Map: Voters Overturn Luna’s Education Laws, Reject Propositions 1, 2 And 3
Voters in Idaho have rejected the trio of education laws put to a referendum through Propositions 1, 2 and 3 by a wide margin. That has sent a clear message to Idaho’s Legislature, governor and school superintendent that the reforms they put into place are not popular with the public.
Here’s how people voted on the propositions.
| Proposition | Yes Votes | No Votes |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 43% | 57% |
| 2 | 42% | 58% |
| 3 | 33% | 67% |
Proposition 1, the measure that would uphold limits on collective bargaining and contract negotiations had the most support from individual counties.
Map: Yan Lu | NPR StateImpact
Data: Idaho Secretary of State
As our map shows, eight of Idaho’s 44 counties wanted to uphold that law. Each of these counties have another thing in common: they’re all rural, sparsely populated areas. Each of them also showed big support for Superintendent Tom Luna when he was reelected in 2010. In fact, Luna only lost four counties in 2010, but his policies haven’t been received nearly as well.
The measure that would have upheld Idaho’s merit pay system for teachers, Proposition 2, had the widest support. It was still defeated with 58 percent of the vote.
All 44 of Idaho’s counties rejected Proposition 3, the proposition that would have upheld a law aiming to put a laptop in the hands of every Idaho high school student and teacher. The state recently announced it would contract with Hewlett-Packard to supply those laptops at a cost of $180 million over eight years. With the failure of Proposition 3, that contract becomes void.
See the map above or filter through the chart below to see how your county fell on the issues, and how many voters re-elected Luna in 2010.
Counties | Yes Prop 1 | No Prop 1 | Yes Prop 2 | No Prop 2 | Yes Prop 3 | No Prop 3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | 264,464 | 353,708 | 260,517 | 358,694 | 206,194 | 412,225 |
| Ada | 70,565 | 109,538 | 71,464 | 109,048 | 56,013 | 124,263 |
| Adams | 1,040 | 1,029 | 974 | 1,093 | 810 | 1,256 |
| Bannock | 12,460 | 22,830 | 12,037 | 23,294 | 9,392 | 25,892 |
| Bear Lake | 1,192 | 1,677 | 1,152 | 1,709 | 969 | 1,883 |
| Benewah | 1,711 | 2,161 | 1,708 | 2,143 | 1,366 | 2,511 |
| Bingham | 7,690 | 9,879 | 7,053 | 10,532 | 5,403 | 12,169 |
| Blaine | 1,411 | 3,300 | 1,393 | 3,342 | 1,136 | 3,581 |
| Boise | 1,737 | 1,732 | 1,697 | 1,738 | 1,450 | 2,013 |
| Bonner | 6,643 | 8,486 | 6,643 | 8,486 | 5,050 | 9,888 |
| Bonneville | 20,720 | 22,371 | 19,849 | 23,302 | 15,174 | 27,892 |
| Boundary | 2,084 | 2,430 | 2,013 | 2,502 | 1,548 | 2,976 |
| Butte | 618 | 676 | 607 | 686 | 488 | 804 |
| Camas | 256 | 318 | 241 | 331 | 168 | 396 |
| Canyon | 30,259 | 35,597 | 30,008 | 35,934 | 24,355 | 41,557 |
| Caribou | 1,331 | 1,616 | 1,402 | 1,621 | 1,149 | 1,919 |
| Cassia | 4,208 | 4,120 | 3,933 | 4,399 | 3,272 | 5,050 |
| Clark | 159 | 162 | 147 | 172 | 110 | 200 |
| Clearwater | 1,616 | 1,995 | 1,654 | 1,973 | 1,267 | 2,334 |
| Custer | 1,187 | 1,207 | 1,098 | 1,168 | 950 | 1,420 |
| Elmore | 3,313 | 4,707 | 3,433 | 4,590 | 2,787 | 5,226 |
| Franklin | 2,622 | 2,841 | 2,632 | 2,854 | 2,319 | 3,147 |
| Fremont | 2,967 | 2,826 | 2,900 | 2,889 | 2,391 | 3,389 |
| Gem | 3,687 | 3,787 | 3,564 | 3,920 | 2,984 | 4,482 |
| Gooding | 2,219 | 2,928 | 2,112 | 3,037 | 1,699 | 3,450 |
| Idaho | 3,810 | 4,041 | 3,593 | 4,237 | 2,709 | 5,127 |
| Jefferson | 6,170 | 5,158 | 5,757 | 5,583 | 4,370 | 6,950 |
| Jerome | 2,873 | 3,844 | 2,696 | 4,028 | 2,137 | 4,565 |
| Kootenai | 16,783 | 19,857 | 17,221 | 19,575 | 13,572 | 23,064 |
| Latah | 5,527 | 11,172 | 5,438 | 11,294 | 3,922 | 12,809 |
| Lemhi | 2,050 | 2,014 | 2,034 | 2,065 | 1,709 | 2,349 |
| Lewis | 732 | 885 | 680 | 937 | 583 | 1,041 |
| Lincoln | 766 | 837 | 733 | 965 | 588 | 1,114 |
| Madison | 7,237 | 6,816 | 6,628 | 7,468 | 5,030 | 9,026 |
| Minidoka | 3,317 | 3,627 | 3,039 | 3,911 | 2,568 | 4,380 |
| Nez Perce | 5,800 | 10,919 | 5,859 | 10,879 | 4,769 | 11,944 |
| Oneida | 968 | 1,032 | 933 | 1,079 | 860 | 1,143 |
| Owyhee | 2,033 | 1,778 | 1,952 | 1,832 | 1,755 | 2,155 |
| Payette | 3,805 | 4,688 | 3,886 | 4,615 | 3,053 | 5,451 |
| Power | 1,153 | 1,741 | 1,057 | 1,840 | 839 | 2,059 |
| Shoshone | 1,814 | 3,279 | 1,895 | 3,218 | 1,519 | 3,579 |
| Teton | 1,647 | 2,745 | 1,761 | 2,659 | 1,461 | 2,922 |
| Twin Falls | 12,222 | 15,938 | 11,679 | 16,535 | 9,170 | 19,008 |
| Valley | 2,059 | 2,796 | 2,067 | 2,799 | 1,728 | 3,122 |
| Washington | 2,003 | 2,328 | 1,895 | 2,412 | 1,602 | 2,719 |
Source: Idaho Secretary of State
In a written statement sent to reporters, Luna says Idahoans still want better schools through education reform. “I understand Idahoans have expressed concerns,” Luna said in his statement. “Yet I do not believe any Idahoan wants to go back to the status quo system we had two years ago. I am as committed as anyone to finding a way to make this happen. We must find a way because our children’s future is at stake.”
