House passes controversial private-school scholarship bill, sends to Senate

The House has voted 39-31 in favor of HB 590, controversial legislation to set up a scholarship fund for certain private school students only, to be administered by the state Board of Education. Rep. John VanderWoude, R-Nampa, the bill’s sponsor, said the bill would give parents of kids with disabilities and other disadvantages more choice. Public schools, he said, are “doing an excellent job with the education of my granddaughter, but that isn’t for everybody.”

Rep. Ron Mendive, R-Coeur d’Alene, said, “In my opinion, this legislation would benefit children.”

But Rep. Paul Amador, R-Coeur d’Alene, said, “Essentially if you boil this all down, this isn’t a bill about school choice, this isn’t a bill about vouchers, this isn’t a bill about tax credits. This is a bill that essentially creates a scholarship entity that will be quasi-supervised by the state Board of Education. … I can tell you the state Board of Education does not support this legislation. To me, what this does is creates essentially government intrusion into a private-sector market. Our private schools can already form foundations that are scholarship-granting organizations out in the real world today, where individuals can donate money and receive tax incentives for those donations.”

Rep. Caroline Nilsson Troy, R-Genesee, said, “I’ve spent a lot of years working in large organizations that distribute scholarships, and let me tell you, it’s a nightmare – there’s so much work involved in it to do it correctly. There are lots of better ways to do it. You can make a donation directly to that private school and they’ll do a better job of it.”

Rep. Jeff Thompson, R-Idaho Falls, said, “Some struggle more than others.” He said the bill would give students who struggle “another avenue, another opportunity. It’s all private donations.”

Rep. Steven Harris, R-Meridian, said, “It takes no, no, zero state money. It doesn’t hurt anyone; it helps a few.”

Rep. Mat Erpelding, D-Boise, countered, “If the state Board of Education is managing it, then it does take state resources.”

All of Idaho’s major education stakeholder groups have come out against the bill, saying it’s a step toward private-school vouchers; state Superintendent Sherri Ybarra also opposes the bill, and the state Ed Board voted unanimously to oppose it. The bill now moves to the Senate side. Here’s how the vote broke down:

Voting in favor: Reps. Anderst, Armstrong, Barbieri, Bedke, Boyle, Burtenshaw, Chaney, Cheatham, Clow, Collins, Crane, Dayley, DeMordaunt, Dixon, Ehardt, Gestrin, Hanks, Harris, Hartgen, Holtzclaw, Horman, Kingsley, Malek, Mendive, Monks, Moon, Moyle, Nate, Palmer, Raybould, Redman, Scott, Shepherd, Thompson, VanOrden, VanderWoude, Youngblood, Zito and Zollinger.

Voting against: Reps. Amador, Anderson, Bell, Blanksma, Chew, Erpelding, Gannon(7), Gannon(5), Gibbs, Giddings, Kauffman, Kerby, King, Kloc, Loertscher, Luker, Manwaring, McCrostie, McDonald, Miller, Packer, Perry, Rubel, Smith, Stevenson, Syme, Toone, Troy, Wagoner, Wintrow and Wood.