A private school choice tax credit bill is one step closer to passing after a committee advanced it to the full Senate Wednesday.
The Senate Local Government and Taxation Committee gave a green light to House Bill 93. The legislation would create a refundable tax credit worth up to $5,000 — or $7,500 for students with special needs — covering tuition and other private education expenses.
The committee voted 6-3 in favor of the bill. It’s co-sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Lori Den Hartog, R-Meridian; Rep. Wendy Horman, R-Idaho Falls; House Majority Leader Jason Monks, R-Meridian; and Sen. C. Scott Grow, R-Eagle.
The sponsors made one change since the bill passed the House Friday and opponents raised concerns about whether the Idaho State Tax Commission has the capacity to administer the $50 million program.
Den Hartog said she updated the bill’s fiscal note to call for eight employees at a cost of $130,800. Three employees would be full-time and five would work part-time to process tax credit applications during the busy tax season. A previous version of the bill called for just two full-time employees.
The cost of two full-time employees would be covered by existing vacancies at the Tax Commission, according to the fiscal note.
Grow touted the tax credit program’s “minimal administrative costs” after recalling a previous private school choice bill that required $5 million to operate. He also said that private school families “have been subsidizing our public school system,” and “it seems fair to me that we return some of the tax money that they’ve been paying.”
The Senate committee heard more than an hour of public comment Wednesday. Just one Republican — Sen. Treg Bernt of Meridian — opposed advancing the bill. Three other GOP members praised the bill sponsors for their effort but stopped short of endorsing it. Still, the full Senate should have an opportunity to weigh in, said Sens. Ben Adams of Nampa, Doug Ricks of Rexburg and Kelly Anthon of Burley.
“We need to have a full debate with the full Senate,” said Anthon, who serves as Senate president pro tem. “This piece of legislation is worthy of that.”
Bernt, meanwhile, balked at exclusive admission policies in private schools. Private schools benefiting from public funds could continue to deny enrollment to applicants based on religion or other characteristics.
“I know people, first hand, who have tried to enroll in private schools and who have been denied because of their religious affiliation,” said Bernt after noting that he’s “not anti-school choice.”
He joined the committee’s two Democrats — Sens. Ali Rabe of Boise, and Ron Taylor of Hailey — in opposition. The Democratic caucus, which includes minority party lawmakers from the Senate and House, released a statement Wednesday called the tax credit proposal a “budget-busting voucher scheme” pushed by “out-of-state special interests.”
“If you don’t choose to drive on public roads, you don’t get a tax credit. If you choose to hire private security instead of calling the police or fire department, you don’t get a tax credit,” the statement read. “We pool our resources to fund public education, just like we do to ensure we have safe roads and communities.”
The bill now heads to the Senate floor, where a competing private school choice bill, Senate Bill 1025, is awaiting amendments. The full Senate has yet to vote on the latter.
Bill targeting public benefits for teachers’ unions clears House
Last year’s GOP primary election loomed over the House Wednesday when a close vote advanced a bill that targets public resources benefitting teachers’ unions.
House Bill 98 would bar public school districts from giving union presidents paid leave for their duties. It would also prohibit teachers’ union members from paying their union dues through an automated payroll dedication system.
The House approved the bill by six votes — after six Republicans who helped defeat a similar bill last year lost their primary election bids in 2024.
Wednesday’s reversal followed a testy debate. Supporters argued that the bill would block taxpayer funds from benefitting teachers’ union activities.
“Many of us didn’t realize that this was being done, and that the teachers’ union was getting a free ride for many, many years while the districts were paying for things,” said sponsoring Rep. Judy Boyle, R-Midvale.
Rep. Lori McCann countered that it was “disingenuous” to say that taxpayer dollars are being spent when teachers “check a box” in a payroll system electing to deduct union dues from their paychecks.
“That is their money,” said McCann, R-Lewiston. “…If we get over our skis on this, we could find that we are possibly discriminating against the teachers who say they want to put their dollars to their union.”
McCann drew objections when she said the bill came from out of state, referring to the Freedom Foundation, the Washington-based, anti-union think tank that helped craft the legislation.
Twenty Republicans opposed the bill, along with the House’s nine Democrats. Rep. Soñia Galaviz, D-Boise, a public school teacher and member of the Boise Education Association, said the bill unfairly targets teachers while exempting other public-sector unions.
“If there’s a concern that taxpayer funds are being used for union-related activity, it is curious that other public-sector unions were exempt in this legislation,” Galaviz said during Wednesday’s debate.
The Professional Fire Fighters of Idaho and the Idaho State AFL-CIO opposed HB 98 during a public hearing Monday.
Forty House Republicans supported it, however. Rep. Rob Beiswenger, R-Horseshoe Bend, said the bill “respects the rights” of taxpayers and teachers, whether they want to join a union or not. “Back in the days when unions started, it was considered unthinkable…that public-sector employees would be unionized at all.”
HB 98 now heads to the Senate.
Bill mandating ‘early fetal development’ videos moves forward — barely
A bill that would require schools to show “early fetal development” videos survived a razor-thin vote Wednesday.
