The U.S. Department of Education launched 18 Title IX Wednesday, a day after the Supreme Court heard two challenges to state bans on transgender girls competing in sports consistent with their gender identity.

The probes are based on complaints to the Office for Civil Rights that accuse colleges and school districts of violating the law because they allow trans students to participate on girls’ sports teams.

“We will leave no stone unturned in these investigations to uphold women’s right to equal access in education programs—a fight that started over half a century ago and is far from finished,” Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Kimberly Richey said in a statement.

The list includes the New York City schools, the Tacoma and Vancouver districts in Washington and the Hawaii State Department of Education. 

The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday appeared to support allowing states to decide whether to ban transgender athletes from competing in girls’ and women’s sports — an issue that has dominated the Trump administration’s education policy for the past year.

In two separate cases, attorneys for track athletes from Idaho and West Virginia argued that such restrictions violate trangender students’ constitutional right to equal protection under the law. They say that through medication, these athletes have reduced any sex-based physical advantages that would create unfair competition. The West Virginia case also questions whether the state’s ban violates Title IX’s right to equal educational opportunities for women and girls.

West Virginia’s law treats Becky-Pepper Jackson, a transgender 10th grader, “differently from other girls on the basis of sex,” Joshua Block, an American Civil Liberties Union attorney, told the court. The Bridgeport High School student, he said, took puberty blockers and went through “female puberty.” It’s “absolutely reasonable,” for states to separate teams based on a biological definition of sex, he said, but argued that the states’ position is “invalid as applied to a discrete subset” of people who have mitigated physical advantages.

But the conservative justices seemed reluctant to carve out an exception for trans students, even those who have taken steps to reduce any competitive advantage.  

“If we adopted that, that would have to apply across the board and not simply to the area of athletics,” Chief Justice John Roberts said.

The court’s decision in the case could impact all with similar laws that prohibit trans girls from competing on teams consistent with their gender identity. 

Upon taking office, President Donald Trump moved aggressively to place restrictions on trans athletes and highlight the experiences of those who said they were either injured by a trans competitor or put at a competitive disadvantage. Through executive order, he said Title IX only applies to cisgender women and girls, while the Department of Justice is now suing and over allowing trans students to compete on teams consistent with their gender identity. LGBTQ advocates want the court to base its decision on the 2020 majority opinion in in which the court found that transgender employees are a protected class in the workplace. 

“This is unfair to me and every transgender kid who just wants the freedom to be themselves,” Pepper-Jackson said in a recorded message last week. “I’ve had my rights and my life debated by politicians who’ve never even met me.”

Education Secretary Linda McMahon, who attended the more than three hours of oral arguments, discussed the stakes for many women outside the court. 

“Americans have had enough of women and girls losing opportunities and being subjected to the indignity and danger of unfair competition due to the left’s warped application of federal law,” she said.

The department pressured the University of Pennsylvania, for example, to no longer allow trans women to compete on women’s teams. As part of a , the university erased trans swimmer and issued apologies to swimmers who lost to her.  

Attorney Kathleen Hartnett, who represents Boise State University student Lindsay Hecox, who takes drugs to suppress testosterone, told the court that some trans students might even be at a disadvantage.  They have “this larger frame with weaker muscles and no testosterone,” she said.

But conservative advocates disagree. 

“Physiologically, males have a larger heart, lungs, more bone mass, more muscle mass and are taller than females,” Beth Parlato, senior legal counsel at the conservative Independent Women’s Law Center, told The 74. “It is undisputed that males retain significant physical advantages over females, making sex-based categories essential to fairness and safety in women’s sports.”

‘Treated as individuals’

Inside the court, Hashim Mooppan, principal deputy solicitor general, argued for the Trump administration, saying that denying a “special accommodation” to a trans woman or girl is not discrimination.

But Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, one of the liberal justices, questioned why Hecox didn’t have a claim. 

“In equal protection law,” she said, “We say all the time things like ‘People need to be treated as individuals and not as just as members of a group.’ ”

Justice Brett Kavanaugh, one of the six conservatives on the court, said he “hates” that trans students might be denied an opportunity to participate in sports. He also questioned whether it’s right to “constitutionalize a rule for the whole country” when the science is still evolving. But making a team or a starting lineup is a “zero-sum game,” he said. “Those things matter to people, big time.”

Observers believe the outcome could rest on how either Roberts or Justice Neal Gorsuch, who wrote the Bostock decision, rule. During Tuesday’s back-and-forth, Gorsuch asked whether transgender status could be considered an “insular class,” considering the history of discrimination against them. But he joined the majority opinion that allowed Tennessee to restrict gender-affirming care for minors. 

‘Not going to be satisfied’

The court heard the arguments in the the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit is set to take up another federal case involving trans athletes. , a nonprofit that opposes trans students participating in women’s sports, sued Minnesota officials over the state’s policy allowing athletes to compete on teams based on their gender identity.

“Their argument is that Title IX demands exclusion of trans athletes from girls’ teams, which is not going to be our position,” said Brian Dittmeier, director of LGBTQI+ Equality at the National Women’s Law Center, which filed a brief in support of Minnesota. 

The decision in the Eighth Circuit case, he said, is likely to come before the Supreme Court rules in the Idaho and West Virginia lawsuits, and could “inform the narrative” in future cases. The Female Athletes United lawsuit, he said, shows that those opposed to allowing trans athletes to compete with women are “not going to be satisfied with a compromise of letting the states decide.” 

Some families enrolled in the Idaho Home Learning Academy public virtual charter school used state funding to pay for virtual reality headsets, hoverboards, hunting equipment, video games and video game controllers, paddleboards, smart watches, admission tickets to water parks and subscriptions to streaming services like Netflix and Hulu, according to a new state watchdog report released Tuesday.

The nonpartisan , which is commonly referred to as OPE, released the Tuesday at the Idaho State Capitol after the release was authorized by the

OPE released the evaluation report after multiple Idaho legislators signed a March 5 letter requesting the office study the Idaho Home Learning Academy’s finances, expenditures, policies, contracts and student achievement results.

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The Idaho Home Learning Academy, or IHLA for short, is a rapidly growing public virtual charter school authorized by the small, rural Oneida School District.

There were about 7,600 online students enrolled at Idaho Home Learning Academy during the 2024-25 school year, many of which do not live within the traditional geographic boundaries of the Oneida School District.

New report raises questions about how supplemental learning funds are used by some families

As part of Idaho Home Learning Academy’s contract, its education service providers administer supplemental learning funds of $1,700 to $1,800 per student to families enrolled in IHLA that were paid for by Idaho taxpayer dollars, the report found. The money is intended to help pay families for education expenses, and the OPE evaluators found that the largest share of the funds were spent on technology expenses, such as computers, printers and internet access. Other significant sources of supplemental learning fund expenses went for physical education activities and performing arts expenses, the OPE report found.

However, OPE evaluators found that some families used their share of funding for tuition and fees at private schools and programs. Some families also used their funds for noneducational board games, kitchen items like BBQ tongs, cosmetics, a home theater projector screen, video games, Nintendo Switch controllers, a Meta Quest virtual reality headset, movie DVDs, weapons, sights lasers, shooting targets, remote controlled cars, hoverboards, action figures, smartwatches, water park tickets and the cost of registering website domain names, the OPE report found.

Families with students enrolled at Idaho Home Learning Academy are able to access the funds though both direct ordering programs and reimbursements. The OPE report found that Idaho Home Learning Academy’s three service providers (Braintree, Home Ed and Harmony) spent about $12.5 million providing supplemental learning funds for IHLA families during the 2024-25 school year. Service providers said that some families did not spend any or all of their supplemental learning funds, and the money was retained by the service providers, not returned back to the state or school district, the OPE report found.

Idaho governor, superintendent of public instruction respond to OPE report’s findings

Idaho Gov. Brad Little called the report’s findings “troubling” in a letter released with the report Tuesday.

“We also have an obligation to be responsible stewards of taxpayer dollars,” Little wrote. “The OPE report on IHLA is troubling, especially as it pertains to supplemental learning fund expenses, academic performance, supplemental curriculum and the funding formula that enables virtual programs to receive more funding than brick-and-mortar public schools. The OPE report reveals that statutory safeguards are insufficient, oversight is inconsistent and accountability measures have not kept pace with the fast expansion of the IHLA program.”

The OPE evaluation report findings come at a time when every dollar of state funding in Idaho is being stretched further amid a revenue shortfall. All state agencies outside of the K-12 public school system are implementing 3% mid-year budget holdbacks, and the, the Idaho Capital Sun previously reported.

Idaho Superintendent of Public Instruction Debbie Critchfield said the report raised concerns for her as well.

“(The OPE report) also raises important questions about whether direct and indirect payments to families are a proper and legal use of funds appropriated for public schools,” Critchfield wrote in a Nov. 26 letter to OPE leadership.

The OPE evaluation report found that limited oversight and accountability create uncertainty about how supplemental learning funds paid for with state taxpayer dollars are used and whether students’ curriculum choices align with state standards and transparency requirements.

Idaho state laws and administrative rules do not specifically allow or prohibit the use of supplemental learning funds, the OPE report found. That finding was one of several “policy gray areas” that the OPE evaluation report documented.

Little concluded his letter by saying he is ready to work with the Idaho Legislature, the Idaho State Department of Education and the Idaho State Board of Education to restore meaningful accountability for the use of taxpayer dollars.

“I have carefully reviewed the recommendations provided in this report and strongly encourage the Legislature to address the loopholes in state statute,” Little wrote.

Oneida School District superintendent stresses Idaho Home Learning Academy did not break state law

In response to the OPE report, Oneida School District Superintendent Dallan Rupp, who is also a member of the Idaho Home Learning Academy School board, emphasized that the report did not find that IHLA was guilty of any misconduct.

“Importantly, the OPE report did not identify any misconduct at IHLA,” Rupp said during a meeting Tuesday at the Idaho State Capitol in Boise. “This outcome underscores the effectiveness of Oneida School District’s oversight and reflects IHLA’s consistent compliance with Idaho’s laws, statutes, rules, regulations and procedures, as well as its cooperative relationship with the Idaho State Department of Education. We remain fully committed to operating within all established guidelines, just as we have in the past.”

Idaho Sen. James Ruchti, D-Pocatello, said it was beside the point that the school didn’t break any laws.

“I’m extremely concerned,” Ruchti said during Tuesday’s meeting at the Idaho State Capitol in Boise. “This is public money – public taxpayer money – and we have an obligation to make sure that it’s spent appropriately and with oversight. And so, yes, it may not have violated any statutory requirements at this point. But what I’m saying is that what I saw in that presentation caused me serious concerns about how IHLA and other online teaching institutions are able to spend public dollars in a way that was not intended.”

Idaho watchdog report found most online virtual teachers were part-time employees

OPE also found that most Idaho Home Learning Academy teachers were part-time, unlike traditional schools, and the Idaho Home Learning Academy spends much less on salaries and benefits than it receives from the state’s salary apportionment formula.

The report found IHLA was able to use the savings it realized in state funding provided to pay for staff salaries and health benefits to instead use at IHLA’s discretion or to pay its education service providers.

