Returning from their holiday break, teachers in Idaho’s Twin Falls School District were subjected to an all-staff meeting on Jan. 5 at which school board chair Eric Smallwood proclaimed that public education in Idaho was “under attack” and begged the hundreds of teachers in attendance for “your help electing legislators who support public education.”
As originally reported by Sen. Glenneda Zuiderveld (R-Twin Falls) and later by the Idaho Education News, Smallwood did not name or endorse specific candidates, though a transcript of his remarks shows that he told non-Republicans that they would have “zero say in who represents you at the legislature” unless they switched their voter registration to Republican by March 13 so they could vote in the May GOP primary election.
Although Smallwood insisted, “I’m not telling you who to vote [for] or how to vote,” he also described himself as a “political junkie” who was “really familiar with our candidates [and] our current legislators” and invited educators with “any questions about who supports public education or who doesn’t” to contact him.
While Twin Falls-area conservative lawmakers raised serious concerns that Smallwood’s remarks at the district-funded and catered all-staff meeting may have violated state ethics laws, additional investigation by the Freedom Foundation indicates the Idaho Education Association (IEA) played a significant role behind the scenes in orchestrating the captive-audience political call-to-arms, suggesting the union is likely facilitating similar events in districts throughout the state.
The IEA and “May Matters”
Even before the Idaho legislature adjourned in 2025, the IEA was plotting its revenge for the raft of education reforms adopted by the conservative majority.
The teachers union was especially incensed by the passage of a school choice tax credit that would help families afford the cost of educational alternatives to government schools.
Leveling its vitriol at “destructive,” “hardline,” “out of control,” and “power hungry” conservative legislators, the IEA launched its “May Matters” campaign to replace the “infestation of radical lawmakers” it claimed had taken over in Boise.
Its strategy is simple. In heavily Republican Idaho, Democrats have little chance at winning legislative majorities in the general election, so the IEA is recruiting and supporting liberal candidates to run as Republicans against conservative legislators in the typically low-turnout GOP primary election in May.
Part of the IEA’s campaign involves encouraging Democratic and unaffiliated teachers to switch their party registration to Republican so they can vote for union-endorsed liberal Republicans in the primary election.
The fact that the IEA’s strategy aligns neatly with Smallwood’s pleas to Twin Falls educators — which concluded with the exhortation, “May matters. May 19 matters” — is no coincidence.
IEA behind the scenes in Twin
According to public records obtained from the Twin Falls School District, the IEA was closely involved in orchestrating the Jan. 5 event with district leadership as part of its “May Matters” campaign.
March 21, 2025: In an email to the school board, Twin Falls District superintendent Dr. Brady Dickinson wrote:
“Over the past eight years, we have significantly strengthened the trust between the district and TFEA. Contract negotiations have been highly successful, and we continue to meet monthly to collaborate on key issues… I am proud of the partnership we have cultivated and remain committed to working together for the benefit of our educators and students.”
Dec. 1, 2025: Peggy Hoy, co-chair of the IEA’s political and government affairs committee, sent an email to Smallwood — subject line, “Lunch” — noting that she was “look[ing] forward to the conversation next week about the importance of the May Primary.”
Dec. 2, 2025: Dickinson emailed district educators to inform them that,
“In conjunction with the TFEA [Twin Falls Education Association, the district affiliate of the IEA], we are going to have a very brief (less than 30-minute) gathering of all staff on Monday, January 5th, at 8 a.m. in Roper Auditorium for an important message from our School Board Chairman, Mr. Eric Smallwood.”
(Emphasis added).
Jan. 5, 2026, 8 a.m.: Although it is not clear whether any IEA or TFEA representatives separately addressed the assembled educators, the opening slide of the PowerPoint accompanying Smallwood’s remarks listed both Superintendent Dickinson and “Mike Wilkinson, TFEA Co-President.”
Jan. 5, 2026, 12 p.m.: Following the all-staff meeting, Hoy forwarded Smallwood and Dickinson an email she had sent to Twin Falls educators at 11 a.m., noting:
“I heard from [TFEA co-president] Mike and Nan that it went well this morning. I’m in Nashville at the FCS National Championship game. I sent this email today to TFEA members home email addresses.”
Hoy’s email to Twin Falls teachers read as follows:
“Good Morning TFEA!
Thank you to everyone who took the time today to attend the meeting with School Board Chairman Eric Smallwood. His message was clear and important: educators have a collective voice, and using that voice—especially through voting—matters.
I know many educators are hesitant to engage in “politics,” and that hesitation is understandable. But the truth is, our work is already political. Decisions made by policymakers directly impact what happens in our classrooms every single day—funding, class sizes, support staff, curriculum, and the resources our students rely on. Elections have consequences, and those consequences show up in our schools.
Today’s meeting was a powerful reminder that this is a moment to act.
Here’s the ask:
I need your help phone banking educators in Legislative Districts 24 and 25 to remind them to register to vote. This is a simple way to take what we heard today and use it to support our colleagues by reinforcing how much their voice matters.
I have a script ready to use, and to add a little fun, I’m also setting up a friendly competition. Everyone who participates will have a chance to win a gift certificate as a thank‐you for helping out.
Our collective voice is powerful—but only if we use it. If you can help make calls, please reply to this email and I’ll get you everything you need.”
In sum, it appears that the Jan. 5 captive-audience meeting was a coordinated effort by the IEA and Twin Falls administrators to use the district’s power as the employer to legitimize and boost the union’s concrete political advocacy.
Whether Smallwood and Dickinson stayed inside existing legal lines — and, if not, whether their conduct warrants any sanctions — is a matter for the county prosecutor to decide.
The solution: End taxpayer support for the IEA
Although not perfect, Idaho’s Public Integrity in Elections Act already provides robust prohibitions against the use of public funds, property, or resources for electoral politics.
But as this situation illustrates — and battles over school curriculum, DEI, and related culture war flashpoints confirm — statutory limits on activist educators or bureaucrats can only accomplish so much. Enforceable, constitutionally defensible, bright-line rules on speech and conduct are difficult to craft and implement. Ban “critical race theory” and the same concepts get rebranded as “diversity, equity, and inclusion” or “social emotional learning” and continue as before.
This is particularly true when entrenched progressive organizations like the IEA view their mission as circumventing, undermining, challenging, or repealing such limitations at every turn.
Rather than play unending statutory whack-a-mole, conservative reformers should think institutionally and focus on the root problem: The outsized influence of the teachers unions.
In Idaho, for instance, as the Freedom Foundation has documented, the IEA benefits from millions of dollars’ worth of taxpayer-funded support provided by school districts around the state.
Dozens of school districts act as the IEA’s dues collector, withholding union dues from teachers’ paychecks like taxes. Dozens more give teachers special paid time off to engage in union activism at taxpayers’ expense. Still others allow the IEA to solicit membership from teachers at captive audience meetings conducted on the clock, while some turn over teachers’ personal contact information to the union for use in its marketing and recruitment efforts.
While ending taxpayer support for the IEA would not fix public education overnight, making the teachers union play by the same rules as every other membership organization or advocacy group would constitute a strategic victory that would yield increasing dividends over time.
