Main Street Idaho Podcast Episode 2: Tax Relief and Economic Growth with Senator Dave Lent
“These are precious sacred tax dollars that people give to our state. And I have a responsibility to ensure that those are spent wisely.”
Brennan Summers (00:00):
<Silence> Welcome to Main Street Podcast, an opportunity to talk to I Idaho's elected leaders about the issues that matter to you.
(00:12):
All right, everybody. Welcome. I'm here with Senator Dave Lent, we're excited to have you here today. He's on the Main Street Caucus, and he's gonna talk to us today about some things he's been working on. But, you know, Dave, you've been around the community for a while. Most people know you to those that don't, why don't you give us a little introduction. Give us a little behind the scenes of who is Senator L. It's kind of funny 'cause a lot of times people say, oh, you're Terry TVA's husband. I'm, yeah, that's how I know you. Yeah. 'cause my wife, of course, is taught for like 30 years, and now she's teaching kids of kids who she taught. So he asked, does a great job, and it, it's been a great run with that. I was raised in Shelly. Okay. pretty much a typical southeastern Idaho kind of guy.
(00:53):
Served a mission, came back, went to, I was at Utah State before. Came back, went up to B Y U Idaho, Rick's College, then met my wife and kind of followed that pattern that a lot of folks from this area do. It's interesting though, that I then went to the College of Eastern Idaho now, which then was E I T C. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> picked up a, a one year certificate, went out to the site, got a job, and started going back to school with the site, paying for it. And in doing so, then I was able to pick up my bachelor's degree and do some other things. And it, it's been really good. I really enjoyed it. I then have retired. I served on the id, Idaho Falls School Board District. I, one for 12 years was the chair there.
(01:34):
That's when we brought in compass Academy. We wanted to brought, to provide more flexibility and options for students and parents, and that's proved out to be very well. We built the four new, or we didn't build them, but during that period of time, the four new elementary schools were built as well. And then my career at the site was health physics, which is radiation protection stuff. Then when I went back to school, I got a degree in adult education, moved into training, and I retired from the site as the director of training for one of the contractors. So that has kind of led me into this dual role in my career of both the nuclear side and also the workforce side in education. And that's really what I've tried to focus on in my tenure in serving the people of our community.
(02:21):
That's fantastic. And so you, you've had the experience in the background that really prepared you for the legislature, but, you know, at what point in time did you decide, you know, I've got happy family, a great wife, and got a wonderful job. You know what I'm gonna do, I'm gonna go and run for the state Senate. How, how did that process come and and do you regret it? I don't regret it. It is a tremendous commitment. Much more than I imagined going in. I was on a school board at the time getting ready to retire from the site was approached by some people from our community saying, you know, we'd like to see you continue with your knowledge and expertise at the legislature level. And so I did and ran. And I'm in my third term, I'll be in my sixth year next year.
(03:04):
I serve as the chairman of Senate education. And I also serve on the Joint Finance Committee. And in addition, I've had several roles, and I have some appointments from the governor that I've served as well, both at the state and national level. Right. So those are, those are big jobs for people out there that might not be familiar with the process of, of how the legislature works. Let's start with J fac, the Joint Finance Appropriations Committee. Right. Let's talk about what that looks like to you, what your roles are, and some things that you were able to do in the last few sessions that you're proud of and have helped out your voters. That's a great question because it gives us an opportunity to talk about promoting Republican ideals. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. And so J fac, if people aren't aware the legislature has a constitutional responsibility to balance the budget every year.
(03:55):
I mean, we cannot go home until that balance, that budget is balanced, which is a little different than what Congress does in DC right? Oh, yeah. We don't have a machine in the back room. Right. You're not printing cash. Got it. No. So we have to work through it, and we have to figure out where to put the money, how to handle the federal funds or state funds in cases like this, where we have excess revenue coming from. And you may have or be aware that, that we're about $300 million now in revenue that we're giving back to the citizens of Idaho in tax relief that will show up in their property taxes this fall. Wow. So that's a significant thing. So when we talk about Republican principles, we talk about things like lowering taxes. We talk about building our education, strengthening our education, talk about how are we doing economically?