The OPE report found that most of IHLA’s teachers are part-time employees and do not provide full-time direct instruction to students. Instead, the report found that Idaho Home Learning Academy’s kindergarten through eighth grade instructional model relied heavily on parent-directed learning and that IHLA teachers typically offered feedback and oversight instead of direct instruction.

According to the report, IHLA reported $46.3 million in total expenditures from state funds during the 2024-25 school year. While traditional brick-and-mortar public schools’ largest expenditures are for staff salaries and benefits, the report found that only 36% of IHLA’s expenditures went to staff. A larger portion – 45% of IHLA’s total expenditures, or $20.6 million – went to paying education service providers.

The OPE report also found that Idaho Home Learning Academy’s students lagged behind statewide averages for scores on Idaho Standards Achievement Test, or ISAT. The OPE report found 42% of IHLA students were proficient in English language arts during the 2024-25 school year, compared to the statewide average of 52% of Idaho students.

The report also found just 25% of IHLA students were proficient in math during the 2024-25 school year, compared to the Idaho statewide average of 43%.

However, the OPE report highlighted that some IHLA families interviewed for the report said they do not believe statewide standardized tests are a good measure of student learning. The report also noted that many Idaho Home Learning Academy families identified themselves as homeschoolers and said they were using IHLA by choice because they were unhappy with the quality of education in traditional brick-and-mortar schools or felt that their child’s educational needs were not being met by more traditional public schools.

is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Idaho Capital Sun maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Christina Lords for questions: info@idahocapitalsun.com.

They were right.

In Tennessee, the nonprofit Wilberforce Academy is suing the Knox County Schools in federal court because the district refuses to allow a Christian charter school. Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti is on the school’s side. He issued last month that the state’s ban on religious charter schools likely violates the First Amendment. 

“Tennessee’s public charter schools are not government entities for constitutional purposes and may assert free exercise rights,” he wrote to Rep. Michele Carringer, the Knoxville Republican who requested the opinion. 

The legal challenge in Tennessee comes as a Florida-based charter school network prepares to submit an application to the Oklahoma Charter School Board for a Jewish virtual charter high school. Peter Deutsch, the former Democratic congressman who founded the Ben Gamla charter schools, began working on the idea long before the case over St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School even went to court. The 4-4 tie in May means that an Oklahoma Supreme Court decision blocking the school from receiving state funds still stands. 

“The prior decision shows that there’s an open question here that needs to be resolved,” said Eric Baxter, vice president and senior counsel at Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, a law firm representing the National Ben Gamla Jewish Charter School Foundation. “We hope the court will get it right this time. We hope the federal courts get it right without having to go to the Supreme Court.”

Idaho also confronted the issue earlier this year. The state’s first charter, Brabeion Academy, initially the school as Christian. But it in August as a nonreligious school and will open as such next fall. 

Deutsch, Skrmetti and other supporters of faith-based charter schools base their argument on three earlier Supreme Court rulings allowing public funds to support sectarian schools. They say that excluding religious organizations from operating faith-based charter schools is discrimination and violates the Constitution. But leaders of the charter sector and public school advocates argue that classifying charter schools as private would threaten funding and civil rights protections for 3.7 million students nationwide.

“Unless and until the U.S. Supreme Court takes up a future case and rules otherwise, we advise all charter school associations and public charter schools to adhere to the letter and spirit of the law in their respective states,” Starlee Coleman, president and CEO of the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, said in a statement.

‘Not on our watch’

When the Supreme Court considered St. Isidore, Deutsch, was prepared to advocate for Jewish congregations to open schools that not only teach their language, but also their faith. He called the case “a historic opportunity” to bring Jewish education to thousands of children.

To Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond, the debate is settled, for now. In November, he said his office would “oppose any attempts to undermine the rule of law.” 

Americans United, which advocates for maintaining church-state separation, has also issued a warning over the new school. The organization represented parents and advocates in a separate case over the school. 

“Religious extremists once again are trying to undermine our country’s promise of church-state separation by forcing Oklahoma taxpayers to fund a religious public school. Not on our watch,” Rachel Laser, president and CEO, said in a press release.

The legal fight over religious charter schools began in 2023, when the Oklahoma Virtual Charter School Board voted 3-2 to approve a charter for St. Isidore, setting off a closely watched case that spanned two years. At the time, the Jewish Federation of Greater Oklahoma City, a nonreligious group, called the charter board’s decision unconstitutional. Rachel Johnson, the group’s executive director, didn’t return calls or emails requesting a comment on Ben Gamla’s proposal.

None of the members who originally voted on St. Isidore serves on the state’s new Oklahoma Charter School Board. But for one person involved with Ben Gamla’s application, this is familiar territory. Brett Farley is on the proposed school’s board, according to a letter of intent the foundation submitted to the charter board in November.

Farley once held a top position with the and is also executive director of the Catholic Conference of Oklahoma, which focuses on public policy issues involving the church. While preparing the St. Isidore application, with Notre Dame law Professor Nicole Stelle Garnett, whose scholarly work formed the basis of the legal argument for the school.

�Ҳ����Ա�ٳ�’s is that nonprofits running charter schools are like private contractors, and as with other publicly funded programs, can’t be excluded just because they are religious. She’s also close friends with Justice Amy Coney Barrett, who recused herself from the St. Isidore case. Experts speculated that Chief Justice John Roberts sided with the three liberals on the court, resulting in the 4-4 tie.

‘Passion for religious freedom’

The virtual school, the intent letter says, would initially enroll about 40 students, focusing on “college readiness, while developing deep Jewish knowledge, faith and values within a supportive learning community.”

But some are surprised Deutsch isn’t making his bid for a Jewish charter school in Florida, where his existing, non-religious charter schools have thrived.

“I think Florida could be a good option given the new attorney general’s passion for ,” said Daniel Aqua, the director of special projects at Teach Coalition, a nonprofit that advocates for Jewish education

The demand for a Jewish charter school would be much higher in Florida, which has Jewish population of nearly 762,000, compared with about 9,000 in Oklahoma. 

Charter founders in Florida submit their applications to local school districts first. The state recently added as authorizers, but Oklahoma, where organizers directly with the state charter board, offers a more streamlined process. 

‘Public Christian school’

But efforts to create publicly-funded religious schools are not limited to the charter sector. A new school in Colorado, Riverstone Academy, calls itself the state’s “first public Christian school.” Now serving 30 students in Pueblo, south of Colorado Springs, Riverstone is what is sometimes referred to as a “contract” school because districts sign agreements with private organizations to provide education services. In this case, Education reEnvisioned, one of the state’s 21 boards of cooperative educational services, or BOCES, authorized the school. 

In October, the Colorado Department of Education warned Ken Witt, the BOCES’ executive director, that the school’s per-student funding is at risk because it is “not operating in a nonsectarian nature.” The letter also went to District 49, near Colorado Springs, one of Education reEnvisioned’s member districts. 

In a response, Witt wrote that he was “alarmed at the threat” that the school might not receive funding. “We did not and legally cannot discriminate against this school on account of its religious affiliation,” he wrote. Examining Riverstone’s curriculum to determine if the school is truly sectarian, he said, would be “unconstitutionally entangling and discriminatory against different forms of religion.”

Witt told The 74 that funding usually doesn’t flow from the state to a new school until January, so it’s too soon to know whether officials will withhold funds.

‘Keep coming back’ 

“You’re going to see those within the charter sector and outside of it basically taking the same approach” — arguing that private groups delivering religious instruction can’t be denied public funds, said Preston Green, an education professor at the University of Connecticut. 

To Green, Riverstone’s identity as a “contract” school calls to mind a 1982 case, one that Garnett and other proponents of religious charter schools often highlight when they say that charters are not “state actors.” In , the Supreme Court said a Massachusetts private school that received public funds for educating teens with behavior problems did not act under the “color of state law” when it fired six employees. 

The question, experts say, is not if, but when the Supreme Court will eventually see another case about religious public schools Justice Barrett won’t have the same reason to recuse herself, Green said, and he’s not convinced that Roberts would side with the liberals a second time.

The advocates, he said, “keep coming back at this because they think that they’ll get the votes.”

Now, a new analysis, exclusive to The 74, sheds light on why he’s had so much trouble. While it’s common knowledge that in the state House have been standing in his way, homeschool parents opposed to education savings accounts have also been part of the resistance. 

Leslie Finger, a political science professor at the University of North Texas, analyzed roll call votes on 13 private school choice bills that reached the floor of either the state House or the Senate between 2013 and 2023. She found that lawmakers were more likely to vote against private school choice not only if they represented a rural area, but also if they had more homeschoolers in their districts.

“We specifically opted out of this system,” Faith Howe, president of Texans for Homeschool Freedom, said about public schools. While proponents of the voucher plan say it will be optional for families, that doesn’t satisfy Howe. “I don’t think they’re going to have a problem coming back and saying ‘Well we need more regulations on these homeschoolers.’”

Texas voters ousted the Republican holdouts in last year’s primary election after Abbott campaigned against them. He is counting on their replacements to deliver a victory this session. But even if that happens, Finger’s results point to a segment of parents who have been getting louder in recent years as ESAs, which parents can spend on tuition or homeschooling costs, have spread across red states. Many traditional homeschoolers fought for the right to educate their children at home and fear that ESA laws could erode some of those protections — even if they don’t take the funds. 

While voucher advocates dismiss many of the homeschoolers’ concerns, Finger said her findings should serve as a warning.

“The presence of big homeschooling communities could make selling private school choice challenging,” Finger said.

‘Government control’

That was certainly the case in Colorado, one of three states last November where voters defeated school choice ballot measures. 

“Government money comes with government control,” said Carolyn Martin, who monitors state legislation for Christian Home Educators of Colorado. Her group viewed the measure as a potential infringement on parents’ rights to educate their children as they see fit.  

Two issues raised red flags for them. The measure said all children should be able to “access a quality education,” which they interpreted as an opportunity for the government to define quality for homeschoolers. It also gave students, as well as parents, the right to school choice. That could spell trouble if kids and parents aren’t on the same page when it comes to education, Martin said.

“At some point the state would probably have to step in and arbitrate between the parent and the child,” she said. “That is not our worldview.”

Other homeschoolers say ESAs contradict conservative values, such as smaller government and less regulation. Gary Humble, executive director of Tennessee Stands, a Christian organization, called the state’s recently passed voucher bill “wealth redistribution.”

“This is another Tennessee entitlement program,” he said. “It’s expensive. It’s irresponsible.” 

The state is expected to spend $1 billion on the program over the next five years. While opponents weren’t able to stop the Republicans from passing the law, Humble tells homeschoolers that if they participate, they could be giving up the freedom to educate their children the way they choose.

“All they hear from special interest groups is that they get seven grand and there are no strings attached,” he said. “They’re not policy wonks, so they don’t understand the trap doors that are laid out ahead of them.”  

ESA programs often require homeschooling families to reapply for funding every year, to take annual standardized tests and to only buy approved items from specific vendors. Homeschooling families who don’t participate want to ensure such restrictions don’t eventually extend to them. 

But those worries fall under what Jeremy Newman, vice president of policy and engagement for the Texas Homeschool Coalition, calls “free-floating anxiety.” 

