UPDATE, 5:30 p.m. Thursday: Correcting an explanation of Idaho’s constitutional provision on compulsory attendance — which says the state may require public school attendance, unless education is provided by other means — and clarifying that a proposed constitutional amendment protecting non-public schoolers from government regulation may not exempt them from requirements tied to public funds.

The Senate has removed public school perks — including tens of millions in special education funding — from a bill that would direct taxpayer money to private schooling. 

Senate Bill 1025 would increase state spending on the Empowering Parents microgrant program from $30 million to $50 million annually, and it would add private school tuition as an eligible expense. 

The original bill included two carrots for public schools: $30 million to help address an $80 million special education funding shortfall along with a significant cut in public school reporting requirements. The Senate removed both public school perks during a floor session Thursday. 

Sponsoring Sen. Dave Lent told Idaho Education News Wednesday that the amendments “slimmed down” the bill and focused it on two things.

“One is providing tax dollars to private schools, and the other one is setting the minimum threshold of accountability associated with that,” said Lent, R-Idaho Falls. 

The changes come after SB 1025 narrowly cleared the Senate Education Committee last week — thanks to a swing vote from Sen. Carrie Semmelroth, a Democrat from Boise.

Semmelroth, strategic initiatives project director for Boise State University’s College of Education, previously told Idaho Education News that the special education funds helped sway her decision to split from the Democratic caucus and support advancing a private school choice bill. 

On Thursday, Semmelroth said she doesn’t regret her committee vote. Gov. Brad Little’s $50 million promise for a private school choice program “told us we have to do this,” she said, and “I supported having that bill on the table.”

A competing private school choice bill — House Bill 93 — is also awaiting a vote by the full Senate. The refundable tax credit proposal has fewer requirements for participating private schools than SB 1025. 

“As a policymaker, my responsibility is to thoughtfully and meaningfully engage in these conversations,” Semmelroth said. “If I’m being forced to make choices, I’m going to do my best…to ensure that we’re weighing policy options that meet the needs of all of Idaho.”

Thursday’s amendments made a few changes to requirements for private schools benefitting from Empowering Parents funds, including: 

• Accreditation. The new bill specifies that only secondary private schools would have to be accredited to participate in the program. Elementary schools, on the other hand, would have to maintain student learning portfolios. 
• Disability accommodations. The amendments also loosened standards for accommodating students with disabilities. The initial requirement that private schools adhere to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act — a federal law that directs schools to provide “appropriate” education to students with special needs — was removed. The new bill requires that private schools respect “requests for reasonable accommodations.” 
• Home-school definition. The updated bill no longer includes a definition of home-school students. Home-schoolers would still be eligible for the funds, but the classification would remain undefined in the state law enacting the Empowering Parents program. 

The updated legislation also bars private schools receiving Empowering Parents funds from religion-, disability- and race-based discrimination in admissions and enrollment decisions. It does not bar discrimination based on gender or sexuality. 

SB 1025 also continues to require standardized testing for participating private schools. 

The Senate moved the amended bill to the second reading calendar, which means it could come up for a vote as soon as Friday.

Committee clears constitutional amendment shielding non-public school from regulation 

The House State Affairs Committee on Thursday advanced a constitutional amendment that would remove Idaho’s compulsory education provision and shield non-public schooling from government regulation. 

The Idaho Constitution currently allows the state to require public school attendance between ages 6 and 18, unless alternate education is provided, such as private school or home-school. House Joint Resolution 1 would repeal this provision and replace it with a new provision guaranteeing the right to privately educate children “without government regulation.” 

“We are just recognizing the natural right,” said sponsoring Rep. Dale Hawkins, R-Fernwood. “We’re not granting anything to parents they don’t already have. We’re not granting anything to parents that we haven’t put in code.”

Committee questions centered on whether the amendment would give parents the right to not educate their children. It wouldn’t, according to Hawkins and former Sen. Scott Herndon, a Republican from Sagle, who last year sponsored a similar proposal. 

The full text of the proposed amendment is: “The right of the people to educate their children without government regulation outside of the public schools of the state shall not be infringed.”

Herndon compared the language to the Second Amendment, which says the right to keep and bear arms “shall not be infringed.” Guns are still regulated when the government has a “compelling interest,” Herndon said. Similarly, the state could continue to require education for Idaho children. 

“There’s a fine balance that I think is achieved here between the right of parents…and the compelling interest of the state to see children educated,” Herndon said. “…There remains no opportunity to not educate your kid.”

Rep. Todd Achilles wasn’t convinced. Idaho law doesn’t currently require attendance in a public school, he noted. Tens of thousands of Idaho children attend private school or learn at home. 

“We’re opening the door for irresponsible parents to not educate their kids,” said Achilles, D-Boise. 

Before the Senate held it last year, Herndon’s proposal was amended to say that private schoolers and home-schoolers “shall not be entitled to public funds to support” their education. This year’s HJR 1 does not include similar language.

Herndon told EdNews Thursday that the current proposal wouldn’t exempt non-public school students from requirements tied to public funds as proposed in House Bill 93 and Senate Bill 1025 — two private school choice bills moving through the Statehouse.

