Dear Voter,  This week we will vote on Idaho public school budgets.   So far most Republican law makers have followed Governor Otter's example by refusing to discuss any options besides cutting funding for our local schools next year by 7.5% or $128 million.   Some extreme factions are proposing even deeper cuts to schools.   Either way schools now face policies that will : 1. Increase class sizes 2. Eliminate most tutoring for struggling students 3. Reduce or eliminate school counselors, nurses & support staff who assist kids & families in crisis  4. Eliminate teacher training & early retirement which saves districts money & brings in new teachers 5. Further reduce access to textbooks 6. Decimate funding for science & other academic materials 7. Make many academic & after school programs more expensive for Idaho families & their kids   Cuts this deep will hurt Idaho kids and eliminate hundreds of jobs from the economy at a time when small businesses and families need us to sustain jobs and keep education strong.   PLEASE let your law makers know how you feel and which funding options below (if any) you prefer to avoid deep cuts to Idaho Public Schools.   Thank you. This is SO important. Please pass it on to friends.   ...nicole   If you live in Boise, Pocatello & Ketchum almost all your lawmakers already oppose the cuts so please write a letter to the editor of your local paper(s) HERE      If you live OUTSIDE Boise please send (or have your friends or family send) a message to 18 key Senators HERE.         Some ALTERNATIVES to CUTTING SCHOOL BUDGETS you may wish to mention These are proposals brought by a hand full of LEGISLATORS OF BOTH Political Parties that could prevent the need for $128 million in cuts to Idaho Public Schools.   1. Eliminate sales tax exemptions on most services & lower the Idaho sales tax rate to 5% or 4%.  Roughly $200 million   2. One time 5% surcharge on incomes tax for those earning over $70,000 gross individual income ($100,000 taxable income for joint filers) Roughly $40 million   3. One year one time three new upper income tax brackets at $50,000, $100,000 and $250,000 for individual taxable incomes in 2010 only. (Idaho income tax brackets currently stop at $25,000 with all incomes above $25,000 being taxed at the same rate.)  Roughly $58.2 million by April 2011   4. Repeal Jim Risch's 2006 property tax to sales tax shift. Returns more stable property tax revenues to schools, raises property tax rates to 2005 levels and would allow sales tax rate to return to 5% from its current 6% in 2012. Roughly $200 million   5. Increase beer and wine taxes to free up substance abuse and mental health dollars for education.  Estimated $19 million   6. Freeze Grocery Income Tax Credit at its current level of $50 for very low income individuals and seniors and $40 per family member for all adults and children regardless of income statewide. Roughly $9.4 million   7. Suspend Grocery Income Tax Credit for one year so it only goes to those earning less than $20,000 taxable income (after deductions) individual or $40,000 for couples filing jointly. Roughly $35 million   8. Spend $9 million for the tax commission to hire more auditors to ensure people pay the Idaho taxes they owe. Roughly $60 million        You can also contact your own law makers here:   Your Senator http://legislature.idaho.gov/senate/membership.cfm Your two Representatives http://legislature.idaho.gov/house/membership.cfm Not sure which one of Idaho's 35 legislative districts you live in? http://legislature.idaho.gov/who'smylegislator.htm

Information from a HuffingPost article by Robert L. Borosage http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-l-borosage/size-matters----particula_b_385431.html President Obama's new intuitive--new infrastructure spending. weatherizing homes, aid to cities, states and the unemployed. ($200 billion has been recouped from the banks in the TARP program.) "We've lost over 7 million jobs; 15 million are unemployed. States and localities are facing staggering deficits over the next year, with an estimated 900,000 jobs at risk. Foreclosures continue. Consumers and businesses are cutting back. In fact, for all the talk of deficits, the nation actually experienced no increase in total debt over the last year, as the rising federal deficit was more than matched by the reduced borrowing of consumers and businesses."  It takes over 125,000 new jobs a month simply to keep up with population growth. Economist Jamie Galbraith says that to generate rising incomes, we'll need ...continue reading

