The House passed a bill that would scale back Idaho’s 50-year partnership with the WWAMI medical education program.

The 46-21 vote came after supporters said the state needs a new strategy to train and attract doctors — and attack a long-standing crisis that leaves Idaho ranked No. 50 in the nation for physicians per capita.

“We’re going to have to have an all-of-the-above approach, and this legislation creates that,” said Rep. Dustin Manwaring, R-Pocatello, a sponsor of House Bill 368.

HB 368 would do three things:

• It would authorize the state to create and fund 30 new medical school seats: state-subsidized slots for Idaho students. It is unclear where Idaho will find these 30 new seats, but one option is University of Utah, which already accepts 10 Idaho students per year. Other possibilities are for-profit Meridian-based Idaho College of Osteopathic Medicine and the as yet-unopened Brigham Young University medical school.
• It would eliminate at least 10 seats at WWAMI — a University of Washington-led partnership, taking in the member states of Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana and Idaho. WWAMI now accepts 40 Idaho students per year, at a taxpayer cost of about $7.5 million this year.
• It directs the State Board of Education to prepare a report on Idaho’s medical education needs. The board has already said it will create a committee to study the issue, and prospective members have met informally.

During Thursday afternoon’s 20-minute debate, supporters and opponents focused on WWAMI, which has been Idaho’s primary medical education program since 1972. Legislators have raised two recurring concerns with WWAMI — about the program’s reluctance to take on additional Idaho students, and UW’s resistance to signing a statement saying it does not use Idaho tax dollars for abortion education.

“WWAMI has been a good partner,” said Rep. Wendy Horman, R-Idaho Falls, “but they have not been as cooperative as we have asked them to be.”

Opponents questioned the wisdom of getting rid of WWAMI seats, when Idaho has a physician shortage.

“(We’re) jumping out of WWAMI plane before we know the University of Utah parachute works,” said Rep. Chris Mathias, D-Boise, who nonetheless praised Manwaring and other lawmakers for pressing the universities to move on the issue.

The House has looked at two versions of the WWAMI bill over the past several weeks.

The first version, House Bill 176, would have mandated that Idaho sever its WWAMI ties within two years. That bill now appears dead for the year. After the House passed HB 368, the House moved HB 176 back to the House Education Committee, a signal that it probably won’t get a vote.

Manwaring presented HB 368 as a compromise measure. In recent days, this second bill has been on a House fast track. House Education passed it Wednesday morning, after an abbreviated public hearing. On Thursday afternoon, the House suspended its rules to vote on the bill.

Still, Thursday afternoon’s vote was unexpected. On Thursday morning, House Speaker Mike Moyle, an HB 368 co-sponsor, told Idaho Education News that he was unsure when the bill would come up for a vote, saying that he heard some “grumbling” about the bill.

“It looks like most of the grumbling got addressed, because that was a good vote,” Moyle told EdNews Thursday afternoon.

From here, the scene shifts to the Senate — and likely the Senate Education Committee. The committee’s chair, Sen. Dave Lent, R-Idaho Falls, is co-sponsoring HB 368.

Neither Moyle nor Manwaring said they have been working the Senate on the bill — at least not yet.

“All my energy has been on getting the best policy I thought we could have to pass the House,” Manwaring told EdNews after the vote.

More reading: An internal University of Idaho memo offers an unfiltered look into the WWAMI debate.

English language amendment passes House

Voting nearly along party lines, the House passed a constitutional amendment that would make English Idaho’s official language.

House Joint Resolution 6 says English “shall be used in all public proceedings, public documents, public instruction, and any other public acts of any public institution in the state of Idaho.”

Its sponsor, Rep. Dale Hawkins, said the amendment would align with a 2007 state law on the use of English, and a recent federal executive order issued by President Donald Trump.

During brief debate, Rep. Jerald Raymond asked if the amendment would affect dual language immersion classes. Raymond, R-Menan, said a school in his legislative district offers the program, which places English-speaking students into classes where Spanish is used exclusively.

“I don’t see where this would interfere with that,” said Hawkins, R-Fernwood.

Rep. Steve Berch debated against the amendment, saying it could cause public agencies to drop websites in multiple languages. “This is absolutely and completely unnecessary,” said Berch, D-Boise.

The amendment needed a two-thirds supermajority to pass. It received a 59-8 vote, with Boise Democrat John Gannon joining Republicans in support.

The amendment now goes to the Senate, where it also would need two-thirds support.

If that happens, the amendment would appear on the November 2026 ballot, and would need majority support from voters.

Bill to update civics exam heads to House floor

A bill that would overhaul the state’s civics exam is heading to the House floor with unanimous committee support and backing from the Idaho Department of Education. 

