For decades, anti-public education forces have spent millions of out-of-state dollars promoting their favorite government entitlement: private school vouchers. And for decades, Idahoans have rejected these schemes in favor of common-sense fiscal responsibility and the public schools at the heart of their communities.
Idaho school vouchers are often proposed under seemingly benign labels like “scholarships,” “Idaho school choice,” “education savings accounts” and “tax credits.” But make no mistake: Any program that uses public tax dollars for private school tuition is a voucher.
Unless Idahoans make their voices heard, 2025 could be the year that out-of-state think tanks and other anti-public education advocates saddle the state with an Idaho school vouchers program that has been disastrous in other states. Here are just a few of the many reasons Idaho Education Association members oppose public money for private schools.
No Accountability
Vouchers worsen an unequal playing field for Idaho’s children by reducing fair access to educational opportunities. There is a reason Idaho school choice proponents want zero accountability for private schools receiving public money — there is no discernible educational benefit to students. The transparency taxpayers rightfully demand from elected school boards in charge of public schools is tossed aside in favor of unrestricted handouts with no demands for test scores, curriculum oversight, or requirements to serve every student who applies. Ask a pro-Idaho school vouchers lawmaker about accountability and you’ll soon hear the double standard out of their own mouths.
Ballooning Budgets
Anti-voucher politicians — the same ones responsible for the chronic underfunding of Idaho’s public schools — now advocate for unrestricted access to funds that will disproportionately benefit parents who already have the means to pay for private school. This “magic money” approach to budgeting has wreaked havoc in other states, leading to ballooning deficits and cuts to critical priorities. Once enacted, voucher spending is very difficult to rein in, often expanding year after year.
Education for the Few
Anti-public school lawmakers tout vouchers as a way to unburden crowded public schools of students who would otherwise go to private schools if they had the means. But the numbers don’t lie: In states with voucher programs, 65-90 percent of students who receive the money have never stepped foot in public schools. Their families would send them to private schools with or without a voucher handout. Voucher proponents would rather divert money to private schools rather than fulfilling their constitutional mandate to fully fund public schools.
Rural Students Suffer
The vast majority of Idaho’s private schools are concentrated in urban centers, like Boise, rather than rural communities. Thanks to the Idaho Legislature’s willingness to ignore the historic 2005 Idaho Supreme Court ruling declaring the state’s unequal funding system unconstitutional, our rural schools are suffering. Forced to make up the difference between what the state provides and what its children need, rural public schools work overtime to get bonds and levies on local ballots. Some try and fail for years, leading to unsafe buildings and low educator recruitment and retention rates.
What could your local school be with proper funding? Idaho’s educators and schools move mountains to support students with the inadequate funding they receive from the state. But resourcefulness and responsibility can only do so much. Instead of creating a separate system for the wealthy that siphons funds from public schools, we should demand our lawmakers invest in the system we have — a system that is open to every Idaho child, no exceptions. We can do better, Idaho.
Paul Stark is the executive director of the Idaho Education Association.
