A North Idaho charter loaned its leader $150,000, and if he stays on for three years, he doesn’t have to pay the money back.
North Idaho STEM Charter is a public charter school in Rathdrum funded with taxpayer dollars. Its executive director and co-founder, Scott Thomson, received the money last year, according to an EdNews review of public records.
The agreement, signed by Board Chair Dan Tesulov, justifies the $150,000 by saying Thomson’s annual compensation was “below market wages for his position for several years until the school was on firm ground.”
Thomson is the highest-paid charter administrator in Idaho. He made $197,600 last year, which is nearly double the average charter administrator salary.
A loan to a “related party” is a line item on the school’s 2025 audit, according to an EdNews review. The audit does not indicate who the loan was paid to but EdNews discovered Thomson was the recipient by reviewing tax forms. If Thomson stays employed at STEM Charter through June 2027, the loan will be forgiven in January 2028. Thomson said he has parked the sum in a whole life insurance policy.
Thomson and his wife Colleen co-founded the school, which serves about 530 students in grades K-12. Colleen Thomson is the director of instruction and made $139,000 last school year.
The school also employs a principal and vice principal for total administrator annual compensation coming in at over $540,000, not including Thomson’s loan payment.
Tesulov did not respond to multiple requests for comment. The board instead sent EdNews a letter defending the reasoning for creating the compensation incentive. Directors say in the letter the process was vetted through a certified public accountant and legal counsel.
STEM Charter board director Lorna Finman said in an email the loan structure is “not unusual.”
“Had we paid Mr. Thomson through a traditional bonus, those funds would be gone the moment they were paid, with no recourse if he left,” Finman wrote. “By structuring the compensation as a deferred loan, the money remains a liability he owes back to the school until he fulfills the agreed milestones. This protects taxpayer funds in a way a standard bonus never could. The funds are simply not his until he meets the terms of the agreement.”
She said the arrangement was discussed and approved at the June 2025 school board meeting. There are no minutes of that meeting on the website, only an agenda.
“This was not hidden, it was handled through exactly the proper channels,” Finman said.
Terry Ryan, CEO of Bluum, an organization that supports charter schools in Idaho, sees it differently.
In his years supporting Idaho charters, he has “never seen anything like it.”
Giving Thomson a loan instead of a bonus is abnormal and obscures how taxpayer funds are being spent, he said.
“This seems weird and odd,” Ryan said. “If you want to give someone a bonus, then give them a bonus and make the case for why they deserve it.’
Ryan also said that he has always had a good relationship with Thomson and the school has shown great results.
“He’s an outstanding educator. His school has achieved results for years,” Ryan said of Thomson. “I think the world of their results and what they’ve done.”
Ryan highlighted the transparency in West Ada as a more common compensation action — providing Superintendent Derek Bub a raise over the next three years. While controversial, trustees were clear and transparent about the move and said they were attempting to meet the national market rate for such a large district, Ryan said.
“That’s how you do it,” Ryan said. “You do it as a public activity, saying here’s why we believe this leader deserves to be paid more or receive a bonus, and then saying true to the decision you have made.”
Disclosure: Idaho Education News and Bluum are both supported by grants from the J.A. and Kathryn Albertson Family Foundation. North Idaho STEM Charter and its leaders have also previously received grants from the Albertson Family Foundation.