“They’re concerned somebody is going to do something, sometime, but they’re not sure who or when or what,” he said. 

His organization is strongly in favor of passing a voucher bill in Texas, saying that tax-paying homeschoolers should have just as much access to state education funds as parents who send their kids to public school.

He points to on “regulatory creep” from Angela Watson, a researcher at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore and an expert on . She found that publicly funded school choice programs, like ESAs, don’t contribute to more government overreach. 

Not ‘a monolith’

But the fact that some homeschoolers are so opposed to them proves a point, Watson said. 

“The mistake that everyone makes when they talk about homeschooling is that they continue to think of it as a monolith,” she said. “Homeschooling is just so varied.”

Nationally, of the nation’s students are homeschooled, according to U.S. Census Bureau data. Traditional homeschoolers often chose that path for ideological or religious reasons. 

But many new converts, who left public schools during the pandemic, show support for what former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos calls “” — allowing parents to spend education dollars on any type of schooling they choose. It’s a policy that polled high in a from the National Parents Union, with 71% of parents favoring such a system. 

The split among homeschoolers over ESAs, Watson said, has created some “interesting bedfellows” — conservative parents aligning with liberal teachers unions to oppose school choice ballot measures. That’s what happened, not only in Colorado, but also in , where two-thirds of voters rejected such a proposition last year.  

Howe in Texas has heard the criticism. “We’re being accused of being leftist, Marxist and supporting the teachers unions,” she said. 

Newman, with the Texas coalition, said his group is watching out for homeschoolers’ interests. Leaders maintain a “strong presence” at the state capitol in Austin to ensure legislation doesn’t interfere with homeschoolers’ freedom to choose their own curriculum and teaching methods, he said. 

Homeschooled himself as a child, Newman sympathizes with those who recall when it was to educate children at home and not unusual for child protective services to a family when a neighbor reported children not being in school.

But Howe notes that it was a state regulation in Texas — not legislation — that treated homeschooled students as truant. After a lengthy legal fight, the state that parents who homeschool are essentially small private schools.

In Idaho, it’s the state tax commission that will be writing some of the rules for a new that Gov. Brad Little signed into law last month, despite from the public. The state also has an existing grant program targeted toward lower-income families.

Audra Talley, a board member of Homeschool Idaho, said Republican lawmakers have assured her that as long as they control the legislature and the governor’s office, homeschoolers don’t have to worry about rules encroaching on their parental rights. But that’s what she finds disturbing.

“It’s an admission that the potential exists,” she said. “Now we are relying on a certain party or a certain group of individuals to keep those regulations from coming at some future date.”

‘Don’t want to go back’

She’s not exaggerating that some Democrats would prefer to increase monitoring of families who homeschool.

A , for example, would require families to notify their local school district if they intend to homeschool. Families would have to submit teaching materials and their children’s work if authorities are concerned about their education. Hundreds of at the state capitol against the bill earlier this month.

Under another , Michigan homeschoolers would have to register with the state. Superintendent Michael Rice argues that officials should have a count of students in all types of schooling — public, private, parochial and home. and neglect involving homeschool families led to his proposal for more oversight. 

Homeschoolers opposed to ESAs often point to West Virginia — a Republican-led state — as an example of how lawmakers sometimes forget that not everyone wants the government’s money.

The state passed its Hope Scholarship ESA program in 2021, which requires homeschooled students receiving the scholarship to take annual or have their work reviewed each year by a certified teacher.  The law specifically exempted homeschoolers not in the program from the requirements, but a 2023 bill would have erased what advocates call a “carve out” if they hadn’t stepped in. 

ESA proponents use the same example to say the homeschoolers’ fears were overblown and no harm was done. Colleen Hroncich, a policy analyst with the libertarian Cato Institute’s Center for Educational Freedom, thinks the division among homeschoolers over school choice will fade over time.

“As we get further past the generation of homeschoolers that fought for the right to homeschool, it seems like most homeschoolers support funding programs,” she said. “Hopefully the bigger numbers also help push back on additional regulations down the road.”

In an effort to help Idahoans follow major bills, resolutions and memorials through the legislative process, the Idaho Capital Sun will produce a “legislative notebook” at the end of each week to gather information in one place that concerns major happenings in the Legislature and other news relating to state government. To receive the full extent of our reporting in your inbox each day, sign up for our free email newsletter, The Sunrise, on our website at

Here is our quick rundown of the major happenings during the eighth week of the Idaho Legislature’s 2025 session.

Idaho governor signs House Bill 93

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Idaho Gov. Brad Little signed House Bill 93 – which may be one of the most contentious bills considered during the 2025 legislative session – into law on Thursday.

After several years of failed attempts from conservative legislators, it will allow state taxpayer dollars to fund private, religious and home schooling expenses like tuition, tutoring and other costs.

The bill provides a refundable tax credit up to $5,000 for a parent of homeschooled or private school students to pay for expenses including tuition and fees, tutoring, textbook costs, curriculum and transportation. The refundable tax credit is increased to $7,500 for special needs students.

“Idaho can have it all – strong public schools AND education freedom. Providing high-quality education for Idaho students will always be our top priority,” Little said in a press release about signing the bill.

Critics, including Idaho’s Democratic legislators, some Republican legislators and many public school teachers and administrators, say the bill will take away $50 million of public taxpayer dollars from the state’s general fund that could have supported public schools, transportation needs and other important public services.

In a statement by the entire Democratic legislative caucus, the legislators said the governor betrayed promises he made during his Jan. 6 State of the State address that any bill that would use state funds to support private education would “meet standards of fairness, accountability, responsibility, and transparency.”

“HB93 has none of these, but, like so many Republicans, he bowed to out-of-state billionaires instead of prioritizing the needs of real Idahoans,” the Democratic caucus said. “The governor has sacrificed his legacy as a pro-public schools governor and a fiscal conservative by signing a bill that siphons public dollars to subsidize private school tuition for the wealthy. The people of Idaho can now expect what has happened in other voucher states: starved public schools, higher property taxes as local districts will be forced to run bonds and levies, and exploding state budgets that threaten infrastructure and public safety.”

But Little, in the press release, defended his record of supporting increased public education funding every year he has been governor.

“I am proud that we have put close to $17 billion into our K-12 public school system since I took office and increased public school funding by close to 60 percent in just a few years,” he said. “Our investments in education initiatives have increased 80 percent overall since my first year in office. In addition, Idaho ranks first in the nation for our return on investment in public schools.”

Little signs bill that would create mandatory minimum fine for misdemeanor marijuana possession

Little also signed , which would create a $300 minimum fine for adults convicted of possessing three ounces or less of marijuana.

Co-sponsored by Rep. Bruce Skaug, R-Nampa; Sen. Brandon Shippy, R-New Plymouth; and nine other Republican legislators, including House Speaker Mike Moyle, R-Star, it was the sixth bill to become law during the 2025 legislative session.

Supporters of the law, including Skaug, said the law is a way to be tough on marijuana and differentiate Idaho from its surrounding states of Oregon, Washington, Montana, Nevada and Utah, which have all legalized cannabis use by adults in various forms.

The new law will go into effect on July 1.

Legislation of interest during the eighth week of the 2025 session

• : Sponsored by Sen. Brian Lenney, R-Nampa, and Rep. Robert Beiswenger, R-Horseshoe Bend, the bill would prohibit local governments, health districts and school districts from mandating that an individual must wear a mask or face covering to prevent the spread of an infectious disease. The bill was delivered to the governor on Friday. The Idaho Constitution says the governor has five days – not counting Sundays – after the bill has been presented to him to act on legislation. Little then has three options: to sign it into law, to allow the law to go into effect without his signature or to veto the bill.
• : Co-sponsored by Reps. Barbara Ehardt, R-Idaho Falls, and Rod Furniss, R-Rigby, the bill would repeal age-based child-to-staff ratios for child care facilities in Idaho law. The Idaho House passed the bill on a 54-15 vote Thursday. It now heads to the Senate Health and Welfare Committee for consideration.
• and : The bills sponsored by Sen. Todd Lakey, R-Nampa, and Senate Pro Tem Kelly Anthon, R-Burley, respectively, would combine two immigration-related bills proposed this legislative session. House Bill 83 would allow law enforcement to record a person’s documentation status only if they are already detained or under investigation for a crime. If an individual involved in a crime is found to be living in Idaho without legal authorization, they would face a misdemeanor charge for “illegal entry.” A second offense would result in a felony charge, and a conviction would lead to deportation. Senate Bill 1039 would ban immigration sanctuaries in Idaho, criminalize the presence of “dangerous illegal aliens,” and prohibit their transportation into the state. It would also require law enforcement to cooperate with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE. House Bill 83 was sent to the Senate’s amending order, where the bills may be combined in the coming days of the session.
• : Sponsored by Sen. Melissa Wintrow, D-Boise, the bill would clarify and add guidance to Idaho coroners’ roles in death investigations. The Idaho Senate passed the bill on a 25-10 vote Wednesday. It may be taken up by the House Local Government Committee in the coming days of the session.
• : Sponsored by Sen. Ben Adams, R-Nampa, the bill would subsidize crisis pregnancy centers in Idaho through a grant program with the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare, providing more than $1 million in taxpayer funds to qualified centers, with centers receiving a minimum grant of $25,000. The Senate State Affairs Committee voted against advancing the bill on Friday, which may have killed it for the session.
• : Sponsored by Rep. Jordan Redman, R-Coeur d’Alene, the bill would require the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare to seek federal approval to exclude candy and soda from foods eligible for coverage by the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP (formerly known as food stamps). The Idaho House Health and Welfare Committee, on an 8-7 vote Tuesday, sent the bill to the House floor with a recommendation that it pass. It is on the House’s third reading calendar and may be taken up in the coming days of the session.
• : Co-sponsored by Reps. Bruce Skaug, R-Nampa, and Dustin Manwaring, R-Pocatello, the bill would raise the salary for each judicial position in Idaho by $17,000. The House Judiciary, Rules and Administration voted to advance the bill to the full House with a recommendation that it pass. It may be taken up in the coming days of the session.
• : Co-sponsored by Reps. Barbara Ehardt and Marco Erickson, both R-Idaho Falls, the bill would protect the identity of sources who provide journalists with confidential information or documents. The House voted unanimously to pass the bill on Tuesday. It now heads to the Senate Judiciary and Rules Committee for consideration.

What to expect next week

Senate State Affairs Committee
: Sponsored by Sen. Jim Woodward, R-Sagle, the bill would create the “Wildfire Standard of Care Act,” which would establish a standard of care through electric utility wildfire mitigation plans, subject to approval by the Idaho Public Utilities Commission for regulated utilities. It would also establish that an electric corporation that substantially complies with a wildfire mitigation plan could not be “found liable in any civil action to recover damages or impose liability, including for death of or injury” to people or property. The bill is scheduled for a public hearing before the committee on Monday.

Senate Education Committee
: Sponsored by Sen. Tammy Nichols, R-Middleton, the resolution would affirm the Idaho Legislature’s support for inclusion of PragerU Kids’ supplemental education resources in Idaho public schools. “This resolution recognizes their value in fostering patriotism, personal responsibility, and a strong appreciation for America’s founding principles while commending the Department of Education for its commitment to educational excellence and expanding innovative learning opportunities,” the resolution’s statement of purpose says. The resolution is scheduled for a public hearing before the committee on Monday.

