By Melissa Davlin, Idaho Reports 

The Idaho Senate rejected a high-profile education savings account proposal on a 12-23 vote after a lengthy debate on Monday. 

The bill, co-sponsored by Sen. Tammy Nichols, R-Middleton, and Sen. Brian Lenney, R-Nampa, would have created education savings accounts, or ESA, to allow students to access taxpayer dollars for private and homeschooling options. The Idaho State Department of Education would deposit into the ESA 80% of what it would provide per student to their school district in quarterly installments.  

For this school year, that total would be about $5,950 per student. Nichols acknowledged that some of the students who take advantage of the program aren’t currently enrolled in public schools, meaning there’s no existing public school money to divert. The bill would have appropriated an additional $40 million to account for those students. Proponents said ESAs would allow parents to choose the best education options for their children, and would increase competition for public schools and provide an incentive for them to improve student test scores.

While introducing the bill, Lenney acknowledged concerns about accountability with public dollars going to private institutions. He emphasized quarterly and annual audits to check for fraud. 

“It’s just not a blank check,” he said. The bill also would have allowed the education department to remove students and families from the program, and empowered the attorney general to investigate alleged fraud.  

“I would ask the question, who’s being held accountable in the current system?” he asked. Lenney pointed to private and charter schools being shut down when they don’t produce good results with students. “But when a public school underperforms, they get more money,” he said.  

Sen. Chris Trakel, R-Caldwell, echoed those concerns, pointing to low reading and math proficiency scores. 

“Our schools are giving us a bad product. And they continue to give us a bad product, and we give them more money every year,” Trakel said.  

But many of those who debated against the bill said ESAs aren’t the answer. Sen. Carrie Semmelroth, D-Boise, has a background in education research, and said she could find just 12 high-quality studies that examined the link between ESAs and academic performance. Of those, she said, eight had zero confidence that ESAs resulted in better education, and four showed a negative link between the two.  

Some said they supported the concept of school choice, but had issues with this particular bill. Senate President Pro Tem Chuck Winder, R-Meridian, said Idaho already provides a multitude of choices for students.  

“It’s not about school choice. Idaho has the best school choice legislation in the country,” Winder said, mentioning charter schools, homeschools, and magnet schools.  

Sen. C. Scott Grow, R-Eagle and chair of the Senate Finance Committee, also expressed concerns about the funding mechanisms of the proposal. 

“I can’t even decide how to balance the budget if I don’t know how much this is going to cost,” he said.  

Homeschool proposants in the Senate were split on the bill. Sen. Scott Herndon, R-Sagle, said he was confident the program wouldn’t disrupt the freedoms homeschooling families have in the state. But Sen. Ben Adams, R-Nampa, said he didn’t want to give the government any opening to regulating homeschooling in Idaho. 

Ultimately, many of those who voted no said they look forward to seeing more school choice proposals this legislative session. 

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