This story is part of a series of candidate profiles that Idaho Education News will publish leading up to the Nov. 5 general election. Our coverage focuses on competitive races in swing districts and those that have implications for education policy. Click here to see our previously published election stories. Click here to see your ballot.
It’s a rematch for Republican Rep. Lori McCann and Democrat Trish Carter-Goodheart.
A community fundraiser and grant writer from Lapwai, Carter-Goodheart challenged McCann in the 2022 general election, receiving 40.5% of the vote to McCann’s 59.5%.
McCann was an educator and comes from a family of educators, making the importance of giving all Idahoans opportunities to achieve their educational goals important to her, she said.
As a member of the Nez Perce tribe and mother raising her young children in rural Idaho, Carter-Goodheart has focused on advocacy for the safety and wellbeing of all children, she hopes to take that focus statewide if elected, according to her website.
McCann wants a new funding formula
McCann is seeking a third term to finish what she started, especially when it comes to education, she said in an interview last week.
Education is important to McCann, in part, because she was a teacher at Lewis-Clark State College’s paralegal and legal assistant programs. She served as vice-chair of the House Education Committee last year.
She supports state funding for higher education, a departure from the state Republican party’s platform. She called the idea of defunding higher education “very short sighted.”
McCann said each college in North Idaho — LCSC, North Idaho College, and the University of Idaho — meets a specific need in the community.
She wants to make it easier for students to move between the schools, likening higher education to a train you can jump on and off of as you need.
“We want to make sure we are not just fighting for dollars but that we are fighting for a system that will work for students,” McCann said.
She supported the University of Idaho’s controversial move to acquire the University of Phoenix because it could allow more students to take classes from home, she said.
When it comes to K-12 education, McCann doesn’t like the attendance funding model, arguing an enrollment based model for state funds would be better for rural districts. She would also like to see the funding formula changed more substantively.
“Sometimes that just doesn’t work for these rural districts because we all have buildings. We have upkeep. We have to pay the lights,” McCann said. “When we have less rear-ends in seats, we get less money.”
Schools in more urban areas are often newer due to a larger property tax base making a bond go further.
“They have these fancy schools and then I go to different functions around my districts and look at the schools that have crumbling bricks and old old buildings and old plumbing,” she said.
She likes the idea of having state-provided blueprints for small, medium, and large schools that the state would pay to build; any additional “bells and whistles” could be paid for by a levy or bond.
She called House Bill 521 “just a start” when it comes to property tax relief and school facilities funds. McCann wants commercial and agricultural, and homeowners to pay a more equalized amount on their taxes.
While McCann believes parents should have a choice in where to send their children to school, she does not broadly support programs that would send public funds to private education.
“The accountability piece, there’s not a single budget in the state that says we could spend $80-90 million with no accountability,” McCann said. “People would lose their minds and rightly so, there needs to be accountability.”
Private schools don’t have to do state testing or publicize their budgets, which concerns McCann.
Rural areas often don’t have private school options and it’s unlikely that private schools would see a rural area with less than 500 students as a place to make money, she added.
“I don’t see how that would be a fair and equal situation,” she said.
She would be open to voting for a private school choice bill if it was the right fit for Idaho, she said.
Not only on education issues but every issue, McCann says legislators need to work together and come to practical solutions.
“This is such a wonderful state and if we could just all work together and sit down and have reasonable common sense discussions we could do great things but when we start dividing we just get nothing accomplished,” McCann said.
Carter-Goodheart focuses on rural families
As a mother raising her young children in a rural part of district 6, Carter-Goodheart knows first-hand the struggles many families go through.
“I believe that investing in our public schools is crucial. Every child, regardless of where they live, deserves access to a high-quality education,” Carter-Goodheart’s website says. “I will fight to increase funding for public schools, ensuring teachers have the resources they need, and our children have the opportunity to thrive.”
Carter-Goodheart did not respond to multiple requests for an interview.
She lists increasing funding for public schools and libraries as one of her top priorities if elected.
She opposes all private school choice programs, arguing “public dollars need to stay in public schools,” according to her questionnaire in the Idaho Captial Sun.
“We should focus on strengthening our public schools- improving facilities, increasing teacher pay, and ensuring that every child has the tools they need to succeed,” Carter-Goodheart told the Capital Sun. “Public schools are the great equalizer in society, and they deserve our full support. Public funding needs to stay where it belongs, in the schools that serve all our children.”
Carter- Goodheart’s priorities include restoring reproductive rights, creating sustainable agricultural systems, and reducing or eliminating the grocery tax.
A member of the Nez Perce tribe, Carter-Goodheart’s campaign has also focused on creating equity in legislation.
“We cannot allow a hateful minority of elected officials (to) have free reign over our lives, and personal freedoms,” her website reads.
At a candidate forum earlier this month, Carter-Goodheart said in a statement she was asked “Why don’t you go back to where you came from?” by Sen. Dan Foreman.
Foreman denied making the comment in a Facebook post, instead accusing Carter-Goodheart of flying into a rage and shouting at him during her response to a question on discrimination.
“I enlightened this person to the fact I was born in America, and I am therefore a native American,” Foreman wrote.
McCann told the Idaho Capital Sun that Carter-Goodheart’s description of events was accurate.
“People like Dan Foreman do not represent our diverse community, and I will continue to stand against the hatred and racism they spread,” Carter-Goodheart wrote in her statement.. “Our state deserves better. Our community deserves better. We deserve better.”