State Policy
Endowment payments to increase for K-12, higher education
Public schools, by far the state’s largest public lands endowment beneficiary, will receive nearly $72.4 million next year. That will be a 6.1% increase.
Little orders 3% spending cuts; K-12 public schools exempt
The cuts come after $453 million in tax cuts, enacted in recent months.
State education leaders discuss tax credits, special ed, classroom policies at IASA conference
The panel didn’t have many positive things to say about the decisions made by the Legislature’s Republican supermajority.
State panel approves $30 million for school construction from revamped loan fund
Some recipients will have to ask voters for bonds before qualifying, thanks to a controversial provision in the law. INSIDE: The list of funded projects.
Following the ISEE dollars: What we learned
Idaho earmarked federal pandemic relief money for a major K-12 database upgrade. From there, the details get fuzzy quickly.
Idaho DOGE committee asks for public to report government ‘waste’
In an inaugural meeting Friday, lawmakers announced the launch of an online portal where citizens can report ‘duplication, waste and inefficiencies.’
Analysis: Idaho’s fight over private school choice is far from finished
The 2025 Legislature passed a $50 million private school tax credit program. Heading into the 2026 session, $50 million looks to be the boundary on the map and the line in the sand.
Analysis: Taxpayers get the bill for an open meetings lawsuit — and get no answers
After two years, and hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal costs, it’s unclear whether the State Board of Education’s closed-door discussions of the University of Phoenix violated state law.
Supreme Court will rule on Idaho’s transgender athletics ban
It’s unclear when the Supreme Court will hear arguments on Idaho’s first-in-the-nation ban, passed in 2020. The ruling figures to be a landmark moment in the national debate.
GOP resolution calls for partisan school board elections
“Nonpartisan elections fail to provide voters with clear information about the moral and political stances of candidates,” reads the resolution, approved during the GOP state central committee’s annual summer meeting in June.