Idaho

Where did $50 million in pandemic education relief money in Idaho go? – Idaho Capital Sun

Published

2 years ago

September 6, 2022

Where did million in pandemic education relief money in Idaho go? – Idaho Capital Sun

In 2020, Idaho discovered itself with $1.25 billion in federal funding to spend on coronavirus aid.

Of that cash, $50 million went to a program offering households with training spending grants. To get the cash in these households’ fingers, Idaho awarded a profitable no-bid contract to an organization represented by longtime Idaho Republican Tom Luna.

Dad and mom have largely been appreciative of the grants, which helped them purchase new computer systems and different {hardware}, cowl web prices, and even pay for personal tutoring and day care.

However this system was additionally expensive, with over $2.6 million going to administrative charges to the seller of the software program that Idaho employed to run this system, ClassWallet, which received the no-bid contract with the backing of a lobbying agency run by the then-Idaho Republican Celebration chairman. Among the dad and mom additionally discovered that purchases they made via the positioning have been costlier than simply shopping for the merchandise themselves immediately from distributors. And questions nonetheless stay about how $7 million of these funds have been spent.

The contract awarded by the Idaho State Board of Schooling

Federal cash from the CARES Act was meant to assist college students from kindergarten via school because the pandemic shut down faculties and compelled a transition to on-line, home-based studying. Many households have been left to stability their kids’s training on prime of full-time jobs.

In an government order signed in October 2020, Gov. Brad Little put $50 million towards a newly created initiative, the “Robust Households, Robust College students” program, which allowed Idaho households incomes underneath $75,000 a 12 months to obtain grants of $1,500 per eligible scholar, with a most award of $3,500 per household. Households may use the cash to buy computer systems, academic supplies, day care or tutoring companies.

To distribute the funds, the Idaho State Board of Schooling awarded a no-bid contract to ClassWallet, which was already managing comparable applications in Oklahoma and Arizona.

ClassWallet was represented by lobbying agency Strategos Group, the place Luna — the previous Idaho superintendent of public instruction and then-chairman of the Idaho Republican Celebration — is a associate.

Luna has a historical past of serving to corporations safe profitable state contracts.

In 2012, he awarded a $180 million contract to lease laptops from Hewlett Packard and supply them to Idaho highschool college students. (In a referendum in opposition to what turned referred to as the Luna legal guidelines, voters reversed the choice.) In 2013, he awarded a 5-year, $2 million contract to Schooling Networks of America. The corporate had beforehand donated to Luna, and the corporate’s Idaho customer support director had as soon as labored for Luna.

After he negotiated the ClassWallet deal, Luna additionally continued to work with the corporate. He appeared as a panelist on ClassWallet webinars in August 2021 and March 2022.

Sometimes, a contract that enormous would undergo the aggressive bidding course of required underneath Idaho legislation. However the Board of Schooling had gotten the OK from the Idaho Division of Buying to bypass that requirement.

“Our understanding is that the seller was chosen primarily based on its expertise efficiently operating comparable applications in different states and that Tom Luna’s affiliation with the seller had no bearing on the choice to pick the corporate,” a spokeswoman for the governor informed the AP on the time.

Luna couldn’t be reached for remark.

What ClassWallet obtained

For the contract, ClassWallet earned a $250,000 set-up charge, plus $53 per every software it processed, for a complete of $2.1 million. ClassWallet additionally earned $15 every time dad and mom requested for a reimbursement of funds they’d already spent ($276,975). The contract additionally contained a 2.5% transaction charge paid by distributors to ClassWallet, about $1.2 million. That resulted in about $3.8 million for ClassWallet whole.

What ClassWallet supplied was an internet site via which oldsters may make their purchases of academic supplies from pre-approved distributors.

That allowed ClassWallet to usher in income in yet one more approach. Along with well-known workplace suppliers like Staples and Workplace Depot, the corporate additionally gave dad and mom the choice to buy supplies sourced by ClassWallet itself. Idaho households ended up buying $342,286.82 price of things from ClassWallet’s in-house vendor.

ClassWallet’s pricing technique additionally raises questions on its stewardship of the state’s cash. In social media feedback, dad and mom complained that the costs they noticed on ClassWallet have been usually larger than shopping for immediately from the seller.

Some dad and mom prompt going immediately via the seller to make a purchase order, after which demanding reimbursement later.