(04:40):
Are we building our business and industry to, to, to create a strong economy? And then of course, you have national defense, which we don't have a lot to do with, but those are things that we work on. And so, when I spend my time and effort, I realize that there are moral issues out there that deserve some attention, but I don't think that should be all the attention we're doing, and that should suck the air out of the room. I think we have people in the legislature who really kind of make that their issue and they, they work it give it, its, I mean, there are things that we need to consider and do. At the same time, we need people who are willing every day to do the work, the daily work that it takes to run government mm-hmm. <Affirmative> and promote these ideals that we're talking about from our party about our economy or about education, those kind of things.
(05:32):
So I, I tend to spend my time really focusing on those. How can we build our economy? And even things like I passed, I didn't pass. I worked was a co-sponsor of a bill called Clean Slate last year, which has to do with, if you're a convicted felon, this is a non-violent, low-level felony. After a period of years, if you're clean, you don't do anything and you've done all your restitution, you can have that basically concealed As far as from a legal perspective what we found, and I don't mean to get off this, this track, but what we found is, in fact, I was at the women's prison last week in Poco Town. Okay. Yeah. Talking to the warden, she said 37% of of convicted felons in Idaho are back in, within three years. Wow. So my approach to that is, that's a significant tax burden.
(06:22):
Yeah. What are we doing to address that to reduce the cost of that? And are we really spending our money in the right way when she says, you know, 60 plus percent of those people are in there because of drug related issues, you know, are we really spending the money in the right way? So that's my, my concern in that area. So really, for me, it comes back to the cost and the cost of government and the cost of incarceration and how ineffective we're being and keeping people out. I love that. And I love seeing conservatives be tough on crime, but also welcome to criminal justice reform. We saw that with our previous administration where they said, look, why are we spending money? Why are we wasting tax dollars on programs and processes that aren't working? So clean slate. Great example of way that you can have a conservative solution to, to problems like this.
(07:12):
Let's talk a little bit about what's going on in the education committee, the Senate Education Committee. Anything big happened this last session over there? Oh, we had a number of things. In fact, this last week I was in Boise the Idaho Business for Education. Ask myself and the house chair of their education committee to come and present to them and talk about legislation last year and what we're looking at this year. I had a meet another meeting with one of the legislators talking about, we're really trying to come up with a solution. Again, it goes back to tax relief. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>, most of our citizens, really, when they think about taxes, they're looking at property taxes primarily associated with schools. Sure. And the, the short history on that is that issue has come before the Supreme Court in Idaho five times.
(07:59):
It's gone all the way to the Supreme Court and what the Supreme Court said this last time. And it's pretty clear that the state is depending too much on local money from property taxes to support our public education system. And so what we're trying to do is figure out a way and utilize some of these this revenue that we're getting and turn it in and reuse it and give it back in the form of tax relief and property tax relief. So an example is 2 92, this last, this bill this last year. We're starting to target money towards facilities. And facilities is really the key. 'cause That's really where most of this expense is coming from. And if you're at Idaho, you know that bond elections are a big deal. Yes. And what we've seen since about 2006 is that historically two things changed.
(08:55):
In 2006, they, we lost the ability to bond for some maintenance and operation. Now we just have plant facilities. We lost that. And that was supposed to be supplemented with an, with an increase in sales tax. Unfortunately, we went right into the recession that kind of got lost in the mix. And so you see this, I think that that one year the school budgets were down 19% overall. However, I will add that because of the money we put back in, in the last five years, the net is still a positive all the way through, even with inflation. So we've tried to recover education as much as we can. The issue is the starting point. Yeah. Did we start low to begin with? And Yes, we did. And we're trying to make some changes. So back to facilities we have a number of issues.
