Nearly half of processed applicants for Idaho’s Parental Choice Tax Credit come from low-income and working-class households, a figure that exceeds that of Idaho’s general population. School choice opponents’ dominant claim about who benefits from school choice is crumbling in the face of hard data.

Idaho’s early results directly challenge the long-standing claim that school choice programs primarily benefit wealthy families already attending private schools. The truth on the ground is that the program is expanding access for Idaho families who were either priced out of a nonpublic school option or were already sacrificing deeply to secure one.

With their primary argument now moot, anti-school choice activists are moving the goalposts. The Idaho State Tax Commission is currently processing applications and preparing the legally required reports.  While acknowledging this process is underway, critics requested additional data from the agency, some not required by law, and then proceeded to complain that the additional data has not yet been released.

Instead of focusing on the positive impact the published data already demonstrates for Idaho families, critics are attempting to manufacture controversy around claims that are not supported by the facts. The conversation should center on the real students and parents benefiting from expanded educational opportunity, not on creating political narratives out of information the law does not require the commission to produce.

Despite doomsaying pundits pushing a narrative that the PCTC would leave behind families of modest means, lower-income and working-class Idaho families are participating in this school choice program in significant numbers. The critics opined, wrongly, that school choice is only for the wealthy.

Yet rather than celebrating as working-class families gain access to more educational opportunities for their children, opponents either go radio silent or work to shift the focus away from the program’s phenomenal success. The glaring ideological hypocrisy of supposed champions for economically strapped families refusing to trumpet the objective success of an initiative that helps those families is profoundly disappointing.

I work directly with Idaho parents who are desperate for better educational options for their children. These are not wealthy elites looking for subsidies. They are hardworking families trying to give their children a chance to succeed. Too often, they are sidelined in school choice conversations when they should be front and center.

I understand this perspective because it is personal to me. I come from a lower-income background myself, and I know what it feels like to want access to a quality education without having the financial means to pursue it. Educational opportunity changed the trajectory of my life, which is why I believe every family, regardless of income, deserves the chance to choose the learning environment that works best for their child.

My hope is for media to amplify the inspirational stories of the real Idaho children and families the PCTC is helping, especially those who have historically had the fewest educational options, while at the same time providing their readership with information on the political aspects of school choice. Both angles are valid. Both are informative.

The key is to find balance between the two. Otherwise, even outlets like Idaho Education News, which has generally done a strong job covering both the human impact and policy debate surrounding school choice, risk presenting readers with an incomplete picture when coverage leans too heavily toward one side of the political argument. At the end of the day, Idaho families are making decisions they believe are best for their children. The early numbers show that opportunity is reaching working families, precisely the families critics claimed would be left behind.

– Valeria Gurr, Ph.D., is a senior fellow for policy and advocacy at the American Federation for Children. She advocates for educational choice, with a focus on expanding access for underserved families.