At its 2026 Winter Meeting in Meridian last weekend, the Idaho Republican Party adopted a resolution calling for the “passage of legislation to prohibit taxpayer support for teachers’ unions in all forms, direct or indirect.”
Resolution 2026-15 effectively endorses Freedom Foundation-supported legislation introduced by Rep. Judy Boyle (R-Midvale) and Sen. Ben Toews (R-Coeur d’Alene) in 2025 that passed the House but stalled in the Senate State Affairs Committee after the chairman refused to give it a hearing.
The party’s backing of the proposal comes as Idaho’s congressional delegation increasingly signs onto similar legislation known as the STUDENT Act, which would comprehensively overhaul the federal charter of the far-left National Education Association (NEA), the parent affiliate of the Idaho Education Association (IEA).
Brian Almon, chair of the 14th legislative district GOP and publisher of the indispensable Idaho political news and commentary site Gem State Chronicle, proposed the resolution, the full text of which is provided below:
WHEREAS, the National Education Association (NEA), the largest teachers’ union in the country, has been described by the Wall Street Journal editorial board as “the ideological and institutional vanguard of progressive politics” and “a powerful wing of the Democratic Party”; and,
WHEREAS, the Idaho Education Association is the Idaho state affiliate of the NEA; and,
WHEREAS, 93 percent of the 2024 general election spending by political action committees connected to the IEA supported Democratic candidates; and,
WHEREAS, the IEA endorsed Proposition 1 in 2024; and,
WHEREAS, the IEA is a member and annual contributor to the Idaho Progressive Investor Network, a dark-money organization working to advance progressive policy and politics in Idaho; and,
WHEREAS, the IEA’s 2024 Summer Institute professional development conference for teachers: (1) featured a keynote presentation by a Democrat state representative who criticized Idaho’s pro-life laws and attacked her Republican colleagues by name; (2) promoted LGBTQ+ advocacy; (3) involved a presentation by a union official who has compared conservatives to the Taliban; and (4) included classes as part of the NEA’s “Leaders for a Just Society” program, which is part of the union’s efforts to advance the concepts of social justice and DEI in Idaho public schools; and,
WHEREAS, the IEA has recently described conservative Republicans serving in the Idaho legislature as “bad,” “destructive,” “radical,” “hardline,” “out of control,” “power hungry,” and an “infestation”; and,
WHEREAS, the IEA has launched a “May Matters” campaign to “[mobilize] IEA members to turn out voters in the May 2026 primary elections and return a pro-public education majority to the Idaho Legislature” in part by getting Democratic and independent teachers to “re-register” as Republicans “in strategic districts”; and,
WHEREAS, school districts across Idaho provide the IEA and its local affiliates with direct and indirect taxpayer support by: using public payroll systems and personnel to deduct union dues from teachers’ paychecks; providing teachers with paid leave to engage in union operations and activism; paying teachers’ union dues for them with taxpayer funds; providing teachers’ personal contact information to the union; requiring new teachers to sit through union membership solicitations as part of their orientation; distributing union communications or membership solicitations; and similar practices; and,
WHEREAS, taxpayers should not be forced to subsidize private special interest groups, whether Republican or Democrat, conservative or liberal; and,
WHEREAS, Idaho voters broadly support changing state law to prevent taxpayer funds and government resources from being used to support teachers’ unions;
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, the Idaho Republican State Central Committee supports the passage of legislation to prohibit taxpayer support for teachers’ unions in all forms, direct or indirect; and,
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Idaho Republican State Central Committee direct the State Chairman to request the Idaho GOP Legislative Liaisons to work with their fellow legislators to ensure passage of legislation prohibiting any manner of taxpayer support for teachers’ unions.
As the 2026 legislature convenes in Boise this week, state policymakers will have another chance to do the right thing, both for Idaho and the country, by ending taxpayer support for teachers unions like the IEA and NEA once and for all.
