IEA Reporter Podcast

In this episode, we visit with IEA board member and national education award honoree, Dr. Melyssa Ferro, about being a union member. Ferro, science teacher at Syringa Middle School in Caldwell, is a highly decorated educator who is among five honored this weekend as a finalist for the Horace Mann Award by the NEA Foundation. Ferro was Idaho’s 2016 Teacher of the Year and in 2024 was named Teacher...

Our topic is the Committee to Protect and Preserve the Idaho Constitution v. State of Idaho, the lawsuit IEA members joined questioning the constitutionality of the tax credit voucher created by 2025’s House Bill 93. Oral arguments in the suit were presented to the Idaho Supreme Court on Jan. 23 and a decision is expected in the coming weeks.  Joining us for the discussion are three representative...

In this episode, we talk with Lindsey Smith about her role as Idaho's newly-elected representative on the National Education Association Board of Directors. She's a 16-year veteran educator who teaches gifted education and leadership at Sacagawea Middle School in Lewiston. Lindsey took her seat as NEA Director on September 1. We talk about her new role and the importance of being active...

In this episode, our guest is Sarah Inama, the former West Ada School District educator who made national and international headlines earlier this year refusing to bow to her school district administration’s directive to take down her classroom poster affirming the importance of inclusion and diversity.  Sarah’s story and her now-famous ‘Everyone is Welcome Here’ poster became a rallying point for...

This week: a legislative update and discussion about IEA's annual Delegate Assembly with IEA President Layne McInelly. Delegate Assembly, the highest governing body of the largest union in Idaho, will be held April 4-5 in Boise.

In this episode, the student mental health crisis gripping Idaho public schools and the challenges it poses for educators and policy makers. Our guest is Darcie DeLeon, an IEA board member and school counselor in Twin Falls, Idaho. 

In this episode, we discuss Week 7 of the Idaho Legislature, including final legislative approval of Idaho's first voucher bill, House Bill 93. We also talk to IEA member and Rigby High School librarian, Heidi Robbins, about the impact of 2024 library legislation and IEA's new Library Committee. Host: Mike Journee

This week we take a brief look at Week 4 of the 2025 Idaho Legislature and take a deep dive on the current state of the voucher debate. Guests are Quinn Perry, associate executive director at the Idaho School Boards Association and Chris Parri, political director at the Idaho Education Association, as well as Matt Compton, IEA's associate executive director. Host: Mike Journee

In this episode, we discuss the expiration of the Idaho Educator Career Ladder, the funding framework the Idaho Legislature has used for 10 years to provide predictable funding and raises to educators in Idaho. We’ll talk with IEA Region Director Jason McKinley, who works in IEA’s Region 2 in the Lewiston-Moscow area, and IEA Associate Director Matt Compton about what challenges these changes to m...

This week, we take a brief look at the second week of the 2025 legislative session in Idaho, including a new bill trying to ban flags and banners like the Pride flag in classrooms. We also take a look at the impact of 2024's "BandAid Bill," which prohibits educators from providing any medical attention to students in their classroom. Boise Education Association President Lara Luthy...

This week we take a brief look at what happened during the 2025 Idaho Legislature's first week, including lots of talk about voucher legislation, and have a conversation with Idaho Education News Senior Reporter Kevin Richert. A 40-year veteran of Idaho journalism, Richert discusses what educators can expect from this year's session, the state of journalism in Idaho, and his observations...

In this episode, we discuss what IEA members can expect from the 2025 session of the Idaho Legislature. Joining us are Lisa Callaway, and IEA member from Boise who serves on the union's government relations and political action committees, IEA President Layne McInelly and Chris Parri, IEA's political director.  HOST: Mike Journee  

The Idaho Legislature adjourned last week and the results for public education and IEA members were nothing short of monumental.  Historic pay raises for both certified educators and education support professionals and the defeat seven voucher bills proved the influence of IEA members is real and important for education policy in Idaho. In our final HOTLINE Podcast of the year, IEA’s Political Dir...

