The Freedom Foundation’s successful, three-year effort to end taxpayer support for teachers unions in Idaho is receiving national recognition as a strategic, generational win that will save Gem State taxpayers millions of dollars, level the political playing field, and protect teachers from exploitative union practices.
Each year, the State Policy Network (SPN) awards state policy organizations “doing exceptional work to help states implement free-market solutions that have a lasting national impact.”
The Bob Williams Awards for Outstanding Policy Achievement, presented at SPN’s annual meeting, are named after Bob Williams, who co-founded the Freedom Foundation with Lynn Harsh in 1991. Williams passed away in 2022 at age 80 after a life of advocacy for sound policy and conservative values.
This year, the Freedom Foundation was named one of the three finalists in the “Biggest Win for Freedom” award category for its role in securing the passage of legislation in Idaho to prohibit school districts from using public funds or resources to support far-left teachers unions like the National Education Association.
SPN’s summary of the Freedom Foundation’s work explains:
For 50 years, the Idaho Education Association leveraged taxpayer-funded support to wield outsized influence over the state’s politics. The Freedom Foundation ended it. The three-year effort began with a comprehensive report analyzing every teacher’s union contract in Idaho and documenting how public dollars subsidized union operations and activism. The research also found that 93% of the union’s 2024 political spending benefited one political party. Across three legislative sessions, the Foundation overcame committee chairs who blocked hearings, organized labor, and a rare procedural fight, ultimately securing passage through a seldom-used “radiator cap” amendment. Paired with a statewide grassroots campaign, the effort drove the bill to Gov. Brad Little’s desk, where he signed it on April 10. The generational win ends roughly $4.4 million a year in taxpayer-facilitated dues deductions for more than 5,000 teachers, frees educators from coercive union practices, and levels Idaho’s political playing field for years to come.
The winner in each category will be selected by majority vote of the attendees at SPN’s annual meeting in Orlando in August.
More information on the Freedom Foundation’s comprehensive campaign — which featured comprehensive policy research, investigative reports exposing the Idaho Education Association’s extremism, the assembly of a broad supporting coalition, a statewide speaking tour, digital advertising, consistent legislative engagement by lobbyists and policy experts, and more — is available below.
What the Bill Does
When the law takes effect on July 1, Idaho school districts will be prohibited from:
- contributing taxpayer funds to a teachers’ union;
- providing teachers with paid leave to engage in union operations and activism, unless the union reimburses the district for the value of the teacher’s time out of the classroom;
- paying teachers’ union dues for them with taxpayer funds;
- using public payroll systems and personnel to deduct union dues from teachers’ paychecks;
- providing more of a teacher’s personal information to a union than is disclosable under the Idaho Public Records Act, unless the teacher authorizes the disclosure;
- requiring teachers to meet or interact with a teachers’ union if they do not wish to do so; and,
- distributing communications or membership solicitations on behalf of a teachers’ union.
Teachers will remain free to form and join unions as they see fit, and teachers’ unions will continue to have a legal right to compel districts to collectively bargain.
The Campaign By the Numbers
- 1 comprehensive policy report
- 1 statewide poll
- 1 microsite: ProtectIDTaxpayers.com
- 2 op-eds
- 2 contract lobbyists
- 3 committee hearings in three legislative sessions
- 7 investigative research reports on the Idaho Education Association
- 12 coalition supporters, including:
- Americans for Prosperity
- Americans for Tax Reform
- Citizens Alliance of Idaho
- Foundation for Government Accountability Action
- Heritage Action for America
- Honor Idaho
- Idaho Family Policy Center
- Idaho Freedom Foundation
- Idaho Republican Party
- Moms for Liberty
- Mountain States Policy Center
- National Right to Work Committee
- 20 events and speaking engagements in cities around the state
- 32 legislative bill sponsors/co-sponsors
- 33 weeks spent on the ground in Idaho by the Freedom Foundation’s research and government affairs personnel from late 2023 through early 2026.
