The three candidates competing to lead Idaho’s public school system appeared together Tuesday in Boise, making their cases to an audience of school administrators at the Idaho Association of School Administrators annual conference. The forum stretched over an hour as Republican incumbent Debbie Critchfield, Democratic nominee Becky Sundin Mitchell, and Constitution Party candidate Teresa Roundy answered questions from district leaders.

The Candidates

Critchfield is seeking a second term after previously serving roughly a decade as a Cassia County school board trustee. Her platform centers on improving student literacy and math outcomes, expanding career-technical education, and closing the funding gap for special education services. She acknowledged Tuesday that classroom management had not yet received dedicated attention in her campaign, though she indicated that would change. “But there’s going to be a lot of attention in that area in the next year,” she told the group, as first reported by the Idaho Education News.

Sundin Mitchell, named Idaho Teacher of the Year in 2018, is running on a platform focused on reducing teacher burnout and strengthening the relationship between the legislature and public schools. She stepped away from classroom teaching in March and has been working part time for a research company; she plans to return to teaching science next school year at Heritage Community Charter School, a K-8 dual-language immersion school in Caldwell. One of her signature proposals would invite legislators into classrooms, paired with an accountability component. “If they’re making decisions about public education, they need to spend some real time in public education,” she said, as first reported by Idaho Education News.

Roundy, the Constitution Party candidate, previously ran for mayor of Garden City on a child safety platform and is carrying that same emphasis into her superintendent campaign. She has outlined plans for what she describes as a first-of-its-kind curriculum addressing youth trauma and suicide prevention.

Funding Formula in Focus

The school funding formula was among the substantive policy questions posed by superintendents Becky Meyer of Lake Pend Oreille School District and Brian Kress of Blackfoot, who led the questioning. Candidates had received the questions in advance.

The debate over how Idaho counts students for funding purposes resurfaced during the discussion. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the state temporarily funded schools based on enrollment rather than average daily attendance. The state has since returned to an attendance-based model, but Sundin Mitchell argues Idaho should make enrollment-based funding permanent, contending it would give districts more stable revenue regardless of day-to-day absences.

Critchfield said her staff is already working with legislators on potential changes to the funding formula ahead of the next legislative session. She framed the goal around four principles — predictability, stability, sustainability, and simplicity — arguing administrators need a formula they can plan around rather than one subject to volatility.

Broader Race Context

The state superintendent race is one of several statewide contests on Idaho’s November ballot. Critchfield holds the advantage of incumbency and the Republican nomination in a state that has reliably elected Republicans to statewide office, while Sundin Mitchell is drawing on her background as an award-winning educator to make the case for a change in direction. The governor’s race is also drawing Democratic and independent challengers this cycle, reflecting wider Democratic efforts to contest statewide Idaho offices.

Education policy has been a consistent flashpoint in Idaho politics in recent years. The legislature passed a $50 million private school tax credit program that filled quickly after opening, and the state has also moved to establish K-12 artificial intelligence standards with classroom rules expected by 2027 — giving whoever wins the superintendent’s race a full agenda from day one.

The Idaho Association of School Administrators forum offered one of the few direct comparisons of the three candidates ahead of November, with the funding formula, teacher retention, and student outcomes emerging as the central fault lines in the race.