In his State of the State address Monday, Idaho Gov. Brad Little was subtle but direct in opposing vouchers for private and religious school tuition.
Good for him.
If there’s anything that could derail the governor’s ambitious plans to move Idaho’s traditionally underfunded schools into the nation’s mainstream, it would be siphoning off those dollars into private schools.
Other than allowing a permanent source of money for the Empowering Parents grant program — which allocates up to $3,000 per family for items such as tutors or computers but not tuition — Little anchored his “Idaho First” program by putting public schools first.
Employed in that argument was tradition and practical politics:
n “The Idaho Constitution recognizes the endurance of our republican form of government depends on an educated, intelligent people. As such, the founders spelled out the duty to ‘establish and maintain a general uniform and thorough system of public free common schools.’ ”
n By almost 80%, Idaho voters approved the advisory measure Little and lawmakers placed on the Nov. 8 ballot after passing House Bill 1 — which cut income taxes and pledged to boost education spending by $410 million — during a one-day special session last fall. “The people’s vote affirming tax relief and our education investments passed in every single county, every single city and every single legislative district.
“The overwhelming support of our plan means, unmistakably, Idahoans expect us to support public schools.”
And a voucher plan would be a cancer on that public education system.
Tax dollars may follow a student into a private school, but left behind in the public system are the fixed costs — the same number of teachers to be paid, the same overhead to cover, the same heating and lighting bills to pay. Also remaining in those public schools are children who either can’t afford tuition — even with taxpayer-provided subsidies — or can’t get accepted to a private academy for whatever reason.
Since the bulk of private schools serve upper-income families in urban settings, you will see a transfer of wealth from poor, rural communities.
That’s what Indiana Rural and Small Schools Association Executive Director Chris Lagoni described happening in his state. The result has been even higher local property taxes to prop up public schools, Lagoni told a Statehouse audience.
“Some communities are voting to raise your taxes and some are not. And then that’s putting more pressure on the schools to figure out how they’re going to survive,” he said.
Lagoni’s appearance was arranged by Idaho Business for Education, which opposes a voucher bill.
There’s no accountability how a private school spends this money, what it teaches or how. Nobody answers to the taxpayers.
The problem is that much of the Legislature changed hands in the last election and not for the better.
The Senate GOP has moved more in the direction of Idaho Freedom Foundation President Wayne Hoffman, who wants to blow up “government-run schools by offering real education freedom that empowers families by allowing them to choose school options that best suit their children.”
The starkest example of this shift can be found on the Senate Education Committee. As the Idaho Statesman’s Bryan Clark documented last month, once you move below Chairperson Dave Lent, R-Idaho Falls, there are no other moderate Republicans on that panel.
Even a leader of the GOP’s establishment wing, Senate President Pro Tem Chuck Winder, R-Boise, allowed the state has enough money to dip its toe in a voucher program: “We have the luxury right now to do a little bit of both.”
The House Education Committee, led by Chairperson Julie Yamamoto, R-Caldwell, a retired educator and administrator, and Vice Chairperson Lori McCann, R-Lewiston, may be less hospitable to a voucher bill. But should the idea reach the floor, it will find favor with:
n Those who share Hoffman’s antipathy for “government schools.”
n Ideologues who fervently believe privatization — which has failed spectacularly in other public services — will for their convenience succeed in this instance.
n Republicans who know better but fear a vote against vouchers will leave them vulnerable to a challenge from the right in the 2024 GOP primary.
So Little may not have the votes to stop a voucher bill from reaching his desk. He does, however, clearly have enough votes in the Senate, if not also the House, to sustain a veto.
If a subtle but direct statement doesn’t get the point across, then it’s time for a private message to key lawmakers.
And if that doesn’t stop a bill from reaching the floor, then the governor should assure everyone that his veto stamp is ready.
That’s out of character for this governor. By nature, he’s an incrementalist. That’s worked to his advantage, notably with all-day kindergarten and, if he succeeds, with competitive teacher salaries.
But you can’t be a little bit pregnant or compromise on school privatization. A small program today inevitably will expand to universal vouchers tomorrow.
This is one time Little can’t split the difference.