House Health and Welfare Committee
: Sponsored by Rep. Dori Healey, R-Boise, the bill would transfer decision-making authority about vaccination requirements for children attending day cares and schools from the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare to the Idaho Legislature. The bill is scheduled for a public hearing before the committee on Monday.

How to follow the Idaho Legislature and Idaho Gov. Brad Little’s work during the session

Here are a few tools we use to track the Legislature’s business and how to let your voice be heard in the issues that matter most to you.

How to find your legislators: To determine which legislative district you live in, and to find contact information for your legislators within that district, go to the and put in your home address and ZIP code. Once you’ve entered that information, the three legislators – two House members and one senator – who represent your district will appear, and you can click on their headshots to find their email address and phone number.

How to find committee agendas: Go to the Idaho Legislature’s website, , and click on the “” link and the “” link on the right side of the website.

How to watch the legislative action in committees and on the House and Senate floors: Idaho Public Television works in conjunction with the Legislative Services Office and the Idaho Department of Administration through a program called “Idaho in Session” to provide live streaming for all legislative committees and for the House and Senate floors. To watch the action, go to and select the stream you’d like to watch.

How to testify remotely at public hearings before a committee: To sign up to testify remotely for a specific committee, navigate to that committee’s webpage, and click on the “testimony registration (remote and in person)” tab at the top.

How to find state budget documents: Go to Legislative Services Office Budget and Policy Analysis Division’s website.

How to track which bills have made it to Gov. Little’s desk and any action he took on them (including vetoes): Go to the governor’s website . You can scroll down to the bottom of the site and enter your email address to get alerts sent straight to your inbox when the page has been updated.

Reporting from Idaho Capital Sun journalists Clark Corbin, Mia Maldonado and Kyle Pfannenstiel contributed to this legislative notebook.

is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Idaho Capital Sun maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Christina Lords for questions: info@idahocapitalsun.com.

A dozen state leaders, all from Republican-led states, wrote to Linda McMahon, President Donald Trump’s education secretary nominee, last week asking her to push for greater state control over federal education funds and to avoid issuing guidance they say is “not anchored in law.”

In the Jan. 28 letter, shared exclusively with The 74, they also want McMahon, former head of World Wrestling Entertainment, to send large buckets of funding for schools, like Title I money for low-income students, as a block grant. But they stopped short of stating support for abolishing the U.S. Department of Education — President Donald Trump’s top education policy goal. 

“By prioritizing state leadership and flexibility, the Trump administration can unleash the full potential of America’s schools and students,” they wrote. “Please defer to state and local decision-making as much as possible.”

The letter outlines conservative chiefs’ priorities as Trump takes aggressive steps to reshape the federal role in education. He frequently to “send education back to the states” and is expected to issue an executive order before the end of the month that would call on Congress to close the department.

The memo offers specifics that have been lacking in many discussions over how the relationship between the federal government and the states might change. But some experts wonder if the freedom GOP leaders seek will leave high-need students without services currently provided under law. Madi Biedermann, a department spokeswoman, confirmed they’d received the letter, but said officials wouldn’t share it with McMahon until she’s confirmed. 

The 12 leaders who penned the letter, both elected and appointed, are from Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Mississippi, North Dakota, Ohio, South Carolina, Utah and Wyoming. 

Oklahoma state Superintendent Ryan Walters was not among them, despite the fact that he has been the most vocal about and at one point, threatened to . 

The proposals should provide additional talking points for committee members during McMahon’s confirmation hearing Feb. 13. While it would require congressional approval, the chiefs want to see the of funding under the Every Student Succeeds Act — like Title I and Title III for English learners — consolidated into a single block grant for “maximum flexibility.” 

They want to design their own formulas for distributing the money to districts so they can address the needs of rural areas, for example, and state-specific learning initiatives. In the meantime, they want the new secretary to grant as many waivers as possible from the accountability requirements of the law so they can “present new ideas” for how to spend the money.

‘Dilute the protections’

Rebecca Sibilia, executive director of EdFund, a research and policy organization, said she wasn’t surprised that the chiefs didn’t advocate eliminating the education department outright. Many of their states on federal funds and spend less state money on schools. The department, she said, is doing those states “a great service.”

While some state leaders might view the federal requirements as “overly burdensome,” she said their push for more control could come at the expense of students who require extra help, like those in poverty, English learners and homeless students. 

“Once you start blending all of those titles together you start to really dilute the protections that are going to individual students,” she said. 

The letter doesn’t mention the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, which under , would move to the Department of Health and Human Services.

“IDEA oversight is giving some people pause,” she said. “That piece of legislation is very specific to education.”

Congressional Democrats, meanwhile, say they have “serious concerns” about any attempts to shutter the department. On Thursday, they to Acting Education Secretary Denise Carter asking for more transparency on how the department plans to continue running programs it oversees, like financial aid and afterschool programs.

“We will not stand by and allow the impact that dismantling the Department of Education would have on the nation’s students, parents, borrowers, educators and communities,” they wrote.

In their letter, the state chiefs pushed back on the department’s practice of using “dear colleague” letters to enforce its priorities, which they said have often been “treated as legally binding policy.” Guidance from the department, they said, should merely be a suggestion “so as not to force behavior change.”  

During the Obama administration, for example, Republicans fought guidance that said students should be able to use bathrooms that match their and another that said districts could risk civil rights investigations if Black and Hispanic students were . 

On Wednesday, the Education Department issued stating that it would no longer enforce the Biden administration’s Title IX rule, which extended protections to LGBTQ students, and that any investigations based on the 2024 rule would be “reevaluated.” 

Nat Malkus, deputy director of education policy at the conservative American Enterprise Institute, said he hopes Trump honors the chiefs’ request, but noted the “chaos” that has marked Trump’s first few weeks in office. Trump’s efforts to freeze federal funding have been . And even some have questioned Elon Musk’s authority to gain access to government payment systems and disable an agency that provides foreign aid.

“The ‘pen and phone’ approach, to quote Obama, whipsaws state leaders across administrations and is lousy federal governance,” he said. “My worry is less about the secretary nominee and more about the ‘move fast and break things’ approach we’ve seen so far in many other dimensions of this young administration.”

When Idaho lawmakers consider a policy change affecting public schools a detailed spreadsheet is usually nearby.

When it comes to private schools, however, data is scanty. The state doesn’t regulate private schooling, so it doesn’t collect much information on private schools or their students.

This information is in high demand as the Idaho Legislature is preparing to consider proposals that would send taxpayer funds to private school students to help them pay tuition and other expenses.

There is some publicly available data on private schools, and it’s likely to shape debates about who would benefit from a private school choice program.

For instance, Idaho’s private schools are concentrated in urban areas, while there’s just one private school or none in more than half of the state’s counties. And most private schools are religious, teeing up likely debates over whether the state should fund religious institutions, and if so, how much oversight the state should have.

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How many private school students are in Idaho?

Data on private school enrollment is sporadic and collected through voluntary reporting or crowd-sourced information.

The conducts voluntary surveys of private schools — most recently during the 2021-22 school year — and websites like curate data submitted by school administrators and private school parents.

The Idaho State Department of Education also maintains a. And earlier this year, Bas van Doorn, a researcher for the Idaho State Board of Education, published a of private school data relying on similar sources.

These sources offer more of a sketch than a clear picture of private school enrollment, which shows:

• Idaho has between 117 and 155 primary and secondary private schools,
• These schools enroll between 16,843 and 22,271 students,
• Private school enrollment increased during the COVID-19 pandemic, and
• Today, private schoolers represent between 5% and 6% of school-age children.

By comparison, 313,160 attended public schools this fall. Idaho’s public school enrollment has increased every year of the last decade, except for one — 2020-21 — while growth has slowed over the last year, with several of the largest school districts seeing enrollment dips.

Leaders in the Boise and Nampa school districts have said aging populations and housing trends are causing their drop-offs, but transfers to private schools likely contributed as well.

Nationally, private school enrollment has increased in recent years as public school enrollment has dipped. that the pandemic accelerated this pre-existing trend.

Forthcoming bill will target low-income families

Lawmakers could consider a full menu of devices that deliver subsidies for private education: Vouchers, education savings accounts (ESAs), tax credits. And they could add restrictions, limiting eligibility based on income or disability, or open it up to anyone.

Idaho Rep. Wendy Horman last legislative session proposed a tax credit program, and she’s preparing to introduce a new version that targets low-income students. The Republican from Idaho Falls previously pitched a refundable tax credit worth $5,000 — or $7,500 for special needs students — covering private school tuition and other non-public school expenses.

House Bill 447 made $40 million in tax credits universally accessible to non-public school students, reserved another $10 million for students from low-income families and capped spending at $50 million. Horman didn’t share many details on the new bill, including the total cost, but said it will be more focused on “low-income families who need options.”

A $50 million private school choice program would be a fraction of what the state spends on public schools, which was about $2.7 billion last fiscal year. And Horman noted public school spending has doubled since a decade ago, after a series of investments that she supported.

“There are still some students for whom the public system doesn’t work,” she said. “Most people are still going to choose the public system, and I will continue my work of supporting the public system, but this is a bill about helping kids who can’t afford other opportunities.”

But lawmakers could lift a spending cap or remove income restrictions in future legislative sessions. Horman, co-chair of the Legislature’s budget committee, acknowledged these are possibilities, but she pointed to that shows public support for a tax credit available to non-public school families.

“It’s a matter of priorities,” she said. “Revenues are still looking strong for Idaho…To me, it’s impossible to put a price tag on the value of a child being successful in getting an education that works best for them.”

Rod Gramer is the former CEO of Idaho Business for Education and one of the state’s most vocal opponents of private school tuition subsidies. After studying similar programs in other states, he estimates that a universal program in Idaho could cost up to $300 million, and universal eligibility is likely the goal of advocacy groups and lobbyists pushing for private school choice in Idaho. 

“They’ll just keep hammering until they get universal vouchers with no sideboards, no income limit,” he said.

Gramer pointed to Arizona, where lawmakers lifted all restrictions on ESAs in 2022. The universal program has been popular but costly amid a budget deficit spurred by tax cuts. that the state is spending $800 million on the ESAs, well beyond initial projections, and they’re expected to reach $912 million next year. Arizona has about three times as many school-age children as Idaho.

Former Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey, who signed the universal expansion into law, is scheduled to appear at a news conference next month at the Idaho Statehouse, where the Mountain States Policy Center is debuting a bill.

Following Arizona’s lead would threaten Idaho’s budget, and ultimately its ability to fund public schools, Gramer argues.

“This is just common sense…Every state has just so much money to go around.”

Where are private schools located?

Most of Idaho’s private schools are concentrated in urban areas. Ada, Canyon and Kootenai are home to 65% of the state’s private school students compared to 56% of Idaho’s overall population, according to an EdNews analysis of Private School Review’s data.

Cole Valley Christian Schools is Idaho’s largest private school with about 1,400 students across campuses in Boise and Meridian. Enrollment has doubled the last four years, according to superintendent Allen Howlett.

