After years of rejection, school voucher bill clears Idaho Legislature, goes to governor

BOISE – Idaho families who choose alternative schooling could soon have access to thousands in taxpayer dollars for their education expenses, opening state coffers to students outside of public schools like never before.

The Idaho Senate passed House Bill 93 in a 20-15 vote on Wednesday, which marked the first time a school voucher proposal has made it through the Legislature after a yearslong lobbying effort by state and national advocates. The bill now heads to Republican Gov. Brad Little’s desk.

Little opened the door last month to the bill in his annual State of the State address, lending his support for a $50 million voucher program, which advocates call school choice. Rep. Wendy Horman, R-Idaho Falls, and Senate Majority Leader Lori Den Hartog, R-Meridian, sponsored just such a bill.

President Donald Trump gave the bill his approval over the weekend, saying on social media that the $50 million voucher proposal “must pass.”

“I’m here for the other kids of Idaho who are looking for options and opportunities,” Den Hartog said on the Senate floor Wednesday.

Called the Idaho Parental Choice Tax Credit bill, the legislation would set aside $50 million of taxpayer money, with parents able to apply for up to $5,000 grants, or $7,500 grants for students with special needs. The money could go toward tuition at a private school, microschool or learning pod, as well as tutoring, transportation costs or Advanced Placement tests.

Families that earn up to 300% of the federal poverty level – roughly $93,600 for a family of four – would have priority during a 60-day application window in the program’s first year, and would be eligible to receive their tax credit in advance.

Proponents say that parents are the best judges when it comes to a student’s needs, and this bill would mean income isn’t the deciding factor on where to send their children to school.

“This bill gives parents the freedom to choose the best educational options available, and school choice is truly about giving families control over their children’s education,” Sen. Tammy Nichols, R-Middleton, said during Wednesday’s floor debate.

In last month’s address to the Legislature, Little asked that any school choice law involve oversight and be “fair, responsible, transparent and accountable.”

Some lawmakers pushed back on Den Hartog’s statement that this bill fit the governor’s criteria.

The bill would give significant discretion to the Idaho State Tax Commission for deciding which families receive funds and whether the students are exhibiting the “growth” required to remain in the program.

“Because this is housed underneath the tax commission, we will never know who received these credits, how the money was used, or if a child’s academic progress was improved,” Minority Caucus Chair and former teacher Sen. Janie Ward-Engelking, D-Boise, said during debate. She added that public schools are the “heart and soul” of communities.

“If private schools get public money, they should not get to operate in the dark.”

Other senators said the money would be better spent on public schools. House Bill 93 would assist a maximum of 10,000 of Idaho’s 300,000 K-12 students and be unusable for many rural students without private school options in their area, opponents pointed out.

Sen. Jim Guthrie, R-McCammon, worried that the state’s $50 million cap could be raised in the future, and would eventually harm public education.

“If we let this kitty out of the cage, it could become a mountain lion,” he argued.

The bill’s passage followed a yearslong effort by advocates of religious schools, but, for opponents, the proposal is a Pandora’s box that could send the state’s budget spiraling out of control.

States that have approved universal voucher programs with no spending caps, like Arizona, have seen large budget shortfalls that threaten the bottom lines of the state’s public schools. Arizona this year has a $1.4 billion budget deficit, which is due partly to its voucher program, according to an analysis from the Grand Canyon Institute.

And in the southwestern state, a majority of families applying for vouchers already attend and can afford private schools, according to an analysis by the Learning Policy Institute.

In a statement, the president of the Idaho Education Association, Layne McInelly, slammed the bill.

“As in other states, like Arizona, pro-voucher forces will begin their lobby campaign to expand the program during the 2026 legislative session,” he said. “And in 2026’s elections, their out-of-state millions will flow into the campaign coffers of pro-voucher candidates to fortify their ability to siphon tax dollars away from public schools and into the pockets of their benefactors.”

The Legislature’s Democratic caucus called Wednesday a “dark day” for the near-simultaneous passage of the school tax credit bill and, in the House, a bill that likely would repeal Medicaid expansion. The caucus said the education bill would “subsidize wealthy families’ private and religious school tuition” and bust the state’s budget.

Idaho already spends the least of any state on its public school students, based on per-pupil analyses. Most of Idaho’s private schools are also concentrated in four counties – Ada, Canyon, Kootenai and Twin Falls, according to the Idaho State Department of Education – which leaves many rural students with few options other than public schools.

A House committee that held a public hearing on the bill earlier this month received over 1,000 emails from the public, of which 94% were opposed to the bill, according to an analysis by Idaho Education News.

A spokesperson for Little declined a request for comment.