One father or mother wrote on social media that she was in a position to order a case of paper extra cheaply from Staples’ web site than via ClassWallet.

“What a wonderful waste of cash,” she commented. “Cash that would go towards sources for extra folks.”

An Idaho Statesman assessment of some common objects discovered that ClassWallet typically charged larger charges than at different common retailers. A printer from Brother, for instance, retailing for $119.99 at BestBuy, was on sale for $138.03 at ClassWallet, a markup of 15%. An adjustable white board retailing for $122.14 at Goal went for $263.89 on ClassWallet’s web site, over double the worth.

ClassWallet says that costs are set by the distributors that use the platform.

“The costs that built-in third-party e-commerce distributors supply via the platform are decided solely by the distributors and are exterior the scope of ClassWallet’s relationship with the distributors,” wrote ClassWallet president Neil Steinhardt in a press release to the Capital Solar. “ClassWallet merely serves because the platform during which {the marketplace} of distributors is made obtainable to customers.”

“When pricing issues are delivered to its consideration, ClassWallet consults with the seller to raised align pricing and ship probably the most worth to customers and purchasers,” he wrote.

ClassWallet’s enterprise is booming. Past Idaho, ClassWallet was additionally chosen to distribute funds to college students in Indiana, Georgia and Michigan. Within the final three years, its income has grown by 916%, it introduced in August.

That announcement got here simply as ClassWallet is pushing again in opposition to scrutiny for the way it has managed grant funds. Oklahoma filed a lawsuit in opposition to the corporate after a federal audit discovered extra that households had spent cash on questionable purchases — like Christmas timber, a Lay-Z Boy recliner and gaming consoles — amounting to $650,000 that the state should now pay again. ClassWallet additionally secured its contract in Oklahoma via a no-bid contract.

The place Idaho dad and mom spent the cash

Knowledge supplied to the Capital Solar by the State Board of Schooling doesn’t record what particular objects households have been in a position to buy with the cash for the Robust Households, Robust Grants applications. Nevertheless it does present the place households spent cash and the class the spending fell into. Purchases made between April 29, 2021, and Sept. 7, 2021, totaling $7 million weren’t categorized, and didn’t embody any vendor data.

A small set of corporations ended up the most important beneficiaries of oldsters’ spending. Dad and mom spent $11.4 million of the grant cash at Staples and $10.8 million at Workplace Depot. Carson Dellosa Schooling, a educating provide firm, earned $1.7 million and Apple additionally obtained $1.9 million.

The info supplied no data on the place $7.5 million in purchases went that have been categorized as “reimbursements.”

Dad and mom spent probably the most on pc {hardware} and adaptive studying expertise — a minimum of $16.7 million. In feedback on the Idaho State Board of Schooling’s Fb web page, many dad and mom say that they used the funds to purchase laptops, desktop iMacs and displays.

Not less than $5.6 million was spent on academic provides and supplies. One other $2.6 million went to web connectivity.

Dad and mom additionally spent round $416,375 on day care, $326,860 on tutoring companies, and $379,702 on academic course charges. Distributors included the Sylvan Studying Heart, Math for Youngsters and Varsity Tutors.

Stewards of the training funds

Many dad and mom have expressed gratitude for the Robust Households, Robust College students grants, saying that it helped them to pay for training bills that they wanted to homeschool their children through the pandemic.

Nonetheless, the cash went to only a portion of Idaho households in want.

All in all, the state of Idaho spent about $224 million of its federal CARES Act funds on training programming. The $50 million Idaho spent on the Robust Households, Robust College students grants went to 18,465 households making fewer than $75,000 per 12 months, touching 24,563 college students, at a median program spend of about $2,035 per scholar.

However Idaho’s public college system contains over 310,000 college students, of which 27.3% — or about 84,000 college students — are eligible for a free or decreased college lunch. The quantity of federal CARES Act funding going to assist public faculties was $107.8 million, plus one other $24.8 for college expertise. That’s spending of about $428 per scholar.

In a press release to the Capital Solar, the governor’s workplace expressed its continued assist for particular person grants for households.

“Governor Little is a steadfast believer that folks and households ought to at all times be within the driver’s seat of their little one’s training,” wrote the governor’s press secretary Madison Hardy. “The Robust College students, Robust Households program gave that chance to hundreds of Idaho households making an attempt to assist their college students’ studying wants following the onset of COVID-19.”

