This is the first in a series of stories about private school choice leading up the 2025 legislative session. Future installments will be published weekly.
Idaho policymakers and advocates are gearing up for another fight over private school choice, and the Legislature could consider a range of different proposals when the session kicks off in January.
Idaho is one of a few Republican-dominated states that has yet to adopt a program subsidizing private school tuition, through vouchers, education savings accounts or tax credits. But private school choice advocates celebrated election victories this year: Key allies were elected and opponents defeated, potentially paving the way for a successful bill in the upcoming session.
“It appears that there’s more of a chance this year than, perhaps, any other year to get something across the finish line and help kids throughout the state,” said Chris Cargill, president and CEO of the Mountain States Policy Center, a conservative advocacy group that lobbies for private school choice.
Still, it’s early for vote-counting, and diverting public funds for private tuition will continue to face opposition, particularly from many public school leaders. Groups representing teachers and school board trustees have fought previous choice proposals, and they’re reforming phalanxes.
“Our members are fired up,” said Quinn Perry, policy and government affairs director for the Idaho School Boards Association. “They want to make sure that the needs of their kids, their communities, their students, their livelihoods are put onto the radar of the Legislature.”
Lawmakers often guard their policy goals before introducing them, and a few regular advocates for private school choice did not immediately respond to Idaho Education News’ questions about their plans for the session. In separate interviews with EdNews, Perry and Cargill said they expect “several” different bills will emerge.
These could include proposals for:
- Tax credits, which would allow private school families to collect refunds on education expenses, including tuition.
- Education savings accounts (ESAs), which would offer private school families flexible spending accounts that could be used on tuition and other expenses.
- Grants or scholarships, which would provide private school families a set dollar amount to put toward tuition.
In recent years, similar proposals have failed to clear the Legislature, sometimes by narrow margins. While supporters have argued that public education funding should follow each student to the school that best fits their needs, including private schools, skeptics and opponents have worried about costs as well as lacking accountability measures for unregulated education. Idaho doesn’t regulate private schools or home-schooling.
What’s the difference between a school voucher and an ESA? And what’s a “universal” school choice program? Click here to learn more about the terms and ideas behind the school choice movement.
Earlier this year, a House committee narrowly rejected a bill to create a $50 million tax credit and grant program. That was after the Senate in 2023 voted down a “universal” ESA program with an unknown price tag. The same year, senators approved a $12 million expansion of the existing Empowering Parents program to include tuition as an eligible expense, but the bill stalled in the House.
These votes were a linchpin in some competitive races in this year’s GOP primary election, and a handful of private school choice skeptics lost their reelection bids. Former Reps. Melissa Durrant and Kenny Wroten, Republicans from the Treasure Valley, were decisive opponents of this year’s tax credit bill. Rep. Julie Yamamoto, of Caldwell, also lost her primary bid. Under her leadership as chairwoman, the House Education Committee was a bulwark against private school choice.
Third-party groups on either side of the private school choice debate spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on campaigns during the GOP primary and general election.
After the elections, more lawmakers than ever before appear to be supportive of a private school choice program, Cargill said. Which type of program rises to the top remains to be seen.
Cargill predicted that a tax credit proposal — which won’t “necessarily create a new state bureaucracy” or come from budgets set aside for pubic schools — will be the most palatable for Republicans who are skeptical about private school choice, including Gov. Brad Little.
Little, a Republican, hasn’t said much about his stance on private school choice, except that he wouldn’t support a program that harms public school funding.
In a surprising twist, however, state superintendent Debbie Critchfield told school leaders this summer that she was talking to the governor’s office about a private school choice bill. No details have emerged since then.
Critchfield, a Republican who has also previously expressed skepticism about private school funding, later told EdNews that the Idaho Department of Education’s budget request for the upcoming fiscal year won’t include money for private school tuition.
“When we start looking at what school choice looks like, we need to look away from the public schools’ funds,” she said. “I think there’s other opportunities. Are there existing programs, are there other ways to secure funds to do that? I think that’s on the table.”
Critchfield last year was involved in talks to add tuition as an eligible expense to Empowering Parents, a micro-grant program for education expenses, administered by the State Board of Education.
Members of the Idaho School Boards Association, an advocacy group for public school trustees, last month adopted a resolution “strongly” opposing “any effort” to divert public funds to private schools.
Private school choice programs are “wreaking havoc” on budgets in other states, Perry said. And the ISBA is “vehemently opposed” to spending public funds on unaccountable private schools that “are not open to all kids.”
The Idaho Education Association, the teachers’ union, and Idaho Business for Education, an advocacy group for business leaders, also continue to stand against private school subsidies. Next session, public school leaders will make a concerted effort to ensure lawmakers hear their concerns, Perry said.
“We never know the forecast of the Legislature until they’re in there and they’re actually having to vet these proposals, and they’re hearing from their constituents about how these things will go.”