The new test would ask public school students questions about the impact of Western civilization on the country’s founding, the arguments presented in the Declaration of Independence, the governing principles in the U.S. and Idaho constitutions and the roles and powers of separate branches of government, among other things. 

Currently, state law requires that students take a variation of the 100-question civics test used for citizen naturalization before they graduate from high school. 

“We’re just asking, rather than using a naturalization test that doesn’t align with our Idaho government (content) standards, that we have a civics test and assessment that does align with those standards,” Greg Wilson, chief of staff for state superintendent Debbie Critchfield, told the House Education Committee Thursday. 

Korrin Rue, an American government teacher at Boise’s Borah High School, testified against the bill. Rue brought along more than 100 of her students to the Statehouse — “probably the greatest assessment of civic involvement that they’re going to get,” she said. 

Rue’s concerns centered on practical implementations of the new test. The entire government curriculum isn’t satisfied until the end of 12th grade — when students must have completed the test. Additionally, the bill doesn’t explicitly say that students must pass the test, and if so, what the benchmark for passage would be. 

“I’m also worried about local control of our smaller districts. I know there’s a hodgepodge way that we administer this test, but some districts teach things in different orders, although we cover all of the same standards.”

The bill wouldn’t go into effect for a year, giving IDE a buffer to iron out these issues, Wilson said. “Like with other similar efforts that the department undertakes, we would bring together subject-matter experts to help us develop that.”

The department will also set a proficiency score that will determine completion of the test, Wilson said. 

House Bill 397 now heads to the full House. 

House committee kills parental ‘tech awareness’ program

The House Education Committee narrowly killed a bill to direct the Idaho Department of Education to contract a technology awareness program aimed at parents.

The program was meant to “enhance parent and legal guardian awareness” of dangers associated with cellphones and computers as well as the nature of online threats and methods for protecting students from threats and exploitation online.

Opponents argued that this shouldn’t be the state’s responsibility. 

“At some point, we have to start holding parents accountable in our education system,” said Rep. Kyle Harris, R-Lewiston. “This is presented as a parental rights bill, but it’s also a parent’s responsibility to teach their kids what’s safe and what’s not safe.”

A motion to advance Senate Bill 1070 failed on a 6-7 vote.

Chaplains and safety testing: new bills in House Education

Week 10 at the Legislature is winding down — but the House Education Committee is still cranking out new bills.

Here’s the rundown from two brief print hearings.

School chaplains. Sen. Benjamin Toews, R-Coeur d’Alene, and Rep. Dale Hawkins, R-Fernwood, are proposing a bill to allow volunteer or paid chaplains in schools. It would be up to local schools to decide whether to bring in chaplains.

“With the reality of our nation’s mental health epidemic, we all stand to benefit from peacemakers, motivators and community builders,” the bill’s statement of purpose reads, in part. “This is especially true in schools, which can be difficult, high-pressure environments for students and teachers alike.”

House Education introduced the bill, with one on-the-fly change. The committee struck out language that would have set a March 1 deadline for schools to decide whether to allow a chaplain.

Safety testing. Rep. Monica Church’s bill would require schools to conduct more proactive tests for radon, lead and black mold.

Schools routinely run tests when radon, lead and mold are found, said Church, a Boise Democrat who teaches in the Boise School District. Church’s bill would mandate proactive tests under specific conditions.

For example, lead testing would be required in a school built before 1978, schools with lead pipes, or other conditions that could be a sign of lead contamination.

Schools would be required to report safety hazards to parents and guardians, or face fines of up to $5,000 and $1,000 per day.

Both bills could be brought back to House Education for a full hearing at a later date. But both bills are racing against time, as legislative leaders hope to adjourn the 2025 session in the next couple of weeks.

Senate OKs funding for rural teacher incentives

A bill funding rural teacher incentives is headed to Gov. Brad Little.

House Bill 332, a State Board of Education “special programs budget,” comes in at $1.4 million. Nearly all of that money would go into an incentive program designed to encourage teachers to move to or stay in rural schools.

Discussion was limited. Without offering specifics, Sen. Christy Zito, R-Mountain Home, said items in the budget fell outside the proper role of government. “(This) is a good candidate for Idaho DOGE,” she said.

The Senate passed the bill 27-8. The House has already passed it.

Rural facilities fund heads to full Senate

A bill that would create a new revolving fund targeting rural school facilities is nearing its final hurdle. 

After no debate Thursday, the Senate Education Committee unanimously voted to send House Bill 338 to the full Senate. The House unanimously approved the bill. 

If approved, it would increase the “school facilities cooperative fund” from $25.5 million to $50.5 million and remove oversight requirements for districts seeking up to $5 million in gap financing for a construction project.