“Not solely did this system take away limitations for low-income households to purchase their kids further academic sources, nevertheless it additionally helped to reduce the results of pandemic-related studying loss,” Hardy wrote.

This 12 months, Idaho will implement the Empowering Dad and mom grants program, which successfully extends the Robust Households, Robust College students program with one other $50 million from the American Rescue Plan Act State Fiscal Restoration Funds. About $1.2 million in state cash will probably be used to manage the grants.

The plan, handed earlier this 12 months, obtained common assist from the Legislature, receiving assist from all however one senator, Mark Nye, D-Pocatello,, and one consultant, Rep. Karey Hanks, R-St. Anthony.

“We all know that there are literally thousands of college students all through our state who skilled studying loss because of the pandemic disruption,” Board President Kurt Liebich mentioned in a press launch saying the opening of the grants software. “The SFSS program made an actual distinction through the pandemic and we anticipate the Empowering Dad and mom program will proceed to supply wanted sources to assist handle studying loss and get our college students again on observe.”

ClassWallet was not chosen to manage grants this coming 12 months for the Empowering Dad and mom program — as a substitute, it will likely be Major Class, Inc., an organization integrated in Delaware in December 2021.

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Idaho

Idaho certifies 2024 general election results, setting up Electoral College process – East Idaho News

Published

7 hours ago

November 26, 2024

Press Room

Idaho certifies 2024 general election results, setting up Electoral College process – East Idaho News

BOISE (Idaho Capital Sun) — The Idaho State Board of Canvassers voted unanimously Tuesday at the Idaho State Capitol in Boise to certify Idaho’s 2024 general election results.

The Idaho State Board of Canvassers officially signed off on results of the Nov. 5, 2024, election after noting that none of the election outcomes changed following the county certifications and a random audit of ballots in eight Idaho counties.

In addition to none of the outcomes changing, none of the races in Idaho were within the 0.5% margin that qualifies for a free recount, Idaho Secretary of State Phil McGrane said.

“I’ve been involved in elections for a very long time,” McGrane said during Tuesday’s meeting of the Idaho State Board of Canvassers. “This was truly one of the smoothest elections that I’ve ever been part of – from leading into the election to going through it – and I think it’s really a credit to so many different people for us to be able to hold an election like this. I think the preparation and the very, very cooperative relationship that we have with the counties and the county clerks offices has just been huge.”

The Idaho State Board of Canvassers consists of McGrane, Idaho State Treasurer Julie Ellsworth and Idaho State Controller Brandon Woolf.

Record number of Idaho voters voted in 2024 general election

Tuesday’s vote to certify Idaho’s election results also makes the 2024 general election the largest election in state history in terms of the number of voters who voted. Official numbers released following the canvass show that 917,469 voters cast ballots, beating the previous record of 878,527 from the 2020 general election.

Idaho law allows voters to register to vote and vote on Election Day. Final, official 2024 general election results showed there were 121,015 same-day registrations on Election Day.

The number of same-day voter registrations this year was so large that if all 121,015 voters who participated in same-day voter registration created a new city, it would have been the third-largest city in Idaho, just between Meridian and Nampa.

Turnout for the 2024 general election came to 77.8%, trailing the 2020 general election record turnout of 81.2%.

Certifying Idaho election results sets stage for Electoral College to meet

The vote to certify Idaho’s election results Tuesday helps set the stage for the Electoral College process used to officially vote for the president and vice president of the United States.

“The purpose of today’s meeting, really, is to certify the results as official,” McGrane said. “So up until this point, all of the results have been unofficial for the state of Idaho. That includes everything from the presidential race, federal races and state races.”

Now that Idaho’s election results are official, state officials will send the results to Washington, D.C., McGrane said.

Then, on Dec. 17, Idaho’s electors will officially cast their votes for President-elect Donald Trump in the electoral college.

Idaho has four electoral college votes – one for each of its members of the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate – and all four of Idaho’s electoral votes will go for Trump.

Election audit uncovers poll worker errors, disorganized records

On Nov. 15, the Idaho State Board of Canvassers selected eight random Idaho counties for the audit, the Sun previously reported. The counties selected were Latah, Bingham, Elmore, Bear Lake, Custer, Minidoka, Clearwater and Jerome counties.