Howlett credits much of the rapid growth to new families moving in from out of state, while a minority have transferred from public schools in the area. School leaders are now raising donations for a , consolidated campus that will add capacity for 400 students. and first reported the plans.

Meanwhile, Howlett is part of a coalition of private school leaders that’s urging state lawmakers to adopt a private school choice program. Howlett said he doesn’t know whether it would quickly fill the seats at the new campus, and full financing for construction is years away.

But he believes the state aid would help his neediest families, and it would boost competition between private schools and public schools, leading to better performance across the board.

“I am in favor of competition, period,” he said. “Everything that I see that is positive about our community, our society, competition is one of the things that drives excellence.”

Studies on whether tuition subsidies lead to better academic performance in private schools have produced mixed results, . But research suggests that a competitive education market improves public school students’ performance.

Meanwhile, 17 of Idaho’s 44 counties don’t have a private school and nine counties have just one. Plenty of rural students are home-schooled, and they’d have access to state funds for micro-schools, Horman noted.

“This would be a continued investment in students in Idaho, no matter where they’re learning, whether that’s Sandpoint or Boise.”

But critics argue that taxpayers shouldn’t have to subsidize private schools without having access to them.

Quinn Perry, policy and government affairs director for the Idaho School Boards Association, noted that most recipients of these “entitlement programs” in other states already attended private schools. That’s been the case in Arizona as well as , Iowa, and , where lawmakers have recently enacted private school choice programs or expanded eligibility for existing ones.

“Rural taxpayers are saying ‘We’re not going to foot the bill for kids in Boise to go to private school,’” Perry said.

Additionally, rural communities face unique challenges when it comes to funding public schools, said an . Compared to urban school districts with more robust tax bases, rural school districts have limited local resources to lean on and rely for heavily on state funding. In other words, if the state tightens spending on public schools in favor of private education, rural school districts will be the first to feel it.

“While the negative financial consequences of voucher programs are felt statewide, rural communities are hit especially hard,” the analysis said.

How many private schools are religious?

Nearly two in three private schools in Idaho are religious, according to van Doorn’s analysis for the State Board. Most are Protestant while one in five are Roman Catholic.

Religious school leaders say faith-based education is a draw for families but not everyone can afford it. Tammy Emerich, superintendent of Catholic schools for the Diocese of Boise, in March urged state lawmakers to support the tax credit bill. The Diocese has 14 schools with nearly 4,000 students across the state, she said, and 10 of these schools qualify for federal services targeting low income families.

“The reality for families is that public school is not the perfect fit for every child,” Emerich told the House Revenue and Taxation Committee. “…Many of our parents are making huge financial sacrifices to send their children to a school that aligns with their values.”

But the prospect of sending public funds to religious schools has led to unease on both sides of the debate over private school choice.

Opponents argue it entangles the government with religious institutions in violation of longstanding church-state barriers. Framers of the Idaho Constitution prohibited taxpayer funds from benefitting religious schools in two different sections of the 1890 document, Gramer noted.

“They were very clear,” he said.

Idaho wouldn’t be alone in financing religious education, however. A nationwide uptick in new tuition subsidy programs followed a series of U.S. Supreme Court rulings that said states giving money to private schools couldn’t exclude religious schools.

An this summer found that between 82% and 98% of private school vouchers and ESA funds have gone to religious schools in Ohio, Indiana, Arizona, Florida and Wisconsin.

Some Christian school leaders, meanwhile, are wary of new regulations that could come with the public funds. Idaho’s religious schools have long enjoyed the freedom to teach, test and select students on their own terms, but private school choice proposals in the past have failed amid calls for more oversight and accountability.

Cole Valley Christian mostly follows the Idaho Department of Education’s content standards, Howlett said. But it diverges when the standards are “in contradiction to our biblical values.” The school also doesn’t admit students from families without at least one “Bible-believing Christian” parent.

“Many of our school boards and parents would not support something that would jeopardize our autonomy,” Howlett said.

A handful of states require that private schools report testing results as part of their private school choice programs. A recently enacted for instance, requires that schools receiving the money

HB 447 didn’t include a similar provision measuring academic progress, and Horman declined to say whether she added one to her new proposal.

“I’m going to defer answering that question,” she said. “I will say that there is strong accountability in the bill for use of the money.”

Howlett said he wouldn’t oppose an assessment, as long as schools could choose the test, but anything that would “tell us what we have to teach and how we teach it” is a potential dealbreaker for Christian schools. Parents hold private school leaders accountable, he said.

“If they don’t feel like we’re meeting the needs of their kids or meeting their expectations, they take their money and go.”

is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Idaho Capital Sun maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Christina Lords for questions: info@idahocapitalsun.com.

In the last four years, more than 500 young people from every region of Idaho have enrolled in – and many completed – for occupations as varied as teacher’s aide, welder, personal trainer and medical assistant.

has been a key player in helping employers, school districts, training providers and young people from 16 to 24 years of age expand opportunities to grow Idaho’s workforce through apprenticeship.

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In Idaho, we are hoping to increase the percentage of high school graduates who “go on” to some form of higher education (including the military). Although apprenticeship is not explicitly included in this goal, it can be a life-changing alternative to young people looking for innovative ways to enter meaningful careers that pay well and provide challenge and opportunity. And it often includes more traditional training that is very much a part of the state’s “go on” effort.

During National Apprenticeship Week (Nov. 17-23) Idaho Business for Education wants to recognize and celebrate entering its fifth year of supporting youth apprenticeship. It started in 2020 when IBE and the Idaho Workforce Development Council were awarded a four-year grant from the U.S. Department of Labor to establish, grow, support and sustain youth apprenticeship. It continues with a new grant from the IWDC to expand this work through 2026.

Why are IBE and IWDC so passionate about youth apprenticeship?

Apprenticeship has a proven track record of helping workers and employers by providing on-the-job training, classroom-type instruction, mentorship, and a clear career path.
Apprenticeship helps businesses (and nonprofit employers) attract and retain top talent at a time when the labor market is more competitive than ever.

Apprenticeship creates partnerships between schools and employers, connecting students as young as 16 to real jobs that lead to meaningful careers.

Our grant provides eligible youth apprentices up to $750 per year to cover related costs, such as equipment, clothing, supplies or even the expenses to drive to and from work. For many young people, this is a game-changing service that means the difference between being able to enter the workforce or not.

The program can connect with other programs, such as , the new program that pays for up to 80 percent of eligible graduating high school seniors for post-secondary tuition and fees. This can be part of an approved youth apprenticeship.

Idaho has received national recognition for this program and has lots of highlights to celebrate. In Soda Springs, the high school has both sponsored its own apprenticeships for teacher’s aides and other opportunities and collaborated with local employers to establish apprenticeships around the region, with over 70 apprentices placed to date.

Elsewhere, the Nez Perce Tribe has partnered with IBE to create unique and sustainable opportunities for over 50 of its young people in a variety of fields. Large employers such as St. Luke’s Health System and Micron are significant participants in apprenticeship in the Treasure Valley. Idaho Central Credit Union partners with high schools across the state using branches right in the schools, placing 65 apprentices to date.

There are many more – dozens more. Each example tells its own story, with unique opportunities to expand the state’s workforce, introduce young people to new opportunities, and open doors for coursework and technical certifications.

is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Idaho Capital Sun maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Christina Lords for questions: info@idahocapitalsun.com. Follow Idaho Capital Sun on and .

Sean Carnell, who grew up in Boise, never saw himself pursuing a college education. He was sentenced to prison on battery and robbery charges in 2013 — where he later received his GED. He faces another four years before he can be considered for parole.

Despite his past, Carnell made the dean’s list at the University of Idaho for the last two semesters in a row.

Carnell, a resident at the Idaho Correctional Institution in Orofino, attends college through the Second Chance Pell Experiment — a program launched by the U.S. Department of Education which provides need-based Pell Grants to people in state and federal prisons.

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“I never thought I’d have straight A’s, let alone be enrolled in college,” Carnell told the Idaho Capital Sun. “Having the hope of achieving something, of being able to walk out and say I did something with my time to try to better myself, is huge.”

Like Carnell, more than 90 residents at the Orofino prison registered for the spring semester through the Second Chance Pell program — keeping themselves busy in prison while also aiming to enhance their resumes in preparation for their eventual release.

“This is the first time in corrections that I’ve felt that I’ve been valued as a human being,” Carnell said. “Most of the time we are the sum of our failures. This gives us the opportunity to try to achieve these levels of success that we never thought possible.”

Thirty years later, Idaho prisoners have access to college education

Three decades ago, the federal government removed Pell Grant eligibility for incarcerated individuals through the Federal Crime Bill of 1994. The ban was enacted amid a wave of “tough-on-crime” policies in the 1990s.

But in 2015, the Obama administration reinstated access to Pell Grants for incarcerated individuals as began to show that prison education plays a role in decreasing crime.

According to the , incarcerated people who have participated in postsecondary education in prison are 48% less likely to reoffend than those who do not. Additionally, every dollar invested in prison-based education results in four to five dollars in taxpayer savings from reduced incarceration costs.

Between 2016 to 2020 — the first four years of the reinstated access to Pell Grants — over 7,000 prison students earned either an associate degree, bachelor’s degree, or a certificate or diploma, according to the .

, the University of Idaho and Lewis-Clark State College became the first schools in the Gem State to participate in the program — bringing the total number of colleges participating in the program to 200.

Most courses are asynchronous and are conducted virtually at the prison’s school space using designated laptops. However, some university professors make on-site visits to the facility, accompanied by non-incarcerated students.

While the program requires a lot of partnership and collaboration between the schools and correctional staff, Sean Quinlan, the dean of the University of Idaho’s College of Letters, Arts and Social Sciences, told the Sun that it is worth it.

“Access to higher education and to complete college degree as an inmate is one of the surest predictors for keeping people from crime in the future,” Quinlan said. “I believe that this is a really important way of serving our state – to help people improve their lives and have safer communities.”

‘They’ve been waiting for something like this’: IDOC education director says

Ted Oparnico, the Idaho Department of Correction education director, told the Sun there was significant interest from correction residents to participate in the program.

In Idaho, some incarcerated people earn between an hour, so the Second Chance Pell program makes it possible for them to fund their education beyond a GED or certificate.

“I think they’ve been waiting for something like this for a long time,” Oparnico said. “We typically only provide GEDs as our secondary certificate, but once they complete that, well, what’s next? They might have another five or 10 years or longer left, so having a Pell program gives them some opportunities to continue education.”

Students in Idaho prisons are still in their first few semesters of having access to the Pell Grants, so none have graduated as of yet, Oparnico said.

Silas Parks, who was on manslaughter charges for killing his pregnant wife, told the Sun he has been excited to see this program come to Idaho.

“I have literally day-dreamed for over 10 years sitting in prison about getting out of prison and going back to college,” he said. “I’m still here, but I can go back to college which is an awesome experience.”

Parks attended the University of Idaho before going to prison, but he did not complete his bachelor’s degree. Now enrolled with the financial help of the Second Chance Pell Grant, he is close to receiving his degree. His next goal is to receive a graduate degree once he is released.

“I came to prison when I was 23, and I was not the most mature person,” he said. “Now I know what I want. Nothing teaches you what you want more than having everything taken away.”