(09:46):
The lieutenant governor, there was a small group of stakeholders were, we meet on a semi-regular basis trying to come up with legislation that would provide a way for us to bring some equity. I also serve on the public building advisory board. It's public, public building facilities advisory board. And that particular council, there's one from the house and one from the Senate, and then there's three or four others from throughout the state that's responsible. That committee is responsible for all the buildings that are state owned, with the exception of K 12, because they're primarily district owned. Sure. So what I've been able to learn from that committee, and that's, that includes higher ed. So everything from the new dormitory at at B SS U to the new police i s p station here at Out of Falls, that all goes through that committee.
(10:36):
And I've learned a lot about their preventative maintenance, how they prioritize projects. And I think we can bring some of that to our our school facilities and do it in a way that we bring some of this money that's coming in, in excess revenues and targeted towards facilities for the specific purpose of tax relief. So there's some best practices you can pick up that we can then transfer and maybe help out some of our school districts. Yeah. I think we could learn and maybe even leverage off what they're doing. Yeah. And minimize the impact of anything we'll do. Yeah. More collaboration, the better. Yeah. I think that's fantastic. What are some things happening in education that you get in Idaho education policy that you get excited about? Well, yesterday I spent most of the day in Boise I'm on a committee that we're looking to redesign the funding formula that's used for school districts.
(11:28):
So this is the way school districts get, get funded for each student that's there. And I had the opportunity in that meeting to say a few words. And, and what I really wanted to do was start to say, let's, let's set back and look at where education is today. So I, I like to use those who've been around me a little bit, hear me talk about the Model A in in 1906, the first version of the Model A rolled out, that's about the first time they rolled out what is now what we now understand and see as public education. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>, we had it before, but Carnegie and others put it together in a package. And, for example, credit hours, semester hours, that all came outta that thing. So primarily the model we used today was created about the same year, the Model A rolled out.
(12:14):
Wow. So my, my challenge was we have a, a, a process built on a model, a industrial model, and we're limited in Tesla age. Sure. So I invited them to think in terms of Tesla. I mean, education is education, but the way we go about it, the technology we have today, what we know about education today, we can be much more efficient and much more effective than just riding the same old model a that we've had forever. So as we think about the way we fund education, my challenge to them was funding is a primary driver. Build performance into this model so that we can have performance. That doesn't matter where it is, but you have performance and accountability built into the model of education that's gonna change the change the game. So, as I hear you speak about your, you know, philosophy and political leadership, I'm, I'm hearing you say, you know, pick your analogy, whether it's the long game in golf or you're out playing chess, you're thinking ahead, you're thinking two steps ahead rather than the next primary election or the next election, all when it comes to policy.
(13:20):
Am I correct to say you're looking on the horizon and saying, where does Idaho need to be in 5, 10, 15, 20 years? Right, that's true. And, and one challenge we see in school districts is you have a turnover of school board members. We also have a pretty significant turnover of superintendents. Sure. So that tends to drive a more shorter game. And what we need to do at the state level, let's say, how can we incentivize and drive the long game? An example is China, the long game in China is we have American citizens teaching through the internet, English to Chinese kids. That's a long game. Yeah. So you have colleagues though that as you mentioned before, might grasp on in more short-term issue, maybe have some knee-jerk reactions that they might make their pet projects. How have you managed to, you know, work your way through the legislature and get policy done when you have a different approach than some of your colleagues?
(14:17):
Well, an example of school choice. Great. I believe in school choice. And I believe in Idaho we have tremendous school choice. Compass Academy, project-based high school, we have Altura just in Idaho Falls, we have like nine different options for parents, high quality. I have had the opportunity to having my kids. We lived in, in seven different states when I was doing some co consulting at one point in my career, different school systems all over the country. Idaho schools are really pretty good. And we have school choice. The problem I had with the Senate Bill 10 38 last year was it specifically said no accountability to the state. And I just can't swallow the fact that we're gonna spend millions and millions of dollars of, of the my neighbor lady down the street who's a widow on a fixed income of no accountability to her for those tax dollars that's going out.