On Tuesday, Chief Deputy Secretary of State Nicole Fitzgerald said the audit results matched the unofficial election results completely in Bingham and Minidoka counties. But there were small discrepancies, poll worker errors, hand counting errors, labeling or organizational errors that the audit uncovered in six of the counties audited. None of the discrepancies – the largest of which involved 12 ballots in Elmore County – was large enough to change the outcome of any of the elections, McGrane said during the Idaho State Board of Canvassers meeting and again during a follow up interview with the Sun.

For example, in Bear Lake County, Sen. Mark Harris, R-Soda Springs, lost one vote as a result of the audit, while his Democratic challenger Chris Riley gained one vote in the audit. Election officials on Tuesday attributed the difference to a hand counting error on election night in Bear Lake County. The error did not change the outcome. Final election results show that Harris defeated Riley by a margin of 20,907 votes to 6,062.

In Custer County, Republican Sen.-elect Christy Zito, lost one vote in the audit and her Democratic challenger David Hoag gained one vote due to what Fitzgerald described as an error in the hand-counting process on election night. That difference did not change the outcome either. Final election results show Zito won 17,750 votes to 6,859 votes.

In Elmore County, the audit was off by 12 ballots. Fitzgerald said there were 2,183 ballots reported in the five Elmore County precincts selected for the audit. But auditors only counted 2,171 ballots in the audit, Fitzgerald said.

The 12-vote discrepancy was likely due to issues and inconsistencies with the resolution board process on election night, Fitzgerald said. The resolution board comes in when a ballot is rejected as unreadable by voting machines due to an issue such as damage, stains, tears or some other issue where the resolution board is called in to take a look at the ballot to determine voter intent.

“What appears to have happened was that those ballots were just not very carefully labeled or organized on election night,” Fitzgerald said during Tuesday’s meeting.”It was really difficult for our audit team to determine which ballots belonged in the audit count.”

After Tuesday’s meeting to certify election results, McGrane told the Sun some of the notes and records connected with the resolution board process in Elmore County were handwritten instead of printed.

McGrane told the Sun he believes all votes were counted properly and the issue came down to organization and record keeping and not being sure which ballots should be part of the audit count, which was a partial audit of Elmore County and the seven other counties, not a full audit.

McGrane and Fitzgerald said they do not believe a full audit is necessary in Elmore County, but they said state election officials will follow up with Elmore County election officials about the discrepancies.

“We are going out there and meeting with them so we can identify some opportunities for process improvement,” Fitzgerald said.

The 12 vote discrepancy would not have changed the outcome of any election in Elmore County. The closest race Elmore County was involved in was a District 8 Idaho House race that Rep.-elect Faye Thompson won over her closest rival, Democrat Jared Dawson, by more than 9,800 votes in an election that included three other counties. All but one county level election was uncontested in Elmore County during the 2024 general election.

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Idaho

Idaho man indicted for selling firearms without a license – East Idaho News

Published

15 hours ago

November 26, 2024

Press Room

Idaho man indicted for selling firearms without a license – East Idaho News

The following is a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office (Idaho).

BOISE – A federal grand jury in Boise returned an indictment on Nov. 13, charging Luke James Estep, 27, of Boise, with dealing firearms without a license, U.S. Attorney Josh Hurwit announced.

The two-count indictment alleges that in October 2024, Estep, who is not a licensed firearms dealer, was selling firearms. If convicted, he faces a maximum of five years in federal prison and up to a $250,000 fine. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Estep was arrested on Nov. 14 and booked with the Ada County Jail. Estep appeared on Monday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Debora K. Grasham and entered a plea of not guilty. A jury trial is scheduled for Jan. 6, 2025, at the federal courthouse in Boise, before Senior U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill.

This case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Meridian Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Katherine Horwitz is prosecuting the case.

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Idaho

3 of Idaho's Favorite Holiday Destinations Are Crawling With Bed Bugs

Published

23 hours ago

November 26, 2024

Press Room

3 of Idaho's Favorite Holiday Destinations Are Crawling With Bed Bugs

Whether you’re traveling by plane, train or automobile, Idahoans are ready to travel over the Thanksgiving holiday. AAA estimates that nearly 464,000 Idahoans will celebrate the holiday somewhere at least 50 minutes from their hometown.