To participate in the program, residents have to have a GED or high school diploma and be six months without any disciplinary offenses. They also must complete a 20-hour college preparatory course, and commit to at least a semester of a class or pay back the funds if they choose to leave.

“It’s a benefit for the community,” Oparnico said, adding that 90% of prison residents will eventually be released from the Idaho correctional system. “When we have people who leave our facilities, the public can know that they’re getting a neighbor that has an education because they spent the time, commitment, and they dedicated themselves to being better prepared to contribute to society.”

‘Everybody can do this’: IDOC resident says about college

Like Carnell who never saw himself attending college, and like Parks who acknowledged his immaturity at the time of his sentencing — Travas Bickhart is also proud of the personal growth that’s come with being a college student in an Idaho prison.

Giving more attention to alcohol and drugs, Bickhart graduated high school with roughly a 2.8 GPA, despite paying people off to do his homework, he told the Sun.

In 2018, Bickhart was sentenced to up to 20 years in prison on rape charges, with the possibility of parole after 10 years.

Despite being the first person in his family to go to prison, he is also the first person in his family to receive a college education. He told the Sun that he’s learned a lot about himself in the process of taking college courses.

“You can’t give up on yourself,” he said. “No matter what your position is or what crime you’ve done, everybody can do this. I’ve made a lot of mistakes in my life, but this is the only thing I’ve been proud of to this point.”

is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Idaho Capital Sun maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Christina Lords for questions: info@idahocapitalsun.com. Follow Idaho Capital Sun on and .

Thirty people, including library staff, board members and patrons testified in person and virtually at a Senate State Affairs Committee hearing Wednesday morning to voice their opinions on the Legislature’s most recent library bill — .

However, the committee did not vote on any motion related to the bill because of time constraints. Committee chairman Sen. Jim Guthrie, R-McCammon, said the committee will continue its discussion at a later time.

An affirmative vote in the committee would secure the bill a spot on the Senate floor, making the bill one step closer to becoming law after the Idaho House of Representatives last week in a 47-23 vote.

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House Bill 710 is an amended version of a previous bill introduced earlier this year. The bill would rely on Idaho’s , which includes “any act of … homosexuality” under its definition of sexual conduct.

It would require libraries to have a form for people to request review of materials. The bill grants county prosecuting attorneys or the attorney general the authority to seek injunctive relief against schools or public libraries found violating the law on promoting, giving, or making available material deemed harmful to minors.

Sen. Cindy Carlson, R-Riggins, the sponsor of the bill, said she believes the bill is a great solution.

“Parents and citizens of the state of Idaho and the rest of the country are angry and want access to this harmful material to children be removed,” she said.

House Bill 710 was the only piece of legislation on the committee’s agenda Wednesday morning, and public testimony took nearly all two hours of the committee’s allotted time.

Most of the librarians who testified said the legislation is confusing, unnecessary and demoralizing to their professions. Many said this year marks the third year they have had to testify in opposition to a library bill, and they expressed frustration that the bill is targeting the LGBTQ+ community under its definition of materials harmful to minors.

Megan Cafferty, a Meridian librarian, said her main concern was the costs that this bill would create for Idaho libraries, noting that the $250 fine in damages would disproportionately hurt small libraries, and requiring an adults-only section would create challenges for libraries with limited staff and space in their building.

“Currently we are having issues even retaining our current staff because we can’t compete with the rising cost of living,” she said. “We can’t afford to live in the city where we work. I personally can’t have a studio apartment and afford to eat in Meridian, so we definitely can’t afford to remodel and add all of these extra costs.”

Huda Shaltry, a Boise librarian and the legislative co-chair for the Idaho Librarian Association, said that library-related legislation has created challenges in her career. But for each negative encounter, she said she experiences hundreds of positive interactions with library patrons.

“Every week somebody has thanked me for the existence of libraries and what we do and the resources that we provide the tech support, the printing, helping people find a home or escape their domestic violence situation,” she said. “This is what we do. This is what I was trained to do.”

Grace Howat, a representative for the conservative organization, Idaho Family Policy Center, was the only person to testify in favor of the legislation. In her testimony, she said the policy center is excited to support the bill as it would protect children.

Recap of library bills during 2024 session

House Bill 710 was brought to the Legislature after the Idaho Senate Senate Bill 1289, of previous legislation brought by Rep. Jaron Crane, R-Nampa, and Sen. Geoff Schroeder, R-Mountain Home.

At least four bills have been brought to the Idaho Legislature to regulate library materials for minors, including

House Bill 384, which library patrons to sue libraries if they provide “harmful materials” to minors. It would have also created a policy that requires community members fill out a written notice asking libraries to relocate a library item that they deem “harmful” to an adult’s only section. If a library failed to relocate the item within 30 days, then one could have sued the library for $250, as well as “actual damages and any other relief.” , which would have required school boards establish a “library materials review committee,” or a group of parents, educators and administrators who review requests for reconsideration of school library items, the Idaho Capital Sun . It did not advance to a hearing.Senate Bill 1289, which according to bill sponsors, combined House Bill 384 and Senate Bill 1221. It died in a 18-17 vote in the Senate, the Sun . House Bill 710, of House Bill 384.

While regulating library materials is at the top of the agenda for some Republican legislators, a Boise State University survey showed that most Idahoans trust library staff with book selection. According to the university’s ninth annual , 69% of respondents said they trust library staff with book selection, while 23% of Idahoans said they do not trust libraries and library staff.

At the end of the committee hearing Monday, Senate President Pro Tempore Chuck Winder, R-Boise, addressed the librarians in the room, some of whom came from Idaho Falls, Ketchum and across the Treasure Valley.

“Please don’t think this is out of disrespect to any of you as librarians, any of you as teachers,” Winder said. “That’s not what this is about. We’ve got parents that have concerns we’re trying to deal with, and remember, our Constitution is set up to protect the minority, not the majority.”

is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Idaho Capital Sun maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Christina Lords for questions: info@idahocapitalsun.com. Follow Idaho Capital Sun on and .

Surrounded by “school choice” advocates in the Statehouse, Sen. Lori Den Hartog, R-Meridian, and Rep. Wendy Horman, R-Idaho Falls, announced the $50 million “parental choice tax credit” program. 

It’s the latest Idaho proposal that seeks to open up public funds for private education. Den Hartog and Horman, who have been leading proponents of the “school choice” movement in Idaho, plan to introduce the bill during the , which starts Monday. 

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“In a time of high inflation and economic uncertainty, the increased concern over the alignment of family values and education, this proposal is designed to support Idaho parents as they make decisions about their child’s education,” Den Hartog said.

The proposal has two parts. First, private school families of any income could claim $5,000 tax credits for expenses “related to the nonpublic academic instruction,” Den Hartog said. That includes tuition, fees, transportation, tutoring, test-taking and exam preparation, among other things.

Qualifying students would be school-aged and enrolled in a non-public school, which could include religious schools and home schools. The tax credits would be first come, first served with a $40 million cap. 

A second bucket of state funds — $10 million — would be set aside for a “kickstart” program benefitting low-income students. Rather than claiming private school expenses on their taxes, families who qualify for the federal earned income tax credit could collect up to $5,000 in grants for one year. After a year, those families would be rolled into the tax credit program. 

In recent years, similar legislation has failed in the face of widespread anxiety about expending public funds on private schools. Opponents of similar mechanisms — often called “vouchers” — worry about a lack of accountability for private school expenses and fear that limited public school funds would be siphoned. 

Public school leaders have bitterly fought proposals to fund private education at the state level. Quinn Perry, policy and government affairs director for the Idaho School Boards Association, told Idaho Education News this week that private school voucher programs in other states have been “budget busters.”

Arizona’s expanding school voucher program is expected to $900 million this school year. Initial estimates in the Grand Canyon State pegged the cost at $65 million.

The Arizona Mirror last week that the state faces a $400 million deficit, because of the rising cost of private school vouchers and decreasing state revenue due to a new flat income tax — which Idaho also enacted, in 2022.

Den Hartog and Horman brushed aside those concerns Friday. They touted the proposed spending caps and the fact that the State Tax Commission would oversee the tax credits and grants, creating an “accountability measure” backed by the threat of perjury for lying on one’s taxes. 

Horman, a former public school board trustee who co-chairs the Legislature’s powerful budget committee, said the program would be “complementary” to Idaho’s public school system. She said she wouldn’t support a policy that harms public education. 

“I am not a fan of budget-busting bills,” Horman said. 

Den Hartog and Horman also acknowledged that those caps could increase in future years, if demand calls for it. 

House Assistant Minority Leader Lauren Necochea slammed the proposal in a conversation with reporters Friday. The Boise Democrat said funneling the money through the Tax Commission is likely a strategy to sidestep the House Education Committee, which blocked similar legislation last year. 

“Whether it’s the state Tax Commission cutting the check or another agency, the result is the same: dollars are being siphoned out of the fund that we use for public schools and will go towards private, religious and, potentially, for-profit institutions with zero accountability,” Necochea said.

National groups that advocate for “school choice” in recent years have spent heavily lobbying Idaho lawmakers to pass a private school voucher policy. But Friday’s news conference demonstrated homegrown support, as well. Dozens of children and parents held signs reading “support the parental choice tax credit program.”

Robbe Hart, a single father from Emmett, said he commutes more than 60 miles, round-trip, for his sons to attend Greenleaf Friends Academy. The travel is “extremely expensive,” Hart said, but his sons have “thrived” at the Christian school.

“If this bill passed, it would help thousands of other people that are going through the same thing that I go through,” he said.

Idaho State University has been awarded $2.2 million in grants to train students and educators who will work with children who are deaf or hard-of-hearing.

Idaho State University’s Department of Communications and Disorders was awarded two grants from the Office of Special Education Personnel Preparation that will make $2.2 million in grant funding available over the next five years, according to a news release last week by Idaho State University.

The Idaho Hearing Education and Aural Rehabilitation program, often referred to as the HEAR program, will use the grant funding for training, tuition and stipends for 42 students who are studying to become service providers in speech language pathology or audiology, university officials said. Grant funding will also support educators who teach children who are deaf or hard-of-hearing.

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“The model we have running family-to-family support through a university is unique in the country and comes with benefits that are particularly helpful in a rural state like Idaho,” Idaho State University Professor Kristina Blaiser, the grant recipient and principal investigator for the HEAR program, said in a written statement. “The integration of technology helps bring families together, regardless of their geographic locations. Instead of feeling isolated with a low incidence diagnosis, families feel connected and empowered.”

Idaho State University officials said the program will benefit Idaho parents and families because there is a shortage of speech language pathologists, audiologists and early intervention personnel in the state.

“As a parent of a child who is hard-of-hearing, I can attest that there is significant need for this type of training program,” Pocatello parent Shelly Estevez said in a written statement provided by ISU.

University officials said they plan to accept the first cohort of students into the HEAR program in fall 2024.

is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Idaho Capital Sun maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Christina Lords for questions: info@idahocapitalsun.com. Follow Idaho Capital Sun on and .

An important piece of ’s work focuses on improving the futures of Idaho youth, particularly those in rural communities. In a number of ways, AmeriCorps funding plays a key role in our programs.