(15:13):
So while I support school choice, I have to have some kind of accountability back. And the promoters of the bill last year, I met with them several times and said, you know, you, you need to put some things in here that make, that'll make this, it'll even have a chance. And they were, would not, I think that's an important thing to note is sometimes we as constituents or voters, we sit back and we hear the policy stance of our elected officials, but we don't see all the work that went into it. So I think it's a unique thing for you to point out. Look, I talked to everybody on both sides of this issue, and this was something that you as chairman, presumably studied out quite a bit. Oh, absolutely. Spent a lot of time on it. And I supported my committee in letting it come through the committee.
(15:55):
But I told them it wouldn't pass. And I told 'em I wouldn't support it. And here's why. It has to have accountability. Really these are precious sacred tax dollars that people give right to our state. And I have a responsibility to ensure that those are spent wisely. Was it difficult for you to see your conservative colleagues who were normally safeguards of public trust and tax dollars support a system that didn't have the accountability that other systems would? It it boggles my mind. Yeah. The same people who vote no, no, no, no. In the j fac finance committee, just because it's gonna spend money and we're, we're, we're adamant about how this was the right bill to go. So it, it's just a, to me, it's a, it's a contradiction in principle. And that's why when I go back to Republican principles show me how this is going to better education, how it's gonna build our economy, those are the things that I'm really focused on.
(16:55):
And that short term, no answer. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>, sometimes it really does take a dollar to save two or $3. Sure. Yeah. Investments are what Yeah. We're looking at and incentives. We, I find that a lot in, in governance is that there's incentives there to help drive that, that principle. Let's talk about the future. You're gonna stick around a little bit longer, Idaho Senate. As you look forward to sessions to come, what are the projects that you still have on your to-do list? Well, I'm a believer that we have hammered teachers. And I, I don't mean to be disrespectful, but we have pushed teachers, teachers, teachers, teachers all these years, and we're not seeing any kind of a change in the, in the outcomes. Sure. I'm a believer that we need to move from our industrial model of education to a, to a, a knowledge-based economy, which means we're gonna move from checking boxes to, I'm more concerned about outcomes than I am.
(17:50):
Did I do the teacher evaluation? I'm concerned about how did the students do, you know, at the end of the day and there'll be people who say, well, we already do that. But in reality, our process is really, it's a check the box kind of thing, because it's easier. We tend to do that. So I think as we move forward in education, primarily we have to be brave. Yeah. We have to understand that there's some risk involved, but if we're gonna move from A to B and we're gonna stop just complaining, I see a lot of people in legislature, they can tell you what's wrong with anything that you bring up. Yeah. And they're willing to tear it down. And you say, okay, but what's the solution? Where do we go? How do we make it better? That's a whole different perspective.
(18:32):
And it, it's a higher skillset to do that than it is to say what's wrong with something. Yeah. So if you're fearful of innovation, don't get on the Dave blunt train, is what you're saying. I if, if we wanna move, if we wanna move the needle on education in Idaho, we're gonna have to do it differently. And we're, and where that comes in in policy is we're going to have to let provide that freedom and incentive to our school districts, our superintendents, our school boards, and help them understand that, have the vision of make the change. So the point I was gonna make is I really feel strongly that superintendents and school boards are the key to change because teachers, as we were talking about, they operate in a system. Yeah. the ones who can change the culture of the school and the district are those two positions.
(19:21):
So I, I'm all about last year I had a bill to require school boards to be trained school boards, spend over half the money in our budget. Yeah. And we have no training. And I can tell you one of my responsibilities as a site was to, to teach the leadership training to management. We would never, in a corporate setting, put a person in a seat with that kind of responsibility, that kind of budget, without some kind of training. Right. And ensuring to help build their capacity. And I honestly think that's why a lot of people get dissatisfied with their services school boards, is they don't ever feel like they can really jump in and contribute because they haven't been. And, and it, it's, it's kind of ironic that in a education setting, we have people who push back about being trained. Right. The right kind of school board members would welcome that.