Short-term tax increase is better than cutting vital state services - Idaho Statesman (op-ed)  Dec. 3, 2009    BY JUDY BROWN AND REP. SHIRLEY RINGO Abridged:  State revenues have not met levels fiscal year 2010. At the end of September, Gov. Butch Otter declared another budget holdback of 4 percent - almost $100 million. Problems with respect to building a budget for fiscal year 2011: Even with holdbacks and cuts, we may be $52 million short of paying fiscal year 2010 bills. Twenty-three school districts have declared financial emergencies; 15 districts and three charter schools are operating on four-day weeks. The budget request prepared by the State Department of Education would maintain current operations and pay for growth. Currently, it would take all public school rainy-day funds and stimulus money and $122 million of general fund money to pay for it. The National Center for Budget Policy already ...continue reading

Study: Job gap grows in Idaho, Washington - Spokesman-Review December 2, 2009  b y Betsy Z. Russell Excerpts only: The Northwest Job Gap study sponsored by the Northwest Confederation of Community Organizations (Since these 2008 figures were gathered, unemployment has nearly doubled.) Living wage in Idaho for a single adult--$12.41 per hour (43% of  openings fell short) Adult with one child--$21.90 per hour Two adults with one child--$26.98 per hour  (89% of job openings fell short) Forty-three percent of Idaho’s job openings in 2008 paid less than the living wage for a single adult, as did 33 percent of the openings in Washington, the study found. In 2004, the group’s similar study found that 29 percent of Idaho job openings paid less than a living wage for a single adult, and 78 percent paid less than the living wage for an adult with two children. ...continue reading

Excerpts and interpretation of "Leaders of the Pack," Newsweek , Nov. 30, 2009 Predictions: Nations will fail to adopt a climate treaty at Copenhagen Nations, states, and companies will continue to work toward controlling emissions The 2010 treaty will be a better treaty than the one being considered now. Greenhouse-Gas Emissions (in million metric tons of CO2): 2007     China--8,106; U.S.--6,087;  EU--4,641;  India--1,963.  As part of a proposed cap-and-trade law, California has entered agreements with 8 Brazilian states and Indonesia for payments to prevent deforestation to offset CO2 emissions in California. Predicted consequences of warming over 2 degrees Celsius...massive rise in sea levels which inundate major port cities, more frequent droughts and floods, loss of glaciers that provide fresh water in India and China, lethal heat waves, climate shifts that threaten farming  Reasons for ...continue reading

Excerpts from: Commuter rail: Once a gamble, TRAX ingrained in Wasatch Front's future - The Salt Lake Tribune (Nov. 30, 2009)  b y María Villaseñor Salt Lake City's TRAX is now 10 years old; numerous protests and fervent opposition to TRAX persisted right up to the Dec. 4, 1999, opening.  Original 17-mile route--In the decade since, that single north-south line has expanded to include lines to the University of Utah and a downtown inter-modal hub, which links TRAX to the commuter rail, FrontRunner. About 500,000 people rode TRAX each month when it first started; monthly ridership now exceeds a million. Construction is under way to expand the network to 10 times its original reach. UTA officials already have a broad vision for upcoming decades:  90 percent of the urban population within one mile of public transportation. The TRAX ride takes about 30 minutes, which is a bit longer than driving That "love affair" Americans have with ...continue reading

Gov. Otter has started a website to take citizen comments:  http://efficiency.idaho.gov/ BY DAN POPKEY  (ID Statesman, Nov. 30) Gov. Butch Otter's summons for ideas to streamline government has produced 217 online submissions since his efficiency.idaho.gov Web site went live Nov. 13. Among them are traditional ideas, including spending and tax cuts, tax increases, prison reform and school consolidation. Some of the more novel ideas: CLOSE DEATH ROW Richard Hensley of Lewiston calls for commuting sentences to life without parole to save on legal costs. Janice Fenton of Fruitland has a different take: "Why don't we do what a jury of their peers said to do? Execute them." Fenton also proposes selling the state's prisons and shipping "all of the prisoners to the closed military bases." BOOST SEAT BELT FINES Raise them to $75, says R. Hill of Boise. Cite texting and talking drivers for inattentiveness. "How many drivers could be cited in a day?" asks Richard ...continue reading

