It’s our money. Idaho Gov. Little needs to veto private school voucher bill | Opinion

The video testimonial from the Idaho Freedom Foundation unwittingly gives the best reason against using taxpayer dollars to pay for private school.

“Private school education is the best option for our family because we are able to include God in anything and everything they study,” according to Andrea Spoon in the video posted on social media.

In other words, because the public school that we, the Idaho taxpayers, provide for Spoon’s family doesn’t include God in anything and everything they study — well, not yet, but Republicans are working on it — she thinks we, the Idaho taxpayers, should now give her $5,000 per child to send her children to a private religious school that does include God in anything and everything they study.

The Idaho Constitution requires the Legislature “to establish and maintain a general, uniform and thorough system of public, free common schools.”

It does not require the taxpayers to now fund another, separate, religious-based school system.

Idaho Gov. Brad Little has before him the Idaho Parental Choice Tax Credit bill, which 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, according to previous Idaho Statesman reporting.

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.

In all, 73 public school superintendents have written in opposition, according to Idaho Education News, while eight leaders of religious schools have voiced their support to take our taxpayer money.

Little set up a phone line to take the pulse of the public. It will be interesting to see, if there’s a majority of opposition to the voucher scheme, if he vetoes it.

He should veto it.

Most voucher schemes in other states started out like this — small, limited, targeted. But state after state, the vouchers grew and are blowing holes in state budgets everywhere.

Looking at other states’ experiences, these vouchers tend to go to urban areas, where most of these private schools are, leaving rural students out of luck.

Many of these vouchers go to wealthy families who already have the means to pay for private school, and the vouchers merely subsidize part of the cost of a private school tuition.

Instead of giving away $50 million to pay wealthier families in urban areas, we’d rather see that $50 million go toward helping improve Idaho’s rural schools.

While proponents of this particular refundable tax credit scheme try to argue that it doesn’t take away from the public school system (which Little has said he wants to avoid), we don’t buy that argument. If the state has $50 million to give away to private schools, it certainly could increase public school funding by $50 million.

Where is the accountability for where the money is going and how it’s being used? Where is the accountability for the standards that must be met for the students? As we’ve seen in other states, these types of voucher schemes are open to fraud and abuse.

This is a line in the sand Little drew during his state of the state address.

“Just as we expect the following from our public schools, any school choice measure I would consider must be done the Idaho way, which means it is fair, responsible, transparent, and accountable,” Little said.

House Bill 93 meets none of those conditions.

Little should also think about the groups behind this push and what their real motivations are: to privatize education.

Idaho already has a vigorous school choice system within the existing public school system, and we would welcome more ideas to increase that school choice.

But Little should stick to his guns and bolster the public school system, not use our tax dollars to subsidize someone’s choice to remove their child from the public school system that we’re already providing.

Little should veto this and all future school voucher schemes.

This story was originally published February 26, 2025 at 11:05 AM.