This November, Idaho voters will decide whether to keep the state's Students Come First education laws, known as propositions 1, 2, 3 on the ballot. Now the fight over how you should vote has intensified. That fight has taken to the air waves.
If you tune into a commercial radio station in Idaho right now, you might hear a perky sounding woman going down her back to school check list.
“OK, let’s see, I’ve got their school supplies, check. New shoes, check. Lunch box, check. What else do I need to get the kids ready for school?” she wonders. A serious sounding man answers over tense music. “Here’s the other thing parents should add to their check list. Voting no on props 1, 2, and 3.”
The people who want voters to repeal Idaho’s 2011 education overhaul launched their media campaign this week with this minute long radio spot. It’s now playing on 34 stations. It goes on to criticize the one laptop per high school student requirement and the restrictions on teacher bargaining rights. The “Vote No On Props 1, 2, and 3” campaign has also increased its online presence. Now before you watch a YouTube video you may see something like this ten second spiel from a high school student identified as Milana.
“I know that my teachers care for me. They work hard every day to give me a good education,” she says. “Propositions 1, 2, and 3 would make that a lot more difficult for them. Why would anyone want to do that?”
The people who want voters to keep the Students Come First laws have had radio ads for more than a month. The “Yes For Idaho Education” campaign started with a spot that featured First Lady Lori Otter talking about her support for the laws. More recently it’s produced a spot that says Idaho education has hit a ceiling and without Students Come First we’d “keep banging our heads against that ceiling.”