A bill to recharge a rural school facilities fund is heading to the House. 

The House Education Committee Monday unanimously advanced House Bill 338. The bipartisan legislation attempts to spark a dormant facilities fund that could offer gap financing for school construction projects. 

The Salmon School District is again serving as a poster child — as it did a year ago, when lawmakers passed a $1.5 billion facilities funding bill. Salmon voters in May approved a $20 million bond for a new school building while a group of volunteers led a fundraising effort for the remaining $9 million balance. 

Breann Green, a leading member of the volunteer Salmon School Needs Assessment Committee, told lawmakers Monday that the fundraising effort has come up about $3 million short. The committee supports HB 338. “It will be a tool that we may use to finish our school.”

HB 338 would increase the “school facilities cooperative fund” from $25.5 million to $50.5 million, and the bill would remove an existing requirement that recipients surrender to state supervision for the duration of a construction project — if they ask for $5 million or less. 

Districts would be obligated to repay the cooperative fund over 20 years, but it could serve as a grant fund rather than a loan fund in some cases, said Rep. Rod Furniss, a co-sponsor of the bill. The cooperative fund repayment mechanism would be part of a cascading list of uses for annual property tax relief funding that goes to a school district. 

The list became law two years ago, when House Bill 292 divided more than $100 million between districts to help pay down bonds and levies. Districts must first use the money to pay down bonds, then supplemental levies and plant facilities levies. 

Repayments to the cooperative fund would come after bonds in the HB 292 priority list, so districts with a bond wouldn’t have to make cooperative fund payments until their bonds are paid off. Cooperative fund payments would be forgiven every year that a district has a bond on the books. 

Furniss, R-Rigby, used Salmon as an example to explain the process. The district has a 10-year bond, which means it wouldn’t have to make payments on the cooperative fund until year 11. In other words, about half of the cooperative funds would be forgiven.

Bill to give legislators control over immunization guidelines heads to House

With no discussion, a House committee endorsed a bill to give legislators direct say over immunization guidelines.

Rep. Dori Healey, R-Boise, described her House Bill 290 as “just a simple cleanup.” But it ties into a recurring debate this session, over the roles of state agencies and the Legislature.

The immunization guidelines, which list the state’s recommended vaccinations, now reside in administrative rule. That means the Department of Health and Welfare can change the guidelines, at least on a temporary basis, without the Legislature’s input.

HB 290 would move all the guidelines into state code. And this would allow the Legislature to change them by passing a law.

“We will be back in control,” Healey told the House Health and Welfare Committee.

The committee sent the bill to the House floor, with the recommendation that it pass.

HB 290 is among a spate of bills that would move administrative rules into state law. On Thursday, the House Education Committee endorsed a bill that would move all high school graduation requirements into state law.

House quickly passes a base budget for higher ed

The House made quick work of a $1.1 billion budget bill that would provide base funding for Idaho’s two- and four-year colleges and universities.

House Bill 341 is one of 10 “maintenance” budget bills that provide ongoing money for state agencies. HB 341 covers a host of agencies under the State Board of Education’s umbrella. However, nearly $800 million of this money would go to higher education.

With no debate, HB 341 passed on a 65-1 vote. Rep. Steve Berch, D-Boise, a steadfast opponent of the maintenance budget process, cast the sole dissenting vote.

The maintenance budget now goes to the Senate.

But this probably won’t be the last higher education budget bill this year. Any new spending requests would appear in an “enhancement” bill that would also have to go through both houses.

House passes sex-ed ‘opt-in’ bill

The House passed the latest version of a sex education “opt-in” bill.

Idaho Falls Republican Rep. Barbara Ehardt described her House Bill 239 as a matter of local control — a “parental rights bill.” And she emphasized that the bill would not affect sex ed, and curriculums adopted at the local level.

As it stands, parents have the right to opt their children out of sex education classes. Ehardt called this a flawed approach, since it hinges on students providing their parents with paperwork from the school.

Two Boise Democrats argued that Ehardt’s approach would be worse.

In the West Ada School District, about 2% of students opt out of sex ed, Rep. Steve Berch said. The opt-in approach would cause sex ed enrollment rates to “plummet,” and this will lead to increased pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases.

“This is not a parental rights issue,” he said. “That right already exists.”

The bill requires an opt-in for any subject matter “that addresses human sexuality.” Rep.  Monica Church, a Boise teacher, said this wording could take in a broad range of classes. “This is an administrative nightmare.”

In closing debate, Ehardt challenged this claim. “How much sex are they planning to teach?”

With Monday’s 58-12 vote, the bill heads to the Senate, where similar bills have stalled in past sessions. Ehardt has been pushing for opt-in legislation since 2019.

Title IX bill heads to Senate floor

With little discussion, the Senate State Affairs Committee signed off on a Title IX governance bill.

House Bill 141 would require Title IX officers to report directly to college and university presidents.

