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Barbara Ehardt

State Representative Legislative District 33 Seat A

Biography and Background

It is my great honor to be serving my 2nd term as an Idaho legislator. I have stayed true to the principles and promises that I have made. I uphold our Constitution and I have been very vocal and active in protecting our 1st amendment rights, especially our freedom of speech and religion.

One of the strengths that my colleagues recognize about me is my ability to bring people together. I would say that such is a natural result of my athletic career. I was a Division I women’s basketball player and then spent 15 years coaching Division I women’s basketball at four fantastic institutions: UC Santa Barbara, Brigham Young University, Washington State and then as the head coach at Cal State Fullerton. If sports do anything, it prepares leaders. Today, we need leaders who are able to unite us. I have spent my energy trying to teach and unite around Constitutional principles – all the while trying to be Christ-like in doing so.

I have had the opportunity to represent our great state nationally as I have continued to fight for the rights and opportunities for girls and women in sports. I was the author / sponsor of the “”Fairness in Women’s Sports”” legislation, first of it’s kind to protect opportunities for girls and women in sports. We now have 12 states that have adopted this legislation, with more to come. This legislation is important for many reasons, sports certainly being one of them. Ironically, those who support this legislation crosses party lines because parents on either side of the political spectrum want their daughters to have the same opportunities to compete as their sons.

This legislation is also important because the “”woke”” is trying both redefine and erase us as women. It is absurd to allow boys and men to both take our rightful, sex segregated positions in sports. But it is even more absurd to hold biological males up as the ideal standard by which we are to define what it means to be a women.

This fight is more than sports. It is a spiritual battle too. Our Heavenly Father created us as men and women. We are different and He intended us to be that way. Our sex matters. We should recognize our differences and we should celebrate them. It is so ironic that on the eve of Title IX’s fiftieth (50th) anniversary, we are celebrating a biological male’s unfair NCAA Swimming Championship in the “”WOMEN’S”” 500 freestyle meter swim. I love that Idaho is leading out in this fight, as we should!

I have also stood with our kids and parents during the COVID shutdown.
**I fought to help get grades BACK for our high school kids (instead of Pass/Fail) during the finals of the 2020 ‘at home learning.’
**I helped form local parental groups.
**I helped fight to get our kids back in school.
**I was instrumental in opening Idaho back up with HCR2 in 2021.
**I stand with you for our kids.

Top 3 Issues

Issue 1

I will continue to fight for parental rights within our education system. I have brought many issues to light already. With the change in the legislature, I believe that we can successfully achieve the parental rights that should be inherent within our education system. Unfortunately, as society has continued to move farther away from Christian-Judaea principles, our education system seems to be embracing concepts that are in direct conflict to our founding principles. I do not believe that this is coming from our teachers but on a national level, this is being pushed from the National Education Association as well as the United Nations. These two entities work closely together. It is very disappointing. Idaho can push back. And, we already have. HB 716 changed our content standards. We have worked on this in our Education Committees for so long. This has been the goal for the last four years. This truly is an amazing moment. We had a ton of teachers help work on this. And the legislators who were on the summer committees had also been in the education system. One of the most significant accomplishments is the abolishment of common core math!!! Now our parents can finally sit with their k-6 kids and actually help them with math. And thanks to Rep Gary Marshall, our ELA, English Language Arts standards have totally been revamped. The standards by which our teachers were supposed to abide were over 270 pages long. This has been reduced to 15, easily followed pages of standards for our teachers. This has been done to make things easier and more understandable for them. We WANT them to focus on teaching our kids, not having to check off hundreds of standards from 270+ pages of directives. This is an amazing accomplishment and I am proud to have been a part of this. Some of my key educational issues that I plan to continue pursuing next year include: ** Education Choice – our parents deserve more choice but many cannot afford to send their children to a private school that would be the best fit for them. We did some great work on educational choice this year but we didn’t quite get the legislation through. Education choice is occurring in every conservative state except Idaho. With all of the growth we are experiencing, we need more options. This is perfect timing as it will NOT hurt our public education system at all. As a matter of fact, it will encourage improvements as successes are observed in the Ed choice programs. The Espinoza case set a path forward for parochial schools and private school choice to receive funding. It’s time we move forward on this option. ** Sexuality opt in – parental rights; twice failed by one vote in Senate Ed ** High School Clubs – H680 – is designed to push back against activist clubs by requiring that high schools list all official clubs, their advisor, overview of club’s purpose and finally parental consent must be given to participate. ** Transparency in Education – this is multifaceted; it addresses curriculum, pronouns, basically an all-inclusive parents role in their child’s education. ** Remove options for 14-17 year old’s to receive any vaccinations on any school facility or activity while associated with the school system in any manner. Higher Education ** Diversity Equity and Inclusion – this policy is a false narrative that is advocating for systematic changes at the university level in how we treat students. It is also a policy that is requiring potential professors and staff to be hired to respond to how they are helping to promote Diversity Equity and Inclusion. I will be advocating that Idaho take a path similar to that of South Dakota where Gov Kristi Noem, in conjunction with her Regents, did away with all Diversity Equity and Inclusion at their higher education and replaced it with Opportunity for All. Idaho can do the same thing. ** Campus Free Speech – I will bring this back. It was held up on the Senate’s 14th order where the amendment was misplaced and thus unable to move forward. We tried to get the necessary paperwork back for the Senate, but ran out of time. I have many more educational goals that I believe can be achieved. I am optimistic that that we have an opportunity for a fresh start to accomplish these goals.

