So many students have been taking advantage of advanced opportunities in school that state Schools Superintendent Sherri Ybarra said she’s projecting a 71 percent increase in student participation in 2017. “In just one semester, we have already exceeded what was paid out in 2016,” she said. So she’s proposing a $1 million increase to the line item for advanced opportunities, which would bring it up to a total of $7 million a year in state general funds.

“In 2016, there were 17,659 students who took advantage of the advanced opportunities, including all dual credit participation, and those students gained 95,337 credits, ultimately saving families across the state a tuition cost savings of over $7.1 million,” Ybarra told JFAC. She estimated that every $1 of taxpayer funds spent on dual-credit tuition through the advanced opportunities program results in a savings to Idaho families of $3.36.