The constitutional provision would apply to parents educating their children “outside of the public schools, which implies they’re not partaking of any government program,” Herndon said. The U.S. Supreme Court has held that “any government program can have regulations that people must comply with,” he said. “It doesn’t matter what the Constitution says.”

HJR 1 now heads to the full House. Constitutional amendments require approval from two-thirds of the House, two-thirds of the Senate and a majority of Idaho voters.

Funding formula reboot heads to Senate floor

The Senate Education Committee took a big step towards addressing an old issue: reworking Idaho’s 30-year-old school funding formula.

Voting unanimously, the committee endorsed Senate Bill 1096, which would shift more than $430 million into a weighted student funding formula.

The move wouldn’t affect the entire K-12 budget — just the “discretionary” funding that accounts for 13% of the budget. But it would mean schools would receive more money to teach special education students, English language learners, students from low-income households, alternative school students and gifted and talented students. Small school districts would also receive weighted funding.

After years of new funding initiatives — from the teacher salary career ladder to the 2024 school facilities law — state superintendent Debbie Critchfield said the new formula represents the next step.

“There is nothing in the budget specifically that addresses the needs of students,” she said. “What this bill does is account for the students.”

Thursday’s committee vote was a first step. Senate Bill 1096 will still need to pass the Senate and get through the House. But the significance of Thursday’s vote wasn’t lost on supporters. Speakers from a variety of education stakeholder groups noted that they have spent years haggling over funding formula changes, to no avail.

“School funding has been debated for several decades,” said Andy Grover of the Idaho Association of School Administrators. “Senate Bill 1096 begins that transition.”

Like earlier attempts to rewrite the formula, SB 1096 will create winners and losers. Some districts and charters would get more money, while others would get less. The bill contains a “hold-harmless” clause; for the first two years, districts and charters would get at least as much as they now receive in discretionary dollars.

Fearing the long-range forecast, Cambridge school Superintendent Anthony Butler spoke against the bill. After the two-year rollout, he said his rural district would face a steep dropoff in discretionary dollars: $70,000 from a $310,000 line item.

SB 1096’s sponsor, Sen. Jim Woodward, said he was sensitive to this issue — especially since a school district in his North Idaho legislative district would absorb a loss. A followup spending bill would add $21 million in discretionary funding, in order to ease the transition, said Woodward, R-Sagle.

But following Thursday’s vote, Woodward said the time has come to make a transition. “We think it’s the right answer going forward.”

Also in Senate Ed: Literacy training, community college tuition

The Senate Education Committee approved a pair of other bills Thursday afternoon — also on unanimous votes.

Literacy training. The committee approved Senate Bill 1069, designed to expand literacy training for K-3 teachers and administrators across the state.

The bill would put all K-3 teachers on a three-year training cycle, at an annual cost of $5 million.

State superintendent Debbie Critchfield said the money would allow her department to go statewide with a coaching program that some schools have already offered, with universal success. “Their reading scores go up, period.”

About 600 teachers have already received the training, she said.

SB 1069 now goes to the Senate floor.

Community college tuition. Senate Education quickly passed House Bill 79, which would allow community colleges to charge up to $3,250 in tuition. The current cap is $2,500, which hasn’t changed since 2008. This House-passed bill now goes to the full Senate.

Three and counting: Another cellphone bill introduced

A third bill on school cellphone policies surfaced Thursday.

The House Education Committee introduced the latest bill, and Chairman Rep. Doug Pickett, R-Oakley, pledged to bring it back for a full hearing at a later date.

House Majority Caucus Chair Jaron Crane, R-Nampa, said he modeled his bill after similar legislation from South Carolina.

At a glance, Crane’s bill appears to be more restrictive than a bill from Sen. Treg Bernt, R-Meridian, which the Senate unanimously passed earlier this week.

Crane’s bill would require school boards to adopt cellphone policies by Aug, 1; the Bernt bill has a Dec. 31 deadline.

And while Bernt’s bill doesn’t say what a local policy should look like, Crane’s bill does. “At a minimum, such policy shall prohibit the use of wireless electronic communication devices in classrooms during periods of academic instruction.”

A third cellphone bill — co-sponsored by Reps. Chris Mathias, D-Boise, and Wendy Horman, R-Idaho Falls — would provide school districts a $1,500 grant to establish a policy.

During brief committee discussion, Crane said he hadn’t read the competing bills.

A couple of lawmakers pushed back against Crane’s bill. Holding his work laptop aloft, Rep. Lance Clow pointed out that he didn’t have to use a smartphone to get texts, since the messages also show up on his computer.

“I don’t see how this (bill) can work,” said Clow, R-Twin Falls.

Advanced Opportunities tweaks head to House floor

The House Education Committee signed off on tweaks to the Advanced Opportunities program.

House Bill 175 would allow homeschool students to take dual-credit courses through community colleges, rather than through their local school district. Students would also be able to use their $4,625 Advanced Opportunities money to take college entrance exams more than once.

The bill, sponsored by Rep. Wendy Horman, R-Idaho Falls, now goes to the House floor.