Committee advances ‘school choice’ bill

BOISE — After two days of testimony, the Senate Education Committee on Wednesday passed a bill to create an education savings account in an effort to increase school choice in Idaho. Opponents worry it will divert too much funding from public schools.

The committee voted 6-3 to approve the legislation. Five of the senators who voted in favor were sponsors or co-sponsors of the bill. The bill will next go to the full Senate for a vote.

SB 1038 would cost approximately $45 million from the state general fund to create a savings account that parents of K-12 students who aren’t enrolled in public school, or won’t be once they can access funds, could use for educational expenses; sponsors predict it will serve about 6,600 students. An estimated $3 million would be used for administering the program and $2 million to create the digital platform from which it would run.

“Every child is unique and so is their educational experience,” Sen. Tammy Nichols, R-Middleton, told the Senate Education Committee on Tuesday. She presented the legislation with Sen. Brian Lenney, R-Nampa.

The senators, along with Sens. Scott Herndon, R-Sagle, and Cindy Carlson, R-Riggins — all of whom sit on the Education Committee — hosted a town hall about their proposed legislation early in the session, well before it was formally introduced in a committee.

During the hours of testimony, spanning meetings on Tuesday and Wednesday, many of the opponents said it would siphon money from ailing public schools toward institutions that lack accountability or transparency for their curriculum or outcomes, while proponents said it would give more Idahoans the chance to pursue homeschooling or private school. Those who provided testimony included current and former educators, rural residents, a representative from the Idaho Freedom Foundation, and associations representing administrators, rural schools and teachers.

Under the proposed legislation, the state Department of Education would oversee the educational savings account, or ESA, which would be administered through an online platform that both parents seeking to use it and vendors seeking to use funds from it would need to opt into to be included in the program. The money could go toward tuition or fees at any private school in the state, textbooks required by a private school, educational therapies from a licensed provider, extracurricular activities at a public school, uniforms required by a private school and other education-related items. Qualified schools do not need to be accredited.

“Private schools and homeschools currently work on their own without any interference from the state,” Lenney said.

The Department of Education would be tasked with either conducting or contracting out annual, quarterly and random audits of the accounts to ensure they’re being used for allowed expenses. Items such as televisions or gaming systems are explicitly excluded in the bill.

“I would posit that this of one of the tightest, cleanest school choice bills out there,” Lenney said.

Sen. Janie Ward-Engelking, D-Boise, questioned if there would be accountability from private schools that may benefit from the funds, pointing to a part of the bill that clarifies that the new code would “not permit any government agency to exercise control or supervision over any private school or homeschooling.”

Much of the testimony from those opposed centered around lack of accountability or transparency regarding what is taught in homeschool or in private schools.

“This bill, like most voucher schemes, leaves no accountability or recourse to the taxpayers on how millions of their dollars are spent,” said Paul Stark, executive director of the Idaho Education Association. “Private schools and vendors do not answer to elected officeholders. ... There are no audits of the schools or the providers, there’s no reporting requirements.”

Nichols said the parents would be holding the schools and vendors accountable by choosing not to continue using them if they weren’t adequate. She also mentioned that public schools are not held accountable enough, especially when it comes to concerns over indoctrination.

“When schools are held accountable to parents rather than government, the less ‘woke’ those schools are,” she said. “In a free market, where money truly follows the child to the school of their parents’ choice, indoctrination and other issues will be reduced and accountability will increase.”

Many who testified in favor said that current low achievement in public schools was a reason to support other options for schooling.

Data from the state Department of Education shows literacy and math scores did not reach 2022 targets.

About 55.5% of Idaho students met grade-level expectations, with the target for 2022 set at 68.7%. Nearly 43% of students were considered proficient in math, missing the target of 61.1%. However, the department’s data shows improvements in both math and literacy from 2021 to 2022, with math proficiency going from 40.3% to 42.7%. English and literacy proficiency was 54.5% in 2021.

“It’s not like we’re asking for choice in an education system that’s stellar,” said Nicole Trakel, who is married to bill co-sponsor Sen. Chris Trakel, R-Caldwell.

Bessie Yeley testified that her son with disabilities had been denied admission to a local private school and said public funding shouldn’t funnel to these institutions that are not obligated to accept or adequately serve students with special needs. Sen. Carrie Semmelroth, D-Boise, also underscored that private schools don’t receive federal funding and are not required to follow federal laws that require appropriate education be provided to students with disabilities.

Many said that their children had individualized needs that weren’t met by public schools and needed homeschooling or another type of education option.

“One size does not fit all,” said Sonja Graber, a current teacher in the Treasure Valley.

Carlson said during debate her children and grandchildren have been homeschooled and went through public schools and she values both types of education.

“Not every child is successful in the traditional setting, they all have a different learning style,” Carlson said. “We need to give all students the funding to learn.”

Some opponents said the bill wasn’t necessary, pointing to the already-in-place Empowering Parents grant, which allows parents of K-12 students to apply for grants to pay for education-related costs; the program is prioritized for households earning $60,000 a year or less. Gov. Brad Little this year proposed making the program permanent and setting aside $30 million for it. It cannot be used for private schools.

The proposed ESA has no income restrictions, and some opponents argued it would mostly benefit the wealthy because, at around $6,000 per student, it wouldn’t fully pay for private school tuition and could end up subsidizing families who already send their children to private institutions.

Sen. Lori Den Hartog, R-Meridian, said that while she supported this bill, she would have put an income limit or prioritized students who aren’t already attending private schools.

The only Republican on the committee to vote against the bill was Chairman Sen. Dave Lent, R-Idaho Falls. He said he appreciated the sponsors’ work and that there’s “room for more flexibility for parents,” but he values the education options already in place in Idaho.

“I believe we do have school choice in Idaho,” Lent said. “I have a little bit of trouble with the presumption that the grass is greener on the other side.”

He also said he met with some of the Arizona lawmakers who implemented an ESA program there, which the proposed legislation was based on, and learned about the many steps they took to get to where the state is at with its program now. He said he felt the sponsors’ proposal went “zero to 60.”

“I think this is probably too much too fast,” Lent said.

Guido covers Idaho politics for the Lewiston Tribune, Moscow-Pullman Daily News and Idaho Press of Nampa. She may be contacted at lguido@idahopress.com and can be found on Twitter @EyeOnBoiseGuido.