From www.healthreform.gov Health Insurance Reform and Idaho: The Case for Change The health care status quo is not an option for our states. If we do nothing, by 2019 the number of uninsured people will grow by more than 30 percent in 29 states and by at least 10 percent in every state. The amount of uncompensated care provided will more than double in 45 states. Businesses in 27 states will see their premiums more than double. And fewer people will have coverage through an employer. 1 The time for health insurance reform is now. Under reform in Idaho: 223,000 residents who do not currently have insurance and 103,000 residents who have nongroup insurance could get affordable coverage through the health insurance exchange. 124,000 residents could qualify for premium tax credits to help them purchase health coverage. 212,000 seniors would receive free preventive services. 37,700 seniors would have their brand-name drug costs in the Medicare Part D ...continue reading

Economic statistics released in fall 2009   Median income (half of households above, and half  below; measured in inflation-adjusted 2008 dollars) Dec 1992--$46,603  Dec. 2000--$52,500  Dec. 2008--$50,303 By presidential terms (comparison of 8-yr terms): Bush W:  -4.2% Clinton: +14% Reagan: +8.1% Nixon/Ford: +3.9%   Poverty Dec 1992--38 million Dec 2000-- 31.6 million (11.3%)  living in poverty  (decline of 16.9%) Dec 2008--39.8 million (13.2%) (the largest number in absolute terms since 1960.) An increase of  26.1 per cent in total number. (Over two-thirds of that increase occurred before the economic collapse of 2008.)   Children in poverty Dec 1992--15.3 million Dec 2000- 11.6 million (16.2%) children living poverty  (decline of 24%) Dec 2008--14.1 million (19%) (increase of more ...continue reading

Incarceration per 100,000 population (U.S.) 1972 165 1980 200 1990 461 2000 703         2005         2 million inmates; 5 million on parole or probation; 2.2 million people working in the criminal justice system   Possible contributing causes (1972 on):  access to welfare restricted, food stamp program cut back, mentally ill removed en masse, public schools underfunded, progressive tax base undercut. number of  fatherless homes increased   Idaho statistics: ¾ of welfare recipients cut from the roles (during 1990s?); in 2003  14% of Idahoans worried about food; numbers incarcerated increased from 3,000 to 7,000 between 1990 to 2000  (population increase?)   ...continue reading

From a handout from Public Citizen ( http://www.citizen.org/ ) The health care industry spends $1.4 million per day to lobby Congress The health care industry has hired six lobbyists for every member of Congress, including 350 former government officials and former members of Congress  50 health care lobbyists are former employees of the Senate Finance Committee and its Chariman, Max Baucus (D-MT) Health care sector contributions to the 23 members of the Senate Finance Committee topped $13 million for the first 7 months of 2009 Health care interests contributed almost $2 million this year to members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee where health care reform legislation originated Charman Max Baucus has received more than $1.6 million in campaign contributions this year  (Caution: source does ot say that this money is all from health care lobbyists)   ...continue reading

To submit letters to the Idaho Press Tribune, e-mail op-ed@idahopress.com Submit 300 words or less Include name, address and phone number; expect a phone call to verify Wait 30 days between submissions (there are exceptions) Visit http://action.citizen.org/pickMedia.jsp?letter_KEY=199&t=&state=ID  for full guidelines To submit letters to the Idaho Statesman, e-mail editorial@idahostatesman.com Submit 200 words or less Include name, address, and phone number Wait 30 days between submissions Visit https://forms.idahostatesman.com/lettertoeditor/  for a form and guidelines To submit letters to the West Canyon Chronicle, e-mail  wcchronicle1@yahoo.com Submit 300 words or less Include a connection to Parma, Notus, Wilder or Greenleaf if possible Include name, address, and phone number Submit by Monday noon for incusion in Thursday's newspaper Wait 30 days between ...continue reading