On a 5-4 vote, the Senate Education Committee sent Senate Bill 1046 to the floor for amendment — an outcome that keeps the bill alive.
The vote came after some pointed committee debate, and the sharply divided public testimony.
Sponsored by Sen. Tammy Nichols, R-Middleton, SB 1046 would require schools to show the fetal development videos to fifth- through 12th-graders, if schools also discuss human biology, contraception or sexually transmitted diseases. She said one of the goals is to make students think about abortion alternatives — by showing them how the fetus grows in the womb.
“There’s only one way a baby develops,” she said. “These are your basics. We don’t grow them out of a garden.”
The bill would require schools to show a “high-definition ultrasound video, at least three minutes in duration.” It doesn’t specify the video, but Nichols played one example for the committee — a three-minute, 14-second video from Live Action, a Virginia-based anti-abortion nonprofit.
The video asserts that life begins at conception.
“I know there is no consensus … about where life begins,” said Sen. Janie Ward-Engelking, D-Boise, a retired teacher who opposed the bill. “And yet that is where this video starts.”
Public testimony also focused on the Live Action video.
Terri Marcroft of Unplanned Good, a Boise group supporting adoption rights, said she has shared the video with state superintendent Debbie Critchfield and the Idaho Department of Education, although Critchfield and the department did not testify on the bill. Marcroft supports the bill — and the template video. “It makes sense to bring these images into the classroom.”
Mistie DelliCarpini-Tolman, state director for Planned Parenthood, said the video was rife with inaccuracies and politically charged wording, SB 1046, she said, provides a platform for “disinformation from anti-science special interest groups.”
The committee debate honed in on one paragraph in the bill, which would direct the attorney general to “compel” a school district or charter school to comply with SB 1046.
“It seems like we’re being very heavy-handed there,” said committee Chairman Dave Lent, R-Idaho Falls.
Nichols said she was willing to remove this section from the bill.
The bill now goes to the floor for amendment — but any senator can propose any change to it.
Other action from Senate Education
Working through a full agenda, the Senate Education Committee sent three other bills to the floor Wednesday.
Flags in the classroom. The committee also wants the Senate to amend House Bill 41, which would ban the display of flags or banners “regarding a political party, race, sexual 34 orientation, gender, or a political ideology.” Committee members said they wanted more detailed definitions in the House-passed bill, sponsored by Rep. Ted Hill, R-Eagle.
Bullying reports. The committee unanimously approved House Bill 44, which requires schools to report “incidents of harassment, intimidation, and bullying” that result in a suspension. The bill would require schools to deliver reports to the parents of the bullying incident, and the perpertrator’s parents. The House-passed bill, sponsored by Rep. Chris Mathias, D-Boise, goes to the Senate floor for a vote.
Cursive handwriting. The committee also passed Senate Bill 1044, which would augment Idaho’s cursive handwriting requirement. Fifth-graders would be required to meet proficiency benchmarks. Sen. Tammy Nichols, R-Middleton, is sponsoring the bill, which now goes to the Senate floor.
Mask mandate ban clears Senate committee
A bill to ban mask mandates is headed to the Senate floor.
The Senate State Affairs Committee passed House Bill 32 Wednesday morning, with its sponsor saying Idahoans should be protected from government mandates during any future health emergencies.
“This is a path that Idaho should never have to go down again,” said Sen. Brian Lenney, R-Nampa.
The bill applies to all government entities, including K-12 schools and colleges and universities. It would ban any mandated masking “for the purpose of preventing or slowing the spread of a contagious or infectious disease.”
Supporters of the bill singled out the effects of masking, with Lenney saying the schools’ policies “did major damage” to children’s development.
“The saddest thing I saw was children being masked up … for no reason at all,” said Sen. Ben Toews, R-Coeur d’Alene.
Chairman Sen. Jim Guthrie, R-McCammon, voted against the bill. Guthrie said he hated wearing masks during the COVID-19 pandemic, but said the bill usurped local governments.
The committee’s lone Democrat said HB 32 supporters were forgetting the tradeoffs of the pandemic.
“These things are complicated,” said Sen. James Ruchti of Pocatello. “I just hope we aren’t learning the wrong lessons. I fear that we are.”
If the full Senate passes HB 32, the House-passed proposal will go to Gov. Brad Little’s desk.
Bipartisan bill would incentivize school cellphone restrictions
A new bipartisan bill would incentivize public school districts to adopt cellphone restrictions.
Sponsored by Reps. Chris Mathias, D-Boise, and Wendy Horman, R-Idaho Falls, the legislation would offer districts $1,500 grants to implement “evidence-based policies that promote distraction-free learning.”
“Extensive scientific research has identified mobile devices as detrimental to students’ learning,” says the bill’s statement of purpose.
The bill joins a trend of state policymakers moving to restrict cellphones in schools. On Monday, the Senate unanimously voted to approve a bill directing public school districts to adopt local cellphone policies. And Gov. Brad Little last year signed an executive order offering districts $5,000 to adopt such a policy by the end of the 2024-25 school year.
The House Education Committee voted to introduce the new bill Wednesday setting the stage for a future public hearing.