This episode’s topic is Week 10 of the 2023 legislative session. With adjournment likely next week, lawmakers are done with committee hearings and working through a long roster of legislation so they can go home. The Idaho Legislature is winding down its business for 2023 and, absent any last-minute surprises, this session’s outcomes for students, educators and public education promise to be histo...

In this episode of the HOTLINE Podcast, our panel discusses Week 7 of the Idaho Legislature’s 2023 session, including the defeat of extreme voucher and maneuvering around other voucher bills, failed attempts to police and censor libraries and other action around education policy. Joining today’s conversation are: IEA’s Political Director Chris Parri IEA Associate Executive Director Matt Compton

In this episode of Idaho Education Association's HOTLINE Podcast, we discuss Week 6 of the Idaho Legislature’s 2023 session. Our panel's discussion centers on: The real fiscal impact of the session’s first voucher bill A bill requiring school districts to provide separate bathrooms and locker rooms based on students’ gender at birth A legislative committee’s rejection of expanded protect...

In this episode of IEA's HOTLINE Podcast, we discuss Week 5 of the Idaho Legislature’s 2023 session. Our panel's analysis centers on the advancement of the session’s first voucher bill earlier in the week, the outlook for Gov. Brad Little’s proposals on educator pay, attempts politicize traditionally non-partisan institutions in the state and a renewed effort to censor libraries.  Joinin...

In this episode of IEA's HOTLINE Podcast, we discuss Week 4 of the Idaho Legislature’s 2023 session. Our discussion centers around bond and levy elections on March 14 and proposed legislation to limit school district opportunities to put such measures before voters ( House Bill 58 ). We also discuss legislation ( House Bill 114 ) expanding protections for educators from physical violence —  a...

In this episode of HOTLINE, we discuss the first three weeks of the Idaho Legislature’s 2023 session. There’s been quite a bit action around education at the Statehouse as those with a wide variety of perspectives about public education begin bringing their proposals forward.  Our panel discusses: Three key factions among lawmakers looking to influence education policy An unlikely proposed amendme...

This episode of IEA's HOTLINE Podcast discusses Jan. 16's  2023 IEA Lobby Day, IEA members’ annual opportunity talk directly with Idaho lawmakers about their legislative priorities for making Idaho public education the best it can possibly be for Idaho’s students and families.  This year, more than 150 IEA members came to Boise for this year’s event, which was one of the most successful...

In this episode of IEA's HOTLINE Podcast, we discuss Idaho Gov. Brad Little's recommendation to bring starting teacher salaries into the top 10 among all states — an extraordinary commitment to public education and the future of the state.  Our  panel discusses Gov. Little's recommended pay raise for both certified educators and classified school employees and the positive impact su...

In this episode of IEA's HOTLINE Podcast, we discuss vouchers — taxpayer funded government subsidies for private schools or vendors that syphon scarce and desperately needed tax dollars away from public school classroom. The panel discusses how voucher proponents cloak voucher schemes in benign language like "school choice" or "scholarships" and how other states that adopt...

In this episode of IEA's HOTLINE Podcast, we discuss Idaho's decades of chronically underfunding Idaho public schools and cascading impacts it has on students, learning and public school educators. The panel discusses the Idaho Legislature's continued failure in meeting its constitutional mandate to provide an equitable public education to all Idaho students, how that failure create...

In this episode of Idaho Education Association's HOTLINE Podcast, we discuss the growing, critical crisis of student mental health and wellbeing and how its impacting Idaho students, classrooms and educators.  The panel discusses what's behind this crisis, the need for increased school staffing to help ease its impacts, how student learning and the teaching environment are affected, and...

In our inaugural episode of Idaho Education Association's HOTLINE podcast, we discuss the political landscape for public education on the cusp of the 2023 regular session of the Idaho Legislature.  Coming off of historic investments for K-12 public education during the 2022 session and another record $330 million earmark made during a special session in September, lawmakers face important que...