Teach For America teachers are also AmeriCorps members. They can use Segal AmeriCorps Education Awards to pay for teacher certification or to pay down their existing student debt. Participation in AmeriCorps also enables them to defer their undergraduate loans for the first two years of teaching and have the interest, which accrues during those two years, paid off by the federal government.

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These awards help us recruit a more socio-economically diverse teaching force, which helps boost student learning in underserved communities. If this significant benefit were to disappear, it would have a strongly negative impact on our recruiting efforts. Since launching in Idaho in 2015, Teach For America teachers have reached more than 30,000 Idaho students.

It has been Teach For America’s experience that many individuals who want to serve, particularly as educators, are unable to do so. They face significant economic barriers, including high student debt and the cost of teacher certification, which make it difficult to enter a lower-paying profession such as teaching.

It’s important that people understand that beyond the overwhelmingly positive impact Teach For America has on students, our AmeriCorps members also gain a great deal of knowledge and experience from working with us. They frequently turn that experience into careers.

Former Teach For America teachers now work in all echelons of our state’s education system. Some are teachers, others are principals or school board members. Their experience in Idaho classrooms, made possible in part by AmeriCorps, represents only the beginning of their contributions to education in our state.

Idaho’s congressmenRep. Russ Fulcher and Rep. Mike Simpson should know that Idahoans value the programming made possible by the presence of AmeriCorps in our state.

Reducing its footprint would harm the people who need its services most. It is truly a hidden gem in the Gem State.

is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Idaho Capital Sun maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Christina Lords for questions: info@idahocapitalsun.com. Follow Idaho Capital Sun on and .

Gov. Brad Little touted Idaho’s growing apprenticeship programs Wednesday.

He also used the occasion to talk up one of his pet projects: the fledgling post-high school incentives program.

“There are multiple pathways to success,” Little said Wednesday, at a proclamation ceremony in Meridian marking November as Idaho Apprenticeship Month. “We need more young Idahoans to go on to postsecondary education, and we’ve been very intentional about expanding ‘go-on’ to include opportunities outside of the traditional four-year college degree – including apprenticeships.”

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Idaho now offers about 2,400 apprenticeships, a number that has increased by 40% over the past three years, according to a Wednesday news release from Little’s office.

The state has put more than $10 million into building apprenticeship programs over the past five years, and starting next year, the state will put about $75 million of additional money into Launch.

High school seniors can now apply for Launch grants of up to $8,000, which they can put toward two- or four-year college, career-technical education or worker training programs. Grants will go out next summer.

This story was originally published on .

Idaho’s schools have a $66.5 million problem — and it’s impacting the state’s most vulnerable students.

Since its inception, special education has been underfunded nationwide.

Public schools are required to provide special services to fulfill the needs of students of all abilities — but they often aren’t given the money to do so, at least not all of it. The federal government’s promise to fund 40% of states’ special ed costs has never been fulfilled, and state governments often don’t make up the difference.

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“For as long as I’ve been teaching and I’ve been in education, there has been a discrepancy between what a district spends to educate the students requiring special education services and what they’re actually reimbursed,” said Ryan Cantrell, a longtime educator and current chief deputy superintendent at the State Department of Education.

In Idaho, school districts and charters are left to fill that gap — and it’s nearing $67 million.

That hole causes local education agencies (a term that refers to public school districts and charters) to pinch pennies, shift around money, dip into discretionary funds and turn to local taxpayers to foot the bill. It contributes to high turnover rates among special education teachers and paraprofessionals, and ultimately can impact the level of resources and attention that students receive.

Education leaders know there’s a problem. But with an antiquated funding formula, which hasn’t been rewritten since 1994, and little movement from the federal government, solutions are hard to come by.

“It leaves districts to look at their own district budgets, and ask themselves: How are we going to cover the gap between what we receive from the federal government and what we receive from the State of Idaho, compared to the actual costs for our students to receive a special education?” said Cantrell.

Special education funding is complicated

There are nearly 37,000 special education students in Idaho — that’s about 11.6% of the state’s total student population.

Let’s put that into perspective — if all of Idaho’s special education students were lumped into one district, it would be the second largest in the state, just after West Ada, which sits at 40,000 students.

But neither the state nor the federal government provides enough funding to cover the costs of all of those students and their needs. In the 2021-22 school year, the funding gap for special education sat at an estimated $66.5 million, taking into account federal and state appropriations. That leaves schools without funding for about 7,760 students.

Here’s a rundown of how special ed is funded, and how the gap is calculated

Public schools are required to fulfill the needs of every student in special education, no matter how costly it can be.

If a high-needs student moves into a district halfway through the year, and requires a full-time nurse to accompany them at school, the district must find a way to cover that cost, even if it takes up half of the annual special education budget.

And that’s how it should be, education leaders say.

“The school district cannot arbitrarily say, well, we can’t afford that,” said Cantrell. “We’re not going to do it. That’s not an option.”

Serving every child, no matter what level of ability, is public education’s purpose. Special education directors, teachers, paraprofessionals and other staff work tirelessly to ensure that students’ needs are fulfilled, even under significant funding crunches.

The state is also required to fund special education first — federal funding is a supplement to that.

Under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), schools are bound by a provision known as Maintenance of Effort (MOE), which requires districts and charters to (barring a few exceptions) budget the same amount of money, or more, in their special education budgets year after year.

Essentially, once money goes to special education, it stays there.

In total, districts and charters spent about $317 million on special education statewide in the 2021-22 school year.

That amount includes only the expenditures that were 100% identifiable as special education costs — in reality, special education demands likely take up even more funding, but measuring those extra costs is difficult if they aren’t identified specifically as special education expenses on budget reports.

Of the total amount, about $215 million came out of the state’s general fund — the chief operating fund for school districts and charters statewide. The state allocates that amount based on two divisors — it covers special education costs for 5-6% of students. In Idaho, the actual percentage of students who need special education services hovers around 11-12%.

For the 21-22 academic year, the K-12 general fund sat at about $2.06 billion.

But only about $148 million of that was allocated by the state for special education, leaving districts and charters on the hook for the remaining $66.5 million, according to calculations from the State Department of Education.

And that’s just state funding.

Congress never fulfilled its special education funding promise

The federal government also disperses special education money, through the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).

When IDEA was enacted in 1975, Congress promised that the annual appropriations would cover 40% of a state’s annual special education expenditures.

But federal funding has never risen to that promise.

Nationally, IDEA funding has hovered around 18-20% for the past 48 years, with one spike to 33% in 2009, just following the recession. In Idaho, IDEA funding has never covered more than 20% of annual special education expenditures, and it varies between school districts based on their individual overall costs.

In fiscal year 2022, districts and charters received $61 million through IDEA. That funding is part of the $317 million in total special education expenditures.

Districts can also receive reimbursements for some health-related special education expenses through school-based Medicaid, but the process is cumbersome, said Ramona Lee, special education director for the West Ada School District.

Essentially, schools pay the full amount for Medicaid-eligible services first. They then submit a reimbursement form to the federal government — that form requires schools to provide a 30% match to the approved reimbursement amount, using state or local funds, not federal.

So, before receiving any money from the government, schools are on the hook for 100% of the cost of services. Schools then receive a partial reimbursement at a net 70% from the government.

“It’s like me giving you $3 and you giving me back $10,” said Lee.

And families can refuse Medicaid reimbursement, leaving some schools on the hook for 100% of the expenses anyway.

Between the allocated state funding ($148 million) and IDEA funding ($61 million), schools had about $209 million in special education funding to work with in FY22. With another $41 million offset through Medicaid reimbursements, the total gets up to about $250 million.

But to fulfill federal and state special education requirements, which include the maintenance of effort and IDEA requirements, districts are spending at least $66.5 million more on special education than they are allocated — for a total of $317 million.

n reality, that gap is likely more extensive, considering the special education expenses that aren’t 100% identifiable. And as more students are identified with disabilities, and the state continues to operate on an antiquated funding formula, the gap is widening.

Gap exacerbates staffing, funding challenges

Funding is tight, turnover is high and resources are hard to come by. The special education funding gap only exacerbates the challenges that already prevail in schools across the state.

In many cases, districts turn to local taxpayers for funding support through supplemental levies — many of which have a budgeted amount for salaries or special education services. But it’s growing harder to pass bonds and levies, as property taxes rise and education grows more polarized.

But when the special education budget is tight, districts are forced to split up the funding pie differently in order to meet their mandate. Districts can divert funding away from other areas of education, including those that are funded through discretionary funds. Many of those shifts have a double-edged impact on special education students, Lee says.

For example, if general education class sizes are increased to pay for a special education teacher or paraprofessionals, that still impacts special education students because they are general education students. They still use general education classrooms and services, and large class sizes will have an impact on learning no matter where it happens.

“All students that receive special ed services are gen ed students first,” Lee said. “So they still need a gen ed classroom, a teacher, books, a library, a principal, lights…all those things that come with education.”

And because funding is tight, districts have a harder time meeting every student’s needs, despite educators’ best efforts.

According to Kindel Mason, director of support services for the Twin Falls School District, and president of the national Council of Administrators of Special Education, special education is the number one litigated issue in schools nationwide, and funding is a major factor.

“A lot of school districts are doing everything they can to scramble and put things in place to meet the needs of kids,” said Mason. “But I would just say, either the law is very cumbersome…or a lack of resources is causing school districts to not be able to provide everything they need to.”

Still, staffing is the biggest challenge for special education right now, agreed Lee and Mason.

With limited funding, special education case loads are high — in Twin Falls, some teachers have 30-40 students in a resource room, and 10-15 students in an extended resource room, said Mason. For many educators, that level of work isn’t sustainable.

In West Ada, the teacher shortage looks a little different.

“We don’t have a shortage of special ed certified teachers,” said Lee. “We have a shortage of special ed certified teachers who are teaching special ed. A lot of them have dual endorsements…and a lot of them move to general ed because special ed does come with a lot of work. There’s a lot of paperwork, and because the funding formula is such a challenge, case loads are typically higher than they are in a lot of other states, and that’s hard.”

Both districts — like others across the state — are also struggling to hire paraprofessionals, the classified employees who do the grunt work to support classroom teachers.

In the case of parapros, the already dismal special education funding is further compromised by a $97 million classified staff funding gap, according to a 2022 report from the Office of Performance Evaluations. The struggles that districts face in hiring parapros for general education classrooms are multiplied when hiring for special education classrooms.

“We did raise our rates by several dollars an hour, even above the general education paras to get those people in,” said Mason. “That seems to be working.”

But it comes at a cost, Mason says. When wages are raised, the district can’t hire as many people, leaving teachers without the extra hands that they need. When those hands disappear, Mason says, students lose out on critical one-on-one time with teachers, and teachers lose out on critical teaching time.

“Our biggest commodity is people doing the work,” he said.

‘The loyal para is the engine that keeps the enterprise running smoothly’ — but they’re hard to find

Amy Watts is a virtual, kindergarten through ninth grade special education teacher and advisor with the Canyon-Owyhee School Service Agency (COSSA) and Idaho Future Ready Academy. Before starting at COSSA, Watts taught special education in brick-and-mortar schools in the West Ada district, as well as Middleton. Watts says that paraprofessionals are essential to special education classrooms.