Policy Report
Policy report reviewing every teachers union collective bargaining agreement in the state and documenting how school district funds, facilities, and resources were used to support teachers unions:
January 31, 2024: Free Ride: How Idaho Tax Dollars Support Teachers Unions
Commentary and Investigative Reports
February 9, 2024: Taxpayers funding teachers unions? In Idaho, it’s all too common
February 12, 2024: POLL: Idaho voters back proposals to limit taxpayer support for teachers unions
February 29, 2024: Idaho Education Association joins progressive advocacy group
February 13, 2025: Idaho House passes legislation to end taxpayer funding for teachers unions
February 17, 2025: Analysis: 93% of Idaho teachers union political spending benefited Democrats in 2024
March 20, 2025: Complaints allege Idaho school districts’ collection of union dues violates state law
March 28, 2025: Idaho teachers union plots campaign to target conservatives in 2026 primaries
May 14, 2025: ISBA distances itself from Idaho teachers union’s anti-GOP campaign—sort of
December 15, 2025: Idaho’s Sen. Risch, Rep. Fulcher take on the NEA
January 12, 2026: Idaho GOP calls for an end to taxpayer support for teachers unions
January 26, 2026: IEA’s “May Matters” campaign roils Twin Falls School District
February 2, 2026: Idaho schools paying $1.2 million per year for IEA/NEA dues
March 4, 2026: Idaho House Passes Freedom Foundation-Backed Bill Ending Taxpayer Support for Teachers Unions
March 12, 2026: IEA disrupts Lewiston schools with its anti-conservative “May Matters” campaign
April 2, 2026: Idaho Legislature Sends Bill Ending Taxpayer Support For Teachers’ Unions to Governor Little
April 13, 2026: Idaho ends taxpayer support for teachers’ unions
Op-eds
March 13, 2025: Idaho HB 98 needed to restrict teachers’ unions’ abuse of taxpayer funds (The Center Square)
April 4, 2026: Clark is wrong on Idaho’s teachers’ union reform bill (Idaho Statesman)
Select Earned Media
March 25, 2025: The Freedom Foundation Files Legal Complaints Against The Idaho School District (KPVI)
“The Freedom Foundation filed legal complaints against multiple Idaho School Districts claiming illegal collection of teachers’ union dues. The complaints come after the house passed a bill that would bar public school districts from giving union presidents paid leave for their duties and prohibits members of a teachers’ union from paying their dues through an automated payroll system. The Freedom Foundation argues that the districts are violating both state ethics and labor laws by using taxpayer funded payroll systems to collect union dues.”
September 29, 2025: Freedom Foundation official addresses public sector unions and their influence in Idaho politics (5b Gazette)
“Maxford Nelsen, Freedom Foundation’s director of research and government affairs, is travelling through Southeast Idaho to speak with conservative groups to discuss public sector unions and the effect they have on policy and politics in Idaho.”
April 8, 2026: Analysis: Inside the teachers’ union battle that split the Senate GOP (Idaho Education News)
“A last-minute bill targeting teachers’ unions split the Idaho Senate. Hardline conservatives vs. mainstream Republicans. A GOP new wave vs. veterans in Senate leadership. And hardliners vs. one of their own: Sen. Dan Foreman, R-Moscow. Foreman opposed legislation that would ban schools from using taxpayer dollars to subsidize union activities. He held one such bill in his committee — an olive branch to Idaho Education Association leaders. He opposed the messy procedural push that brought the issue back to life and bypassed his committee. Public showdowns on the Senate floor. Private discussions between Foreman and IEA, a political odd couple. All culminating in one of the most dramatic and defining education votes of the 2026 session — a victory long coveted by conservatives, and a significant setback for one of the state’s most prominent education lobbying groups.”
April 15, 2026: Analysis: Little shows off his primary colors by signing anti-union bill (Idaho Education News)
“When he signed a last-minute bill to restrict teachers’ unions, Little catered to his Republican Party base, the voters most likely to show up in the May 19 GOP primary. He also may have looked at how the wind was blowing; he received 1,592 e-mails and calls urging him to sign the bill, and 1,007 emails and calls urging a veto… [T]he Washington state-based Freedom Foundation was a driving force behind the anti-union legislation.”
April 23, 2026: Private school choice advocate tops lobbying expenditures, again (Idaho Education News)
“The Freedom Foundation’s 2024 report on Idaho teachers’ unions inspired House Bill 516, which the Legislature passed and Gov. Brad Little signed into law earlier this month. The new law prohibits school districts from using taxpayer resources to accommodate unions.”
May 4, 2026: Making Public Unions More Accountable (Wall Street Journal)
“Idaho Gov. Brad Little recently signed a bill that will end taxpayer support for teachers unions, notably the Idaho Education Association. The bill will prevent school districts from collecting dues directly from teachers paychecks and limit unions’ ability to recruit members during school hours. It will also end the practice of giving teachers paid time off for ‘union activities’ like supporting candidates for office, soliciting union membership or joining union protests or advocacy.”
Multimedia