If you’re one of the Idahoans traveling by car, AAA says that if you want to avoid heavy traffic the best time to hit the road is in the early morning November 26-December 2. They also expect Thanksgiving Day itself to have low traffic volume all day. The heaviest traffic is anticipated on Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons when the regular afternoon commute blends together with holiday travel.

READ MORE: Idaho TSA Says No To These Banned Thanksgiving Items

So where are Idahoans headed for the Thanksgiving holiday this year? This time around Anaheim, Las Vegas, Salt Lake City, Seattle, Honolulu, Phoenix, San Diego, Bend, Ft. Lauderdale and Jackson are the Top 10 domestic destinations for Idahoans. Some of these cities are destinations that will keep the family busy. Others are relaxation destinations. Each of them offers something cool in their own right, but unfortunately there are several that have the dishonor of being on the list of the most “Bed Bug Infested Cities in America.”

How Dangerous are Bed Bugs?

These little blood suckers aren’t known to spread diseases like West Nile Virus or Dengue like mosquitoes do. They’re more annoying than anything else. The CDC explains that if you become a bed bug buffet overnight, you may not realize it when you wake up. Before enjoying your blood, bed bugs inject you with an anesthetic and an anticoagulant so it’s highly unlikely that the bite would wake you up or leave behind evidence that you were bleeding. A few days later, those bites may swell or become itchy like other bug bites. Bed bugs have also been linked to more serious, non-visible symptoms like insomnia and anxiety.

Why Are Bed Bugs a Travel Concern?

Well, bed bugs are sneaky travelers themselves. Their bodies are skiing and flat, which means they can creep into everything from seams of your luggage, to folds of your clothes or inside a pillowcase on the pillow you brought from home. They can go quite a while without feeding, so they’ll just hang out and wait till you unpack your belongings at home. That’s when they’ll emerge, enjoy you as a meal again and start to spread in your bedding, furniture or other areas of your home.

When you travel to areas known to have a high infestation, your risk of bringing them home rises. This list is important to check because bed bugs aren’t prejudiced. They’re just as likely to infest an upscale room at a luxury hotel as they are college dorm rooms and homeless shelters.

How Can I Tell If My Room Is Infested with Bed Bugs?

They’re tiny, so detecting them with just your eyes can be difficult. They’re also known to hide in more areas than we listed above. Cracks, crevices, indentations in headboards or behind wallpaper are also popular hiding spots for bed bugs. The most tell-tale sign that a room has a bed bug issue is rusty colored blood spots on the mattress or furniture. (And if you’re not asking questions about blood stains in your hotel room or Airbnb, we’ve got questions for you.) You may also find their molted exoskeletons or smell a sweet, musty odor.

3(ish) of Idaho’s Thanksgiving Destinations Rank Among America’s Most Bed Bug Infested Cities

Orkin releases an annual bed bug report which ranks cities based on the number of bed bug treatments they performed between December 1, 2022 and November 30, 2023. We cross referenced that with AAA’s list of most most popular Thanksgiving destinations for Idahoans and discovered that three-ish of the cities overlap.

Seattle ranks as the #4 most popular Thanksgiving destination for Idahoans this year. It also ranks #44 for bed bugs.

What happens in Vegas may stay in Vegas…except for bed bugs. Vegas is the second most popular Thanksgiving destination for Idahoans and made the bed bug report for the first time. You’ll find Sin City at #35.

And finally we say “three-ish” because while Anaheim, Idaho’s #1 destination Thanksgiving 2024 doesn’t appear on the list, but nearby Los Angeles does. They’re #5 for bed bugs!

Planning a trip elsewhere? Here’s a look at Orkin’s full list to help you prepare to be on the lookout for signs of bed bug infestations when you arrive at your hotel or Airbnb.

These 50 US Cities are Crawling with Bed Bugs

Every year the pest control gurus at Orkin put together a list of the Top 50 Bed Bug Destinations in the United States. Which areas do you travel to that you should take extra care to watch out for these blood-sucking insects? Let’s countdown to the most bed-bug-riddled city in the United States.

Gallery Credit: Scott Clow

KEEP READING: 5 of the World’s Most Deadly Insects Are in Idaho Right Now

Field & Stream, an outdoor publication that’s been around for more than 125 years, put together a list of the most deadly insects (and arachnids, they admitted to being “taxonomically laid back” in their article) in the world. Five of them can be found in Idaho!

Gallery Credit: Michelle Heart