Lobbying groups spent more than $784,000 during this year’s legislative session, and some of the top spenders focused on education policy, including private school choice. 

Last week marked the deadline for lobbyists to file March disclosures with the Idaho Secretary of State’s Office, closing out the three-month filing period that covered the bulk of the session, which ended April 2. Lobbyists must disclose their expenses along with the legislation that they supported or opposed. 

For the third time in four years, Idaho’s top-spending lobbying group was the American Federation for Children (AFC), a Washington, D.C.-based advocate for private school choice. 

AFC lobbyists reported spending $142,582 in Idaho so far this year, bringing the group’s total reported spending to $734,126 over the last four years. AFC was also the top spender in 2023 and 2024. It ranked third last year, behind the Modern Ag Alliance and the Citizens Alliance of Idaho. 

In 2026, the group’s spending mostly paid for mailers benefitting several lawmakers who supported House Bill 93 and are running for reelection this year. Idaho’s first private school choice program, HB 93 created a refundable tax credit that nonpublic school students can claim for education expenses, including private school tuition. 

“AFC is focused on advancing school choice and standing behind parents in Idaho to ensure they can fully benefit from the Idaho Parental Choice Tax Credit,” Bill Phillips, AFC’s national director of government affairs, said by email. “This includes working with state legislators to pass and improve good policies as well as thanking members who stood behind the families who needed these options the most.”

AFC spent $26,705 on mailers supporting Rep. Chris Bruce, R-Kuna, plus another $10,981 for Sen. Christy Zito, R-Mountain Home, a member of the Senate Education Committee. Other beneficiaries included:

• Sen. C. Scott Grow, R-Eagle, who co-sponsored HB 93 
• Rep. Judy Boyle, R-Midvale
• Rep. Elaine Price, R-Coeur d’Alene 
• Rep. Barbara Ehardt, R-Idaho Falls
• Rep. John Shirts, R-Weiser 
• Sen. Josh Keyser, R-Meridian 
• Sen. Camille Blaylock, R-Caldwell
• Rep. Charlie Shepherd, R-Pollock 
• Rep. Tanya Burgoyne, R-Pocatello
• Rep. Vito Barbieri, R-Dalton Gardens  

AFC’s registered lobbyists include Phillips and Jeremy Chou, a partner at Boise law firm Givens Pursley. Chou represented the Legislature in a challenge to HB 93’s Parental Choice Tax Credit at the Idaho Supreme Court earlier this year. The court upheld the tax credit program.

Phillips declined to say how AFC is funded. The group was founded by billionaire Betsy DeVos, education secretary during President Donald Trump’s first administration. SourceWatch, an online encyclopedia of political organizations managed by the Center for Media and Democracy, refers to AFC as a “dark money group that promotes the school privatization agenda.” 

Overall, lobbyists spent $784,641 during this year’s legislative session, according to the Secretary of State’s Office. 

While AFC continues to focus on Idaho, other out-of-state school choice groups have backed off since lawmakers passed HB 93. Young Americans for Liberty, which spent $141,181 last year, reported just $157 in lobbying expenditures this year. Yes.Every.Kid, which spent $171,304 last year, hasn’t disclosed any lobbying expenditures this year.  

Still, the top 15 spenders in 2026 include several groups that lobby on education issues, such as the Idaho Family Policy Center and Idaho School Boards Association. 

The third-highest spender was the Freedom Foundation, an advocacy group that opposes unions. The Olympia, Washington-based group is not affiliated with the Idaho Freedom Foundation. 

The Freedom Foundation’s 2024 report on Idaho teachers’ unions inspired House Bill 516, which the Legislature passed and Gov. Brad Little signed into law earlier this month. The new law prohibits school districts from using taxpayer resources to accommodate unions. The Idaho Education Association last weekend issued a “vote of no confidence” in Little for signing the bill. 

The Freedom Foundation reported spending $30,819 this session, including $19,798 on phone campaigns and $10,000 on social media. The expenses went toward “grassroots advertising efforts,” said Maxford Nelsen, director of research and government affairs for the Freedom Foundation. 

One phone campaign, which cost $15,000, urged people to call the governor’s office and ask that Little sign HB 516, Nelsen said. Idaho Education News previously reported that Little’s office received 1,592 e-mails and calls urging him to sign the bill, and 1,007 emails and calls urging a veto.

The other phone campaign, which cost $4,798, organized calls to Sen. Dan Foreman, urging him to support an earlier version of the bill, House Bill 745, Nelsen said. Foreman, R-Moscow, had held HB 745 in the committee that he chairs, declining to give it a hearing and blocking it from advancing to the Senate floor. But late in the session, senators inserted language from HB 745 into another bill, which bypassed Foreman’s committee through a controversial process known as “radiator capping.”

Asked how the Freedom Foundation is funded, Nelsen said that the 35-year-old nonprofit organization “relies exclusively on the generous support of thousands of voluntary contributors from around the country, including in Idaho.” Nelsen said supporters “believe in our mission of promoting individual liberty, free enterprise and limited, accountable government.”