CHUBBUCK — Four candidates running for three School District 25 board positions made their best case for why they should be reelected at a Tuesday evening forum at Chubbuck City Hall.

Incumbent school board members Deanna Judy, Heather Clarke, and Megan Furniss as well as potential second-time trustee Dave Mattson participated in the Idaho State Journal and League of Women Voters forum.

Furniss’ opponent for Zone 1 Cami Ellis and Clarke’s challenger for Zone 2 Douglas Johnson were unable to participate, leaving Mattson and Judy in Zone 5 as the only race featuring contested candidates. With fewer contention, the forum’s dynamic presented less like a debate and more like a town hall.

Candidates were asked to opine on difficult hot-button issues in Idaho’s education sector including the financial impacts of $50 million in tax rebates for school choice vouchers and potential cuts to special education programs as well as censorship as it relates to curriculum choices such as the separation of church and state and teaching historical events related to slavery, Native Americans and racism.

After providing a one-minute introduction, candidates were allotted 90 seconds to answer nine questions, curated by a panel consisting of both Journal and League members. The forum ended with the candidates’ two-minute closing statement.

Megan FurnissFurniss, the current Zone 1 board trustee, introduced herself as a mother of three children in the district with a fourth set to start in three years. A former public school teacher at the high school and middle school levels who holds a master’s degree in educational leadership, Furniss has lived in the community for 11 years.

“Since I am from out of the district, I feel like I can add an unbiased (perspective to) the decision making around the district matters,” she said.

On vouchers, Furniss said the program would harm public schools.

“In the end, it will end up hurting our public schools and then our students will suffer because it will ... divert a lot of funds away from them and we will have to be really strict and tight on our budget,” she said. “I think it ... will hurt special education programs, first and foremost.”

However, she said people want choices and different avenues of education, noting that School District 25 offers some of those types of opportunities. She spoke of her own children’s enrollment in the Montessori program at Tyhee Elementary. The district should look at “other options to be more competitive with the voucher program,” she said.

On special education, Furniss said the program is a top priority. The board has been working to support the director of special education.

“She’s done a phenomenal job getting Medicaid funding,” she said. “I think that’s an extremely needed program, and it is very well utilized throughout the district.”

Furniss supported parent involvement in curriculum decisions.

“I think adding parents to the curriculum committee has been very helpful,” she said. “We have very educated and diverse groups of parents.”

Heather ClarkeClarke, the incumbent for Zone 2, noted her four years of experience as a board member and 20 years as a community member with a professional background in budgeting and decision-making.

“I am personally invested in the success of our schools,” she said. “I believe our schools are the heart of our community and I am deeply committed to ensuring every child has the opportunity to thrive.”

Clarke took the strongest stance against school vouchers.

“School vouchers are a key issue for public schools because they divert public taxpayer money away from public schools and reduce (funding),” she said. “This leads to budget cuts, school closures, larger class sizes and fewer resources for the majority of students who remain in the public system.”

She said research shows “vouchers often lack accountability and do not consistently improve student academic outcomes.”

Clarke noted the irony that private schools don’t have to provide special education services or contribute to the costs of extracurricular activities.

“These schools don’t even have to provide (special education) because they have a waiting list of kids that don’t need it already coming in,” she said. “But the irony is, the school district, if those kids still want to play sports or be involved in the activities, the public schools still have to fund the referees and the coaches for those private school students that are taking advantage of those vouchers.”

She praised School District 25’s special education director for doing “a phenomenal job finding ways in which we can do some Medicaid billing to ... hire additional aides and get the support we need.”

On curriculum, Clarke said she struggles with finding balance.

“We need to protect our children but at the same time, we need to provide the ability for critical thinking to be able to think for themselves,” she said.

She worried about what might be stifled by censorship efforts, adding that she has learned to defer to educators.

“I like to stay in my lane and trust those who have the education degrees,” she said.

Deanna JudyJudy, the current board chair for Zone 5, introduced herself with a degree in elementary education and three and a half years of service on the board, the last two as chair.

She said her priorities are “to rebuild Highland safely and efficiently, support student achievement through strong curriculum and parent involvement and ensure that all the money that we spend as a district serves students and teachers.”

Explaining her stance on vouchers, Judy said “charter schools are public schools. They are publicly funded schools,” adding that she strongly supports providing different learning styles and options through competition.

However, she drew a firm line on private school vouchers specifically because of a lack of accountability.

“I do believe that private and religious schools should remain separate, because if they are funded with public funds, they absolutely have to have oversight,” she said, adding, “And that would then make it so there are no private or religious schools, because if you fund it, you have oversight, and then it becomes a public school.”

On special education, Judy said costs are high but “we’re following procedures and protocols to the very best ability that we can to make sure that all of the services that are legally supposed to be provided, are provided.”

Regarding curriculum and local control, Judy said: “I want local control. I always felt that this is one of my top priorities.”

She praised the legislative requirement for parent involvement in curriculum adoption.

“It worked so well,” she said. “The parents were so motivated and they did a fabulous job reviewing all that curriculum. They were able to see the awesome curriculum that we have.”

On teaching history, Judy invoked Edmund Burke’s principle.

“If we fail to learn from the mistakes of others, we are destined to make the same mistakes ourselves,” she said. “I think it is so important that we learn from the mistakes that we have made in the past, so that we do not repeat those mistakes.”

She also spoke about observing a world religions class she found insightful and indicative of the way religion, or the separation of church and state should be approached.

“Learning about religions of the world, I think, is a really good thing, because it helps understand that people believe differently,” Judy said. She drew a distinction between teaching about religions versus teaching religion itself, saying the latter “would be at church and at home, not at school.”

Dave MattsonMattson, a former board member seeking to return, kept his responses brief.

“I did this for three and a half years, three years ago, and I loved it,” he said. “I really liked expulsion hearings, that’s when you got to really see the parents.”

He said one of the board’s “biggest jobs is to hire and fire superintendents,” while describing the current leadership as strong.

On vouchers, Mattson said, “I think our legislators lack accountability, there’s money, and it just takes a lot of money from our schools.”

He questioned the direction, saying, “I don’t understand why we have to do this.”

On teaching history, Mattson was direct.

“Why would you want to change history? Why would you want to hide it?” he said. “It happened and we’re moving forward and we will be better for it.”

Mattson said he trusts district leadership.

“We got great people working here,” he said, referring to the superintendent and administration.

On making decisions, Mattson said he is autonomous.

“It really comes down to my feelings for me on the board and what’s right for the kids and their families. It’s pretty simple,” he said. “We think of what’s right for the children and their families and make a decision.”

Mattson said teachers are “the backbone” of the district.

“You have to be close to them. You have to talk to them and collaborate,” he said. “I got into this because my son-in-law was a teacher. Teachers seemed like they needed to be protected. I think that’s my personality, is to protect somebody, so that’s what I did it for.”

The election will be held on Tuesday, Nov. 5.