Issue 2

ESG – Environmental, Social justice and Governance Scoring I was in a really unique situation this past legislative session to bring Glenn Beck and David Barton to our State Capitol. Here they were able to address our Governor, our Speaker & Pro Tem, House & Senate leadership and finally, about 40 legislators. They laid out the dangerous course of the Global World organizations and the Great Reset. Those pushing for this include Klaus Schwab, founder of The World Economic Forum and Larry Fink, founder & CEO of Blackrock. Fink is arguably the most powerful man on Wallstreet. Both have declared that the Great Reset is inevitable and it will change everything. Klaus Schwab, founder & executive chairman of the World Economic Forum “The world must act jointly and swiftly to revamp all aspects of our societies and economies, from education to social contracts and working conditions. Every country, from the United States to China, must participate, and every industry, from oil and gas to tech, must be transformed. In short, we need a ‘Great Reset’ of capitalism.” Larry Fink, founder & CEO of Blackrock: “Every company and every industry will be transformed by the transition to a net zero world. The question is, will you lead, or will you be led?” Idaho does not have to participate in the deconstruction of our Constitution. We have a Constitutional Republic. There is no room for global governance.

Issue 3

1st amendment rights – There is a reason that these rights to freedom of speech and freedom of religion are listed first. The attack on these Constitutional, God-given rights are at an all-time high. These must be preserved or we loose all of our rights. I will continue to speak up and fight for these rights. This year I was able to introduced the Prayer Caucus, of the National Prayer Caucus headed up by Congressman Randy Forbes. I am a co-chairman. Next year, we need to do more and will plan for meetings every other week. We will discuss topics that include legislation of which we need to be aware. We will also discuss our Founding principles and look at means of better educating ourselves on how we can be more Constitutionally sound in our voting while we do more to uphold our Christian-Judaea religious and moral principles. I will also continue to work to uphold my Fairness in Women’s Sports legislation. Twelve (12) states have now enacted legislation that protects opportunities for girls and women in sports. This legislation is also important because the “”woke”” is trying both redefine and erase us as women. It is absurd to allow boys and men to both take our rightful, sex segregated positions in sports. But it is even more absurd to hold biological males up as the ideal standard by which we are to define what it means to be a woman.

Integrity in Affiliation

Submission: Yes
“I have read the Idaho Constitution and the Idaho Republican Party Platform. I support the Idaho Republican Platform and accept it as the standard by which my performance as a candidate and as an officeholder should be evaluated. I certify that I am not a candidate, officer, delegate or position holder in any party other than the Republican Party.”

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