“Listen to the people. Stay on course. Keep the big picture in focus. Don’t lose our direction,” Little said. “Concentrate on what matters well beyond our time here. Double down on our support of schools and tax relief and continue key investments to keep up with growth and make our communities safe.”

Burns, D-Bellevue, said that Little’s goals were lofty—but, he said, Democrats and Republicans in the Legislature can take steps towards achieving them, if they can find a way to unify. Burns said that school and infrastructure spending already have some bipartisan support, and that he expects the state to have money “to provide some meaningful property-tax relief to Idaho families.”

“If we can get ourselves together and united enough to get 36 and 18 votes”—a simple majority in the House and Senate, respectively— “[we can get] some good things done for the people of Idaho,” the House Minority Caucus Chairman said.

Burns added that he would like to see Medicaid reimbursement rates for home health care on Little’s radar.

“A lot of people are struggling to find workers because reimbursement rates are so low,” he said. Overall, though, he thought Little’s agenda contained “some really positive things.”

So did Jerome Republican Nelsen, a farmer, first-time legislator and former teacher.

Nelsen said he was “delighted” by the governor’s State of the State, particularly Little’s ideas for education.

“It stuck to the old saying that the governor suggests and the legislature appropriates,” he said. “You could tell it made a big deal for him on the approval of the legislature for 2022.”

Education made up a significant chunk of Little’s speech, in which he said the state was poised to make its “largest ongoing investment ever” to Idaho education. Citing a ballot advisory question from Nov. 2022, Little said that 85% of voters approved of the action taken by the Legislature in an unprecedented special section in September, which included $410 million in ongoing education funding—$330 million for K-12 schools and $80 million to prepare students for “in-demand” jobs.

Nelsen is slated to serve on the House Education, Resources and Conservation and Agricultural Affairs committees. He told the Express he is excited to participate in all three and was impressed by the conduct of these committees—despite his recent introduction to the Agricultural Affairs Committee during which he told a joke comparing women to livestock. Nelsen has since issued a formal apology.

“I’m quite excited to be in these committees. I’m very impressed with [Education Committee] Chairwoman [Julie] Yamamoto. I think common sense in all the committees along with taking an oath of civility and working together was huge.”

Nelsen’s role on the Education Committee will be under scrutiny early in the session as the House considers legislation to fund a school choice programs in the form of vouchers, tax credits or educational savings accounts—options that would give parents money to send kids to private or parochial schools.

“In my world, I’ve seen lots of pro-voucher and pro-savings account constituents and lobbyist,” Nelsen said. “I’m not a voucher or savings account person, I would assume the others agree. Frankly, there’s nothing about the issue that looks good at the moment.

“My gut-reaction is that a lot of members [of the Education Committee] are not really excited about vouchers or savings accounts.”

Talking with the Express, Burns railed against educational savings accounts, citing an article from 2016 that found over $800,000 in fraudulent and misused public funds in Arizona, in which vacations, nail appointments and other expenditures were purchased from funds that were to be awarded to private schools.

“We’ve seen what happens when states go to [educational savings accounts] without any sort of real control or oversight,” he said. “The best way to control that is to not get it started. There’s fine accountability in the public school system now.”

Taylor, D-Hailey, said he expects the debate on education to be “interesting and informative.”

“I agree with Rep. Nelsen that we need to sit down with our respective districts and make sure that they understand that there will be a fairly concerted effort to get an [educational savings account] of some type through the legislature this year,” he said.

Taylor, a first-time legislator, said that his first week in Boise was an exciting experience.

“My first week has been absolutely phenomenal. We’ve been on the ground running from the moment you wake up to the moment you go to sleep at night,” Taylor said. “There have been all sorts of visits from people who are concerned about the rules that we need to go over in the next few weeks.”

Taylor said that the delegation is in the process of looking to provide help for the short-handed Hailey Post Office, and they are looking for resources that are available to address staffing issues.