State Senator
Election Results
| Candidate | Votes | Pct |
|---|---|---|
| John W. Goedde (R) | 10,458 | 56.98% |
| Warren Ducote (D) | 6,484 | 35.33% |
| Jeremy P. Boggess (I) | 1,413 | 7.70% |
* Race percentages are calculated with data from the Secretary of State's Office, which omits write-in votes from its calculations when there are too few to affect the outcome. The Spokane County Auditor's Office may have slightly different percentages than are reflected here because its figures include any write-in votes.
About the Race
Idaho’s controversial “Students Come First” school reform laws are closely associated with incumbent Republican state Sen. John Goedde, the Senate education chairman and the laws’ lead legislative sponsor.
Goedde, who is seeking a seventh term in the Senate, says he’d like to see those reforms through, including some “tweaking,” and help the state capitalize on them.
Goedde faces two challengers this year, Democrat and first-time candidate Warren Ducote Jr., a retired teacher and military veteran who opposes the reforms; and Jeremy Boggess, an independent who’s challenged Goedde unsuccessfully three times before.
Ducote calls Goedde “a great example of reasons that we might consider term limits in the future.”
Idaho legislators are paid $16,116 per year.
The Candidates
Complete Coverage
Students Come First back on agenda
BOISE – Idaho lawmakers on Monday took steps to reinstate parts of the controversial Students Come First school reform laws less than three months after voters overwhelmingly repealed them. State Superintendent of Schools Tom Luna championed the laws to roll back teachers’ collective bargaining rights; impose a new merit-pay bonus system; and dramatically boost technology in Idaho classrooms, including requiring online classes and supplying a laptop computer to every high school student. The bills passed in 2011 without a single Democratic vote in support and amid widespread opposition from teachers and others; in November, Idaho voters repealed all three by large margins.
Idaho may revive voter-rejected teacher contract limits
Less than three months after voters overwhelmingly repealed them, Idaho lawmakers on Monday reintroduced four bills to reinstate parts of the controversial “Students Come First” school reform laws, focusing on portions limiting teacher contract rights.
School boards push for reforms
BOISE – Idaho school boards plan to press for laws that revive controversial school reforms that voters rejected in November. Among the provisions sought by the Idaho School Boards Association: allowing districts to impose contract terms unilaterally on local teachers unions if agreements aren’t reached by a firm deadline.
Idaho lawmakers urged to revisit voter-rejected anti-union laws
Idaho voters rejected a rollback in teachers’ collective bargaining rights in the November election, but the state’s school boards association is gearing up to try to put some of the same provisions right back into Idaho’s laws.
Otter cites poll showing support for portions of Props 1, 2, 3
BOISE – Leaders of the campaign to defeat Idaho’s controversial school reform laws are warning against bringing back pieces of the voter-rejected laws in Idaho’s upcoming legislative session. In a speech last week, Idaho Gov. Butch Otter said he’d recently seen a statewide poll that convinced him voters actually want some parts of the failed measures.
Eye on Boise: Lawmaker wants teacher bonus option
BOISE – Sen. Jim Hammond, R-Coeur d’Alene, says he doesn’t want teachers to lose the $38.8 million in performance-pay bonuses that the state is scheduled to send out to school districts on Nov. 15 – he just wants it distributed differently than the voter-rejected Students Come First laws required. “I would like to see it go to the base, and let the teachers negotiate with their local school boards for it,” Hammond said. “Because I think it’s disingenuous … giving merit pay to people that don’t deserve it. I don’t want to do that to teachers.”
Ex-state economist says school funding may violate Idaho law
BOISE – Idaho’s former longtime chief state economist, Mike Ferguson, released a 20-page report Friday on public school funding that reaches a series of startling conclusions, including that Idaho’s current school funding system may be violating two key provisions of the state’s constitution. “Actions that drive local school districts into making dramatic increases in the use of local property tax resources … raise serious doubt that the Legislature is fulfilling its constitutional obligations,” Ferguson wrote. “It is probably not realistic to expect a quick fix. It is reasonable to expect an open and honest discussion of the direction of Idaho’s public school funding and whether it is living up to the duties and responsibilities handed down by Idaho’s founding fathers.”
Elections, redistricting likely to play big role in Idaho
BOISE – As Idaho lawmakers head into an election-year session, they’re facing big decisions. Lawmakers and Gov. Butch Otter budgeted so conservatively last year that they’re now sitting on a $130 million surplus, even as health care services for the poor have been slashed, universities, schools and state agencies have seen their funding drop sharply and state employees have gone without raises.
Libraries set to adjust to new Internet filtering law
BOISE – On the lower level of the Coeur d’Alene Public Library, 11 computers sit in a circle for use by kids, with Internet filters blocking access to inappropriate material. “Adults can’t use those,” said Bette Ammon, library director.