Public dollars should serve the public. That means supporting public schools that educate every child who walks through the door and prepare the workforce Idaho depends on.

This principle is under attack.

Last spring, the Republican supermajority passed a $50 million tax-credit voucher scheme to subsidize private, religious, and for-profit tuition, along with home schooling. Idahoans fought it. More than 32,000 people contacted Governor Brad Little urging a veto. Parents, educators, and voters packed hearings demanding public dollars stay in public schools. Every Democratic legislator voted no.

Governor Little signed it anyway.

Applications are open for families to claim thousands in subsidies, yet the program still lacks basic safeguards that come with public spending. Voucher schemes are designed to dodge the accountability standards other programs follow. There are no meaningful protections against waste, fraud, or abuse. No consistent public reporting. No requirement to serve every student. No obligation to show results.

That’s why Democratic leaders sent a letter to the Idaho State Tax Commission demanding real oversight before voucher dollars go out the door.

The stakes are even higher with the Idaho Supreme Court reviewing whether this law violates our Constitution, in a case brought by parents, educators, and pro–education organizations. Article IX of the Idaho State Constitution mandates a uniform, free system of public schools open to all students. Voucher schemes undermine that promise by creating a separate funding pipeline. A Utah court struck down a similar voucher law on the same grounds.

While private schooling receives lavish subsidies, the other side of the ledger is in dire straits. Republicans have made or proposed cuts to therapies for children with disabilities, supports that allow Idahoans with disabilities to live independently, and substance use disorder treatment that keeps people out of prison. A proposal to start closing the $100 million special education funding gap was yanked. The Republican supermajority is threatening to shut down Medicaid expansion, even though the state pays only 10% to cover 90,000 working Idahoans.

Then Governor Little quietly pushed even more tax dollars toward private school subsidies.

In a unilateral move, he adopted a federal tax credit of up to $1,700 for contributions to “scholarship granting organizations.” When donors give to groups that subsidize private school tuition, the state will now help pick up the tab. This policy tilts Idaho’s tax code toward vouchers over other community priorities, making these donations more tax-advantaged than giving to food banks, child advocacy organizations, veterans’ support groups, and other critical causes.

Idaho deserves leaders who will stand up to the out-of-state voucher lobby and make it clear that public dollars belong in public schools. Governor Little, Superintendent Critchfield, and a majority of Republican legislators have failed this basic test.