As a past board member of the West Ada School District and current board member for a statewide online charter school, I have been paying attention to the seismic attacks that public education is experiencing at the state and federal level. The one that has me most concerned? The parental choice tax credit that uses public dollars to give money back to families paying for tuition and related costs for private and religious schools.

In late October at the Riverside Hotel in Boise, a group of out-of-state lobbyists held a town hall to promote Idaho’s first private-school voucher plan. It was the second event in a six-part series sponsored by the American Federation for Children, a Texas outfit that’s taken in millions from Betsy DeVos. Over the past four years, they’ve poured big money into Idaho politics trying to sell us on their private-school voucher agenda.

As expected, the panelists spent their 90 minutes recycling the same talking points they’ve used for years. One of the bill’s sponsors, representative Jason Monks, said about the $50 million cost of the program. I am paraphrasing, it is a minimal amount compared to the overall education budget. But the problem is, the program likely won’t stay at just $50 million.

Senator Ben Toews, one of the bill’s co-sponsors, told a different crowd earlier this month in Coeur d’Alene that this tax-credit plan is a “pilot program” be hopes to expand.

Similar educational voucher or ESA programs in other states have all seen massive increases in funding. During the town hall, EdChoice representative Joey Magana touted Arizona as a prime example of success, without mentioning the hundreds of millions of dollars of extra tax burden on its residents.

Arizona’s school voucher program started as a $33 million program. It was expanded to all students in 2022. Since then, the program has ballooned, and is on track to cost the state over $1 billion this fiscal year. Shown as a percentage of increase it is a whopping 1,364% increase from initial projected cost.

To be clear, this program isn’t what Arizona residents wanted. In 2018 Arizona ran a referendum to stop the program from ballooning. When the results came in, 65% of voters said they didn’t want it to be expanded, but, no matter, legislators supportive of public education were primaried until there were enough votes to circumvent the will of the people in 2022. This should sound familiar to Idahoans. Idaho lawmakers that were supporters of public education were targeted by the same well-funded, out-of-state groups that supported last week’s town hall.

Before we consider spending any of our tax dollars for this program, I think we should be asking the following questions:

The Idaho Constitution states education is to be common and free. Will these private schools be free after the tax credit? No.

The Idaho Constitution creates the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction and a State Board to oversee the system. Is there oversight of private and religious schools in HB 93 and do they need to abide by state regulations required of public education? No.

The Constitution prohibits the use of public funds for religious schools. Does HB 93 comply? No.

Is it really “school choice” if you cannot afford the gap between the tax credit and actual tuition cost? No.

Is it open to all when the majority of rural Idahoans have limited to no private school options to choose from? No

Can private and faith-based schools discriminate or deny entry for any reason? Yes.

I have been involved in Idaho’s education process for about a quarter century. I have witnessed the evolution of several state and federal initiatives, some good and others not so much. What we face now is the first attempt to dismantle public education which serves 313,160 of our kids. To say we should all be concerned is an understatement. So allow me to finish as I started “We should all be freaking out” and my hope is that together we all stand up for our kids and speak out.

Don’t be fooled by the marketing. When vouchers win, Idaho kids lose and when our kids lose we all lose.

Mike Vuittonet is a real estate agent in Boise and was a long-time trustee in the West Ada School District.