IFF’s answer to their desired breakup of public schools is to send kids home and teach them online. COVID very clearly taught us that online learning comes with significant and often insurmountable hardships for parents and children. Online schooling is often too difficult for small children, and what could possibly go wrong with an unsupervised 15 year old teenager with a laptop?

The IFF shamefully wants our children to be divided into two categories; those who have opportunities for learning (wealthy and urban) and those who do not (poor and rural).

They don’t care about kids who through no fault of their own come from poverty, speak a different language, or live in rural areas without the access to amenities enjoyed by the IFF preferred privileged class. The IFF worked hard to block funding for early childhood education services. Let’s not forget the vast majority of Idahoans want these services for their children.

The IFF would yank all fiscal and medical support away from children with special needs or disabling conditions. They would deny these children an opportunity to learn important skills and become productive, educated members of society.

The IFF also attacks young adults who want to attend college. Year after year the IFF demands from their sycophantic legislators massive reductions in financial support to our local universities even as these institutions consistently provide excellent higher educational services for thousands of students.

The IFF is apparently against K-12 and all higher education.

But that is not all. They also scorn our teachers, support staff and administrators. They disrespect our Governor, disparage the State Board of Education, and endlessly ridicule the State Department of Education.

For years, the IFF has pushed their obsequious lawmakers to deny educators and support staff access to salaries, and desperately needed health care. This legislative session, they wanted to imprison librarians.

The IFF says that they want less government, and more parental involvement, but then stridently demand massive punitive governmental intrusion into the private lives of parents and their children, inserting themselves into the most sensitive private medical decisions best made by medical professional and families.

They say they are opposed to socialism, but then want to take your hard-earned tax dollars and frivolously redistribute your money with zero accountability to unaccredited parochial schools or private systems.

The IFF does not have a working plan for Idaho or Idahoans, they can only peddle their misguided accusations and slander. They have no solutions. They exist to tear down, never to build up.

The IFF militate against children, college students, K-16 educators, K-16 support staff, librarians and virtually everyone that does not slavishly adhere to their radical ideology. Their disdain for anyone outside their circle is alarming.

Their actions should serve as a wakeup call for us to sideline these “conflict entrepreneurs” and the legislators who support them for good by ignoring them and consigning their efforts to the ash heap of history.