The bill doesn’t address recent controversies over Title IX, the 1972 federal law that bans discrimination on the basis of sex, said the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Douglas Pickett, R-Oakley. The bill only addresses Title IX office governance.

The committee passed the bill unanimously, but Sen. James Ruchti, D-Pocatello, voiced concerns. He said he hoped the Legislature wasn’t establishing a precedent of injecting itself into university operations.

HB 141 now goes to the Senate floor. The House has already passed it unanimously.

House Ed introduces bills on school spending, gender identity

The House Education Committee introduced four new bills Monday. The bills likely will return for a future public hearing. 

The new proposals covered: 

Binding allocations for schools

Rep. Kyle Harris introduced a bill that would bar public schools from spending state funds on expenses other than the purpose identified in a state appropriation. 

“This would basically state … that the money has to be used for what it was intended for in its language when it was introduced,” said Harris, R-Lewiston. “So math and science money would go to math and science and nothing else.”

The “binding allocations” language would require districts to reimburse the state for misusing funds. If they fail to reimburse the state, their annual state allocation would be deducted the following year. 

Rep. Jack Nelsen said he liked the concept but school districts would bear the added cost of “fine-tooth accounting” and may have to hire additional staff “to keep track of something this in depth.”  

“We have to have a little bit of respect and faith in our local school board,” said Nelsen, R-Jerome. 

Gender identity, sexual orientation

Rep. Dale Hawkins introduced two new bills that would divide and replace House Bill 292.

One bill would bar public schools from teaching about sexual orientation or gender identity. HB 292 prohibited this instruction for K-3 students but the new bill would extend it to K-12 students. 

Hawkins, R-Fernwood, said the change was prompted by public feedback. “A lot of people seem to be upset that we were just stopping at the third grade.” 

Rep. Monica Church, D-Boise, asked whether the bill would bar schools from teaching about Harvey Milk and his assassination. A gay rights activist and member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in the 1970s, Milk was one of the first openly gay men elected to public office in the United States. 

Hawkins responded, “I am completely unaware of the issue that you’ve raised as far as this other individual. This is dealing with instruction to students from their educators on these two subjects.”

The other bill would direct public schools to post supplemental curricular materials, textbooks and course syllabi online. Hawkins said it would require posting lists of materials but not entire texts. 

“They only need to inform what is being taught.”

Cyberbullying discipline

Rep. Jordan Redman’s bill would codify disciplinary actions for students that cyberbully teachers and other school employees. 

Redman, R-Coeur d’Alene, said teachers in his district suggested the bill. It’s meant to address “major concerns about the increasing number of inappropriate online behaviors by students with online posts that are obscene, discriminatory and harmful to a teacher’s reputation,” he said. 

The bill would direct school boards to investigate instances of online harassment, threats or bullying by a student, then meet with the parents and impose “appropriate and proportional disciplinary measures.” 

Committee members questioned whether the proposal would infringe on First Amendment rights. Harris noted that the bill not only names school employees as potential targets of cyberbullying but also “other persons.” 

“That’s kind of where it gets muddied up,” Harris said. “I have some concerns.”

Senate rejects bill on bullying reporting

For the second consecutive year, the Legislature rejected a proposal to beef-up reporting on school bullying. 

The Senate on Monday voted down House Bill 44.

The proposal — co-sponsored by Boise Democrats Rep. Chris Mathias and Sen. Janie Ward-Engelking — would have required that school districts notify parents of harassment, intimidation, and bullying instances resulting in a suspension. 

“Parents need to know” about bullying at school, Ward-Engelking said. “They need to know if their child has been bullied, but they also need to know if their child was the bully.”

After a short debate, the bill died on a 13-21 vote. The House previously approved it by a 43-26 tally. 

Sen. Christy Zito was the only senator to debate against HB 44 Monday. Zito, R-Hammett, said she wasn’t comfortable with one provision requiring reporting to law enforcement. 

“That’s saying that there has to be a report, even if we don’t know for sure if the incident broke the law.” 

Ward-Engelking responded that the provision requires reporting to law enforcement only if the bullying incident “may violate any criminal law.” 

“I think it is flexible there…We may not know for sure, and that’s why the (school resource officer) needs to be involved.”

Last year, the House rejected a similar proposal sponsored by Mathias.

PragerU resolution tabled

Without much explanation, Sen. Tammy Nichols tabled her PragerU resolution Monday.

Senate Concurrent Resolution 108 would pledge the Legislature’s support for the conservative curriculum that state superintendent Debbie Critchfield made available to public schools in October. Idaho tribal leaders and educators have called on Critchfield to reconsider her endorsement of the curriculum. 

The Senate Education Committee previously advanced the resolution to the full Senate, but committee chairman Sen. Dave Lent, R-Idaho Falls, later pulled it back for a hearing

“We have some other things that we’re going to deal with on this,” said Nichols, R-Middleton, before moving to table the resolution Monday. 

The committee unanimously voted to hold the resolution “subject to call of the chair,” meaning Lent could bring it back up for a hearing and vote.