Little Promises Education Support

 

Since moving to Idaho from Texas and having lived in many different states I have felt like the state of Idaho doesn't put much importance on education. Teachers are so underpaid and overworked. They need so much more than what they are provided by the government in order to properly instruct our children. In addition, children are now much more difficult to deal with and teach and yet no extra help for teachers seems to be given.

    However, in Governor Little's latest state of the state address he did make promises to help in the education sphere and I am so thankful for what if offered to our schools and teachers from the state. I still believe there needs to be more but it's a start.

    First, he addressed giving money toward early literacy education. This has been a benefit for the past five years and will continue this coming year as well. The money is used in Fremont County to fund all day Kindergarten classes as well as curriculum supports and extra staff in Kindergarten through third grade classes. 

    Some students who start Kindergarten come in already knowing their alphabet and numbers and name. Others haven't learned anything at all. Others come in somewhere in between. This makes it challenging for Kindergarten teachers who really have differentiate their teaching to all the different levels of students.

    "We don't have control over what parents do with their children birth to Kindergarten," Superintendent Byron Stutzman said. "Sometimes we do get children coming to Kindergarten who are the right chronological age but they have not been worked with on the necessary items."

    Stutzman said they are currently working on kits to hand out to parents of young children in the area which would help them know what they need to teach the children prior to starting school.

    All around the country and even the world children and teens are struggling worse than ever with mental health problems. In order to deal with this increased need Fremont County has two counselors through Grand Peaks who help students. One counselor works with the high school children and they just recently started with working with a second counselor for the elementary school students who struggle. 

    As a mother of a special needs child myself with severe behavior problems I am so grateful the elementary side will now have extra help for these kiddos who have such a harder time than their peers. 

    Little promised $1.1 billion over the next 5 years to schools.

    "I am not sure how that will all play out as the legislature wrangles through their session but at first blush the governor's budget looks very supportive to education."