School facilities funding: A bi-partisan bill aiming to reduce school districts’ reliance on bond and levy elections for school construction, renovation, and facility costs was introduced in the House Education Committee on Wednesday.
House Bill 636 builds on a 2023 law that shifted some school districts’ facility costs from local property taxes to the state. Under that law, funds flow through a required “waterfall” sequence — first paying bonds and levies, with only leftover dollars available at the end. Under the new proposal, those leftover funds would be available for school districts to enter lease-purchase agreements for facilities.
“If a school district gets to the bottom of the waterfall, they've paid off all their bills,” said Rep. Soñia R. Galaviz (D-Boise), an IEA member and one of the bill’s co-sponsors. “This would allow them to utilize those dollars for a lease purchase, and thus not have them go to the taxpayers to go for a bond and increase property taxes for a building for new construction or significant deferred maintenance.”
In addition to Galaviz, the bill is backed by heavy hitters: Speaker of the House Mike Moyle (R-Star) and House Majority Leader Jason A. Monks (R-Meridian). It awaits a full hearing in the House Education Committee.
More potential sex ed restrictions: Lawmakers on the House Education Committee endorsed legislation that further restricts what public schools can teach about sexual orientation and gender identity. Friday’s public hearing for the bill revived a charged debate over parental authority, classroom boundaries, and student support in Idaho schools.
House Bill 516 strikes the clause “or in a manner that is not age appropriate or developmentally appropriate in accordance with state standards” from a 2025 law, authored by Hawkins, that prohibits public school instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity in grades K–12. Hawkins said the inclusion of that clause created confusion for school districts, educators and parents in its enforcement.
“These subjects are not the business of educators in the public school system,” Hawkins said. “They are the business of parents.”
But opposing panel members and members of the public who testified against the bill argued the change goes far beyond a technical fix, as Hawkins claimed. They warned it creates legal conflicts with other sections of Idaho Code that allow parental approval of sexual education, will complicate medical career technical education, and further marginalizes and isolates LGBTQ students.
“What is a teacher supposed to do when a kid comes to them and says, ‘I’m thinking of suicide … I can’t talk to my parents about it’?” asked Rep. Jack Nelsen (R-Jerome).
Hawkins replied: “If a child is talking about suicide … that child would need care outside of the classroom.”
Other committee members pointed out the legislation’s potential conflict with Section 33-1611 of Idaho code, which requires that parents must opt in for any instruction that addresses “human sexuality,” which by definition includes gender identity and sexual orientation. Schools must notify parents and allow review of content before permission is granted.
“We find ourselves in direct contradiction to what the parents said they wanted for the coursework,” said IEA member and Rep. Soñia R. Galaviz (D-Boise).
Other concerns included whether this bill would impact students on a medical track in career technical education.
“I’m worried this is going to confuse a lot of our school districts who want to be in compliance with the law but are prioritizing CTE in their schools,” Nelsen said.
In public testimony, Grace Howitt of the Idaho Family Policy Center claimed school districts are not complying with the original 2025 law and are “usurping their God-given responsibility to raise their children.”
Mistie DelliCarpini-Tolman of Planned Parenthood Advocates said the bill is “deeply problematic.”
“This bill erases LGBTQ people from schools, from history books, and from society,” she said. “Recognizing that diverse families and students exist is not indoctrination — it’s honesty.”
The bill awaits consideration by the full House of Representatives.
Immigration status reporting: The House Education Committee on Wednesday agreed to have public hearings on legislation that would require public schools to aggregate and report data on student immigration status.
During a contentious print hearing, House Bill 656’s sponsor, Rep. Steve Tanner (R-Nampa), said his intent with the legislation is to help lawmakers estimate the cost of educating non-citizen students in Idaho public schools.
Skeptical members of the committee, however, questioned the bill’s necessity, saw it as potentially stigmatizing a vulnerable group of students and families, and an unnecessary burden on under-resourced school districts.
“I feel like this (bill) unnecessarily targets an already vulnerable population,” said Rep. Soñia R. Galaviz (D-Boise).
Tanner stressed that the bill is in alignment with federal law that says no child may be denied access to public education based on immigration status and that it will not require collection of personally identifiable information — only aggregate data.
However, even among supporters, there was discomfort with Tanner’s rhetorical framing that could imply intent beyond data collection.
The committee agreed to hold a public hearing on the legislation only after striking a sentence in its Statement of Purpose asserting that Idaho has seen a “recent surge of undocumented immigrants.”
Other Education Legislation
Union busting bill: There was no movement this week on House Bill 601, the union busting bill introduced by Rep. Judy Boyle (R-Midvale) a week ago. The legislation makes many sweeping changes, beginning with the way unions are defined in Idaho. The bill awaits a hearing in the House Commerce and Human Resources Committee.
Moment of silence in class: House Education Committee members will soon consider House Bill 623, which requires public school classrooms to provide a moment of silence for students for a minimum of 60 seconds, at or near the beginning of each school day, to reflect, meditate, pray, or engage in any other silent activity. The bill was introduced by Rep. Bruce D. Skaug (R-Nampa).
SPED resolution fails: House Joint Resolution 7, which called on the federal government to fulfill its obligation to fully fund special education, failed in the IdahoHouse of Representatives on Tuesday. Since mandating the inclusion of special education in public schools in 1975, the federal government has never fully funded its financial obligation to states. The HJR7 would have been non-binding, but 40-28 vote did not meet the required two-thirds majority threshold required for resolutions.
