Educators urge local school boards to maintain budgets

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (KIFI/KIDK)-Over a dozen regional education associations have written to eastern Idaho school districts warning of the potential fallout from education budget cuts.

Educators said it was important to provide students with as much of a stable learning environment as possible and warned that some of the cuts would de-stabilize school environments and deny services they need now, more than ever.

“Today’s students were experiencing high levels of anxiety and difficulty with mental health issues like depression, suicide, and disruptive behaviors before this natural disaster.  It would be irresponsible to further compromise mental health issues by eliminating staff from schools and exacerbating already woeful student-to-counselor ratios. In many cases, our students’ lives depend on it,” educators said.

They said federal emergency funding and local “rainy day” reserve funds should be used before any cuts to personnel and the services they provide.

“Idaho ranks near last in funding public education, but not because our state does not have resources. This crisis highlights our students’ needs and our collective calling to work together to invest in the schools our students deserve,” the letter concluded.