Office of Performance Evaluations

Workplace retirement

Before evaluating specific options, Idaho policymakers must first decide on the state’s role in expanding workplace retirement.

Chained CPI

Over time, inflation significantly impacts any policy that references a dollar amount. Idaho rarely adjusts for inflation.

Correctional capacity

Over the past decade, the state’s approach to managing corrections has been designed for relatively short-term budget planning.

Court-ordered fines and fees

Idaho would benefit from a statewide system of accountability for the assessment and collection of fines and fees.

State mandates to counties

A collaborative relationship between counties and the state will improve the implementation of mandates.

SW Idaho Treatment Center

The center is a vestige of an old treatment model that is no longer tenable. Its population is too small to provide a variety of needed expertise and its setting does not replicate community living.

Pardons & parole

New commission leadership has changed archaic practices in data management. They developed automated systems that reduce inefficiencies and help ensure fair treatment of offenders.

Reducing adverse outcomes

A roadmap for the Legislature and all child welfare partners on how to reduce the risk of adverse outcomes for children and youth in Idaho’s child welfare system.

Child protection cases

Gaps in child representation have occurred and the state does not have a way to validate that all children and youth are being served.

Residential care

A dysfunctional work environment in the nursing home survey team has significantly contributed to mistrust and fear among nursing home administrators.

Jurisdiction in Indian country

Shared jurisdiction complicates interactions and relationships among stakeholders working in Indian country.

Child welfare system

Gaps in placement services, program capacity, organizational culture, and system-level oversight prevent the child welfare system from performing at a high level of expectation.

K-12 education funding

Many of the funding formulas for special education and programs in the support budget for K-12 public education are not based on need or actual costs.

Administrative hearings

A risk of real or perceived bias is present in all administrative hearings. Idaho agencies have implemented a variety of safeguards to mitigate this risk.

Behavioral health

The Legislature and the Department of Health and Welfare have successfully addressed concerns about the overreliance on psychosocial rehabilitation.

Health districts

The formula that distributes state general funds to public health districts is not clearly or consistently linked to program needs.

Holiday leave

A policy debated since 1997, holiday leave is interpreted and implemented differently among state agencies

Schoolnet

Goals for a statewide instructional management system were not realized because of poor management, decisions, and system functionality.

ISEE

Planning and implementing the Idaho System for Education Excellence fell short but can still become a sustainable K–12 longitudinal data system.

Legal services

Some outsourced legal services could be given to the Office of the Attorney General and save the state money

Salary savings

Salary savings is not an adequate tool for bridging the gap between actual employee pay and policy pay rates set by the state