A lawyer for Education Voters of Idaho, which is seeking to avoid being forced to reveal donors behind TV ads promoting public schools chief Tom Luna’s education overhaul, filed a formal notice of removal on Thursday.

That’s just hours before a state district judge in Boise on Friday is scheduled to consider Secretary of State Ben Ysursa’s demand that EVI disclose its donors.

EVI contributed more than $200,000 that went to campaign ads.

Ysursa argues it’s required by Idaho’s 38-year-old Sunshine law to disclose donors.

But EVI attorney Christ Troupis has said his client is a nonprofit that’s allowed to shield donors’ identities, to preserve their free-speech rights.

Ysursa has also asked other groups, including the Idaho Education Association and National Education Association teachers unions, to disclose any of their members’ contributions to the ballot measures, too. The NEA has contributed nearly $1.1 million to efforts to the defeat Luna’s overhaul, while the state group has given about $180,000.

On Wednesday, the Idaho Education Association responded, disputing in a four-page letter to the Idaho attorney general that it is a political committee required to report individual donors.

It said money it contributed came from members’ dues that aren’t characterized as campaign contributions under Idaho's Sunshine law.

The IEA did concede it had some reporting requirements — and asked to meet with state officials to discuss what its disclosures should include, to comply with state law.