by Logan Finney, Idaho Reports  

The House Revenue and Taxation Committee killed a proposal to expand school choice in Idaho with a tax credit for private school expenses on Tuesday morning in a 10-7 vote.

“You may have heard that national organizations put us up to this. Let me assure you, those rumors are wrong,” said co-sponsor Rep. Wendy Horman, R-Idaho Falls, who unveiled the proposal alongside Sen. Lori Den Hartog, R-Meridian, with supporters at the capitol in early January.

House Bill 447 would have created a refundable income tax credit for the cost of tuition, standardized tests, textbooks and curriculum, as well as reimbursement for transportation costs.

“It allows a parent to receive a refundable tax credit of up to $5,000 for qualified education expenses. $7,500 if that child has special needs,” Horman said. “Twenty percent of the money would go to parents who qualify for the Earned Income Tax Credit.”

Horman in her opening presentation pointed to support in the annual BSU public policy survey for a school choice policy similar to last year’s education savings account bill that failed in the Senate.

“Half of the respondents favored taking money from public schools,” Horman said. “This bill does not do that.”

Unlike the ESA bill last year, which would have redirected maintenance and operations funds from school districts to individual families, HB 447 would have decreased general revenue before the state collects it.

“If you think that’s going to harm public schools, I wonder if that means do you believe families are generally unhappy with their public schools,” Horman said. “I don’t believe they are. I don’t think that many children will take advantage of this.”

The state tax commission would have administered the credit first-come first-serve in the order that tax returns are filed. The bill would have limited the program to $50 million, but included a provision directing lawmakers to review whether that amount was sufficient in 2026.

“As chairman of Appropriations, budget-busting bills are not my thing,” Horman said. “The amount does not come from the public school budgets. The amount cannot increase unless a future legislature decides to increase it. In the bill it’s in statute, so JFAC can’t do it. It has to be all of us.”

Chris Cargill from Mountain States Policy Center spoke in support of the legislation.

“This is not a voucher. A voucher has a very specific definition. This is not an education savings account. It is a tax credit,” Cargill said. “Our analysis shows that very few families will actually sign up for this program. And the reason for that is because families like their public schools.”

“This bill will not take any money out of K-12. It is a completely separate line item,” Cargill said.

Cargill also referenced a column he wrote last week with information from the Workforce Development Council about the institutions where students have applied to use Idaho Launch funds. Many of the entities on that list are private institutions.

Some public testimony took issue with that point, making a key distinction between the two.

“There’s a long history of using taxpayer money to support private higher education institutions. In no way is Launch money going to the K-12 school system,” said Jean Henscheid, co-president of the League of Women Voters of Idaho.

The committee heard supportive testimony from parents with students at Nampa Christian School and at Cole Valley Christian School in Meridian, as well as the Roman Catholic Diocese of Boise which operates Bishop Kelley High School and several K-8 schools in the state.

Public education advocates expressed concern that the state would be funding private education without any purview over content or academic standards.

“This really does violate our values of accountability, and hand out our taxpayer dollars to families, the majority of whom are already paying this tuition and have made a choice to attend private tuition-bearing schools,” said Andy Grover from the Idaho Association of School Administrators.

Horman, however, made an allegory to the grocery tax credit, which does not give the state oversight over families’ shopping choices.

“Allowing parents to spend their SNAP dollars at Albertsons does not defund WinCo,” Horman said.

The tax committee heard passionate testimony for an hour and a half before debating the bill.

“I don’t understand the problem with competition in education. All of these arguments I have heard against charter schools from the exact same people,” said Rep. Judy Boyle, R-Midvale, who served on the House Education Committee until last year.

Rep. Kenny Wroten, R-Nampa, said he was concerned that families in rural areas won’t have private schools to access.

“Some of them don’t have that ability. What you would find is public dollars in rural areas subsidizing Nampa, my district. We’ve got a number of private schools,” Wroten said.

“Coming from a very rural area, one of the most rural areas of the state, I appreciate the opportunity that this provides to give options to parents,” said Rep. Doug Pickett, R-Oakley, who moved to send the bill to the floor with a do-pass recommendation.

Rep. Stephanie Mickelsen, R-Idaho, made a substitute motion to hold the bill in committee, which Rep. Jeff Ehlers, R-Meridian, countered with a final amended motion to pass the bill to the House floor without recommendation.

“I would jump at the opportunity to invest $50 million into new services that would expand access for our kids to learn,” said Rep. Lauren Necochea, D-Boise. “Unfortunately, this bill does not expand any access to services. Kids have access to K-12 today. With this bill, they would still have access to K-12. We’re just replacing private dollars with public dollars by doing this subsidy.”

“There’s a lot of heartburn with this way, the tax credit, that I’ve had from people on both sides of the spectrum,” said Rep. Melissa Durrant, R-Kuna.

Durrant said she was unsure whether the state tax commission reviewing qualified expenses would be the appropriate way to ensure accountability. She also expressed concern that the program would likely grow in future years, and so argued that lawmakers should be sure to get a program like this right when they initially set it up.

Several committee members expressed concern about the possible effects on state revenue.

“[HB 521, the school facilities bill] reduces income tax by $60 million. It increases spending by $150 million,” said Rep. Jon Weber, R-Blackfoot. “Then we’re approaching a new program that would spend $50 million. That to me is not being fiscally responsible.”

“I’m not sure that we’ve got an extra $50 million laying around that we can afford to put into this program. We have spent a prolific amount of money this year,” said Rep. Ned Burns, D-Bellevue.

“I think another pretty serious concern is the fact that we would be creating to the best of my research what would be the first first-come first-serve tax credit,” Burns said.

That concern appeared to resonate with several Republicans on the committee.

“A first-come first-serve system for funding education leaves a lot of folks out,” said Rep. Rick Cheatum, R-Pocatello.

The motion to advance the bill without recommendation failed on an 8-9 vote.

The successful motion to hold the bill in committee passed in a 10-7 vote, with the only change between the two votes coming from Rep. Dustin Manwaring, R-Pocatello.

Manwaring told Idaho Reports after the hearing that he would not have supported the motion to advance the bill with a do-pass recommendation. He said he supported advancing it without a recommendation from the committee because he is not sure whether he would have supported the bill on the floor.

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HB 447 – PASS WITHOUT RECOMMENDATION

AYE (8) – Cannon, Ehlers, Dixon, Manwaring, Shepherd, Monks, Pickett, Boyle

NAY (9) – Weber, Cheatum, Cornilles, Durrant, Mickelsen, Raymond, Wroten, Necochea, Burns

HB 447 – HOLD IN COMMITTEE

AYE (10) – Manwaring, Weber, Cheatum, Cornilles, Durrant, Mickelsen, Raymond, Wroten, Necochea, Burns

NAY (7) – Cannon, Ehlers, Dixon, Shepherd, Monks, Pickett, Boyle

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