The Idaho Legislature will probably have a say on a new, federally funded private school choice program.

But on Wednesday, members of a House-Senate committee dropped no hints about whether they want to opt into the federal program.

The Legislature’s Committee on Federalism spent part of a daylong meeting drilling into the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, the far-reaching tax and policy bill President Donald Trump signed into law on July 4.

Among the sweeping education changes is a tax credit that could support private schools. Donors will be able to collect a $1,700 tax credit for contributions to nonprofit “scholarship granting organizations,” or SGOs. Parents would then receive scholarships from these nonprofits, and use the money for private or public education or tutoring.

But there is a catch, and this is where states play a “pretty important role,” said Austin Reid, a federal affairs adviser with the Denver-based National Conference of State Legislatures. States will have to opt in to the federal scholarship program — and Republican-led states are more likely to take up the Trump administration’s offer.

Opt-in bills are already in the works in Illinois, Pennsylvania and North Carolina, Reid said. But that’s an early, incomplete snapshot.

Few state legislatures meet year-round, and most are out of session for 2025. The Idaho Legislature isn’t scheduled to reconvene until January; Wednesday’s federalism committee meeting was just a fact-finding session, with lawmakers taking no action.

In other words, it will be months before it’s clear how many states are interested in opting into the feds’ private school choice program.

Governors will be able to opt in on their state’s behalf, and the federal law appears to give legislatures the authority to pass an opt-in law, Reid said.

But opting in could be a two-step process, Rep. Wendy Horman, R-Idaho Falls, said during a break in Wednesday’s hearing.

First, Idaho would have to pass legislation creating an SGO — since states opting into the program will need to provide the feds a list of eligible SGOs. Lawmakers have debated creating an Idaho SGO in past sessions, but no such bill has passed.

After that, Idaho would then have to decide whether to opt in to the federal tax credit program.

This year, the Legislature passed Idaho’s first private school choice law, a $50 million tax credit program. Beginning in January, Idahoans can apply for credits covering private school expenses; the benefits cap at $5,000 per student or $7,500 per special-needs student.

The Idaho program would not be directly related to a federal scholarship tax credit.