Idaho considers elections for Board of Ed members
House committee introduces bill that would require five of seven members on state panel to be selected by geographic region
BOISE — A House committee introduced legislation Monday to require five of seven members of the State Board of Education to be elected by geographic region. Two members would still be appointed by the governor.
Rep. Joe Alfieri, R-Coeur d’Alene, presented the bill, which is a version of a similar bill he introduced in 2023 that died by one vote in the House.
“The reason we’re proposing this is that I feel there is unfair representation in the State Board of Education,” Alfieri said. “As an example, three of the current members are from the Boise area, and there’s one member from North Idaho.”
The current board members are appointed by the governor, and last year, the Legislature passed a law requiring the appointments to come from different regions throughout the state. The elected superintendent of public instruction also sits on the board.
Under the bill, members would get a $12,000 stipend for the year and travel expenses could be reimbursed.
Currently, board members are able to receive a stipend of $50 per day for work that extends beyond four hours, and $25 if the work takes less than four hours, board spokesperson Mike Keckler told the Idaho Press. Some members waive this stipend.
Rep. Stephanie Mickelsen, R-Idaho Falls, asked if the members would have to run in a partisan election, in which they would have to declare a party affiliation.
Alfieri said it wasn’t specified in the bill.
The bill would create zones composed of groupings of legislative districts. Zone 1 would be districts 1 through 7; zone 2 would be districts 8 through 14; zone 3, districts 15 through 21; zone 4, districts 22 through 28; and zone 5, districts 29 through 35.
A previous version of the bill, HB 293, would have called for partisan elections for all seven members. Opponents of the bill argued it could create a precedent for other state boards and commissioners, and that it may politicize the board, Idaho Education News reported at the time.
The House State Affairs Committee on Monday voted unanimously to introduce the bill, which allows it to come back for a full public hearing.
Guido covers Idaho politics for the Lewiston Tribune, Moscow-Pullman Daily News and Idaho Press of Nampa. She may be contacted at lguido@idahopress.com and can be found on Twitter @EyeOnBoiseGuido.