(20:12):
And so what we see across the state is those school boards and superintendents that participate in training professional development, they tend to be the ones that are performing. All right. So there's some good things coming on the policy front. Let's talk the political front. What are you finding exciting about being a part of the Idaho Republican Party, and where are you frustrated and where the political scene in our culture in Idaho is headed? But what I think about the political scene, and again, I go back to my Republican principles. We look at what we've done in the last four years in this state, we're talking about 300 million back to our taxpayers. We're talking about historical investments in infrastructure. We're talking about historical investments in education. We're doing all the right things to help our economy grow. And we're managing it in a situation where if we're not the fastest, we're one of the fastest growing states in the country.
(21:09):
So I think we're doing a tremendous job. What I am concerned about are the voices, which I believe are the minority in the party who are making issues and tend to suck our attention away and our time away from these very important issues to other issues. And it seems like every session there's something, there's some, these, some of these issues, the library issue, they, again, they're important issues, but they shouldn't take up a whole session. Right. we had the library. We, we've had teachers all these things we should go in, come, come together, sit down in a room. I was listening to the radio recently. They were talking about civility. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. And in reality, the only way we have true good governance is when people sit down and they learn how to compromise and come up with a solution that fits all.
(22:00):
When people go into a room and they stamp their feet and go to their corner and say, it's my way or No way, government comes to us, stand still. And that's not what we need in Idaho. In Idaho, we need governance that people get in, they roll up their sleeves, and they say, okay, what do they start with? What do we have in common? Where are our differences? How can we work this out? Because it's for the best, for the betterment of the people we serve. So you, Senator, you're the man in the arena. You're the one that has to wrestle with these issues every day. You're in committee, you've gotta vote. If things fail, if things pass, some of that responsibility falls onto you. But you're telling me that you don't see the word compromise as a weakness or civility as a, as something that, you know, would prevent you from being able to achieve or be reelected.
(22:49):
Well, I think those actually are strengths. And if you think about it, they are higher order actions or skills, because it's easy to say no. Anybody can say no. Sure. But not anyone can work with somebody who they don't get along with or has said derogatory things about them. So it, it takes a different kind of person. And what I'm seeing in the legislature, there are people who come in there and they have one thing on their mind, and that's to say no. And that's how they get their you know, they're looking for a score or something. In reality, we need the kind of people in the legislature who have the skillset to go in and compromise, to work together, to collaborate, because we represent all the people in our district. I don't represent just a board or this or that.
(23:41):
I represent all the people in my district, but I bring my Republican values to that game. So that's what I hope to do. And, and, and in my service I, I, like I say, I serve at the will of the people. And I'm more than happy to do that. I certainly have other things I could do. But I love the opportunity to change and have an effect for good in the people that I love and serve in this community. I'm, I'm young in terms of Idaho politics, but I grew up watching the Senator Bart Davis and Senator Brent Hills. And those were people I always looked at as states. And I think, yes, you keep continuing, you, you're gonna fall in that category that young people look at and say, oh, that's somebody who went to the I Idaho legislature to make a difference and not to make a name for himself. So we appreciate you coming on today. Thank you so much. There's a lot more issues we need to get into. Our time's running short. But Senator, any last words you'd like to leave to any voters or skeptics out there watching?
(24:41):
Well, I would say as we need, as we know the, we live in this digital age where information comes from so many places and it's so easy to be distracted. A lot of times I think you have to go back and rely on the things that, you know, rely on the people that, you know, rely on the principles that, you know there'll always be people trying to distract us to pull our attention to demand our time. But when it comes to who you vote for I would say go with people, you know, and go with people with a record. I've tried, I've tried to serve this community for, it'll be 16 years now. Wow. And you know, you don't serve in the legislature to make money. I can tell you that. But you serve because you wanna make a difference. And that's what I'm here to do. And as long as I can do that, I'm happy to serve. We appreciate the difference you're making. Thanks so much for coming on, and we will definitely have to have you back up for it. Yeah. Fantastic. Thank you so much.