“One benefit of a special education classroom is the small class size, which allowed me to truly get to know the students,” Watts wrote to EdNews in an email. “I often had a classroom aide or other specialist in the room, so I could take time to address an individual student’s needs without worrying that such one-to-one attention was taking away from the group as a whole. This degree of personal investment and attention to the individual is crucial in a special education classroom, and it creates lifelong bonds that both the student and team find meaningful and rewarding.”

Now that she’s in an online teaching environment – a move she made in 2019 after watching her district’s elementary schools reach capacity – Watts says she doesn’t feel the pinch of the SpEd gap, but she knows it’s a real issue for many others.

“It is concerning to me that there is a demand for classified and supporting staff due to the low pay and need for better health insurance coverage,” Watts said. “Loyal paraprofessionals are hard to find, but once they are discovered, wise is the leader who values them. Special education paraprofessionals that I have worked with in the past have been rare and productive, constantly looking for ways to make the lead special education teacher successful in his or her classroom. They unselfishly serve behind the scenes, tirelessly and tediously. Because of a loyal team member’s sixth sense to anticipate needs, they know how to encourage excellence.”

“They learn to spur the lead SpEd teacher with thorough questioning and problem solving so the leader’s intuition can be clarified and verified. The loyal para is an encourager and an implementer. They get things done by converting the leader’s vision into reality. Without the skill and support of these dream enhancers, the visionary SpEd teacher would drown in their duties and functions…It is no secret that the loyal para is the engine that keeps the enterprise running smoothly.”

In 1906, the Carnegie Unit, or credit hour, was introduced to standardize U.S. public education. It defined the precise number of minutes students needed to learn a particular subject and the number of “credit hours” required to earn a high school or college degree. To be sure, at the dawn of the 20^th century, this served an important purpose — standardizing an entirely unstandardized education system. 

Today, the Carnegie Unit has infiltrated almost every aspect of American schooling. It defines how many minutes one must sit at a desk in a classroom or in front of a digital platform to learn. It shapes how schools and teaching are organized. It determines what is and is not assessed. It defines graduation requirements and dictates how schools are accredited. And it prescribes what goes on a transcript and influences who receives financial aid. In essence, the Carnegie Unit isn’t just hard-wired into the system; it is the system. And .

For students, this model of schooling exacts a heavy toll. Young people consistently report feeling they are in an intellectual straitjacket: given schedules, told what classes to take, stuck in rows of desks, handed textbooks that lack relevance to study subjects that are disconnected from the skills they need to succeed. For many students, school isn’t engaging or inspiring — it is something to endure.

Students Deserve Better

The overwhelming majority of American high schools are organized in lock step around the Carnegie Unit. Yet are ready for college or a career. Thus most young people start their adult lives behind and will have to spend some, if not all, of their time trying to catch up. 

The consequences of this reality — precipitous decline of economic mobility — are unambiguous. For Americans born in 1980, just 50% earned more than their parents, compared to 90% for those born in 1940, . The “American Dream” .

Compounding these challenges is the unprecedented, painful disruption of COVID. The most recent report from the — the long-term trend analysis for 13-year-olds — gave us a window into just how much our students fell behind: Reading scores dropped below pre-pandemic levels, and math scores plummeted to where they were three decades ago.

This cohort of students is now entering high school. If there was ever a moment to press for meaningful, lasting transformation, it is now.

High School Is the Fulcrum for Change

When high school learning improves, K-8 is pressed to raise standards to prepare students for more engaging, relevant, rigorous curricula. And post-secondary completion improves as well. Over time, these benefits compound, leading to better learning outcomes for students K-16, stronger communities, increased economic productivity and greater civic engagement.

That’s why the and the have embarked on a partnership to catalyze high schools that develop the rich tapestry of skills students need to succeed in school and life and enable learning to happen anywhere. Put differently, we are intent on building a new educational architecture that shifts the sector to a truly competency-based system and away from time-bound conceptions of what knowledge is and how it is acquired.

A growing number of states and local communities are embarking on this work — establishing competency-based education models, offering flexibility for what counts as “credit” and reimagining how credit is awarded. New Hampshire’s “” law empowers students to earn credit wherever the learning occurs. Texas, Missouri and several other states allow schools and systems to request waivers from seat-time mandates. And states like Rhode Island and school systems like Phoenix, Washington, D.C. and Tulsa are designing more rigorous, engaging and relevant models for high school learning.

Learn more about what educators nationwide are doing to rethink high school by subscribing to The XQ Xtra, a newsletter for educators that comes out twice a month. .

A New Architecture for High Schools and Communities

What will it take for all students to receive the high school education they need? We are convinced it requires a new set of building blocks, which together form the foundation of a new educational architecture: 

• Clear and persuasive learner outcomes; 
• Well-articulated and specific competencies to guide teaching and learning; 
• Powerful learning experiences inside and outside of the classroom aligned with those outcomes and competencies; 
• Much richer models of assessment — rooted around a competency-based student performance framework — that students, parents and educators can use to accelerate learning; 
• New kinds of transcripts that codify and make legible (to post-secondary schools and employers) what young people know and can do; 
• Support for aspiring and incumbent teachers to help them enact new roles; and 
• Designs for schools that are not tethered to minutes spent at a desk but focus on developing the knowledge and skills young people need for success in the 21^st century. 

State leaders, in particular, have essential roles to play. Here are three major ways they can reshape the high school landscape:

1. States should incentivize communities to redesign their high schools and invite key stakeholders to be directly engaged. 

In Memphis, a parent named Ginger Spickler saw an XQ billboard inviting communities to enter a high school redesign competition. She called a meeting with dozens of parents, educators, business owners and civic leaders. Together with hundreds of students, they created a blueprint for the school that their community needed. 

The result was , which opened in 2018 and takes a project-based learning approach in all of its classes. The result? More than 95% of its inaugural cohort graduated on time, compared to 80% in the surrounding school system. And its class of 2022 outperformed their peers across Tennessee and the nation in meeting college readiness benchmarks on the ACT in English, reading, math and science. 

To be clear, high school redesign cannot be limited to doing this work one school at a time — nor require creating schools from the ground up. That’s why XQ is to redesign 64 schools and is working with to expand the high school transformation work system-wide. And it is why Carnegie launched the to engage school systems across the nation.

2. States must catalyze high school learning that is engaging, rigorous, relevant and experiential. 

Young people need learning experiences that are multi-dimensional, project-based, high-interest and relevant to their lives and aspirations. Learning experiences need to be authentic, not made-up school tasks. They should build students’ academic content knowledge as well as other essential skills and competencies, like critical thinking and collaboration, at the same time. And they need to be rigorous, challenging every student both inside and outside the classroom and the traditional school day. 

One method to catalyze these kinds of learning experiences is for states to create innovation grants (what we call “challenges”) for teachers, schools and community organizations. This enables them to plan together and deliver transformative learning experiences that build explicit competencies necessary for success in post-secondary school and the workforce. To provide guidance, XQ and Carnegie are creating a toolkit for educators and curriculum makers that articulates what these should look like. Our goal is to spur both the supply of new curriculum products and demand from students, teachers and families for high school learning that is different and better.

3. States must help change how we assess and credential student learning. 

Traditional math classes today, such as Algebra 1 and geometry, are often taught in monolithic ways. Students who fail a course typically have to repeat it entirely, even if they only struggled on a few topics. That’s a tremendous burden on teachers — and heartbreaking and discouraging for students. 

With badging, courses are broken down into smaller components and designed to align with each student’s personal learning journey. Students have more agency over how their learning is organized and the path they take through content toward mastery. That makes math much more manageable, helps young people grow confidence, and will lead to greater achievement in the long run. 

XQ is with and a network of math pedagogy, assessment, policy and instruction experts. Three states are piloting this effort: Idaho, Illinois and Kentucky, and they’re each doing it differently. 

In Kentucky, badges will align with a traditional Algebra 1 curriculum, allowing students to demonstrate mastery of these concepts at an individualized pace.

In Idaho, badging will help provide an alternative to Algebra 2, giving students the option to take badge courses associated with different programs of study, allowing them to graduate with the particular math skills most important for their college or career of choice.

We are also tackling the urgent need for better, more useful forms of educational assessment. In March, to design, pilot and introduce new tools that reliably measure the essential affective, behavioral and cognitive skills necessary for success in school and the 21st century economy. In essence, the initiative aims to replace many of the assessments that have been in use for decades with a much better and different set of tools. 

With leaders across the nation, we aim to build a blueprint for what it will take to shift away from the Carnegie Unit, engage key stakeholders in school redesign, focus high school learning on essential learner outcomes, prioritize rigorous, project-based learning experiences, and assess performance with smarter, better tools. 

We have more ideas for how to rethink high school. Check out The XQ Xtra, a newsletter for educators that comes out twice a month. .

This article is adapted from “ State Education Standard (May 2023), published by the .

Disclosure: is a financial supporter of The 74.

CALDWELL — Idaho families will soon no longer have to send their children out of state to get their children mental health care inside a residential facility.

The Idaho Youth Ranch is opening a treatment facility called the Residential Center for Healing & Resilience that has 64 beds, all with their own room, and a charter school on a scenic campus only a short drive from downtown Caldwell.

The center will provide 24-hour nursing, psychiatric care, therapy and year-round schooling for over 100 children ages 11-17 years old each year, according to a press release.

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Most children who receive treatment at the Youth Ranch facility will be on Medicaid, said Jeff Myers, vice president of marketing and communication, in a Monday interview at the facility. But children on private insurance will also be treated, and the facility, which is under construction, will offer scholarships to kids whose coverage doesn’t fully cover their stay, Myers said.

Next to Youth Ranch’s Equine Therapy Center on its 258-acre campus with trees, fields and streams, the children’s treatment facility hopes to keep Idaho children closer to their families, which leaders say will help children respond better to treatment.

“This is an Idaho challenge that deserves an Idaho solution,” said Idaho Youth Ranch CEO Scott Curtis in an interview with the Idaho Capital Sun. “Not just because we should be taking care of that locally, but because it makes a difference therapeutically. To send youth to another state is another trauma for them to deal with. … To keep them closer to their families and caregivers will help their therapy work be more effective and more lasting.”

Already, 50 children are in queue to get care in the facility, Myers said.

On any given day in Idaho, over 100 kids on Medicaid are being sent out of state to access this residential psychiatric care, Myers said.

The facility will start taking a limited number of patients Aug. 15. The public is invited to tour the facility on Thursday. To protect the privacy of children being treated, the facility generally won’t offer tours after it starts treating patients, Myers said.

Idaho Youth Ranch Residential Facility is meant to feel comfortable

The facility is built around the needs of children who’ll be seeking care there. Each of the six classrooms have restrooms. Hallways are extra wide to let patients maintain personal space. Kids who struggle to sit still in class can even use fidget-friendly seats. The facility’s carpeted floors, wooden ceilings and large windows are also meant to feel more familiar, Myers said.

“It’s not home, but it feels like a home-like environment,” he said.

Every staff member on site, including maintenance workers and cooks, will be trained on how to interact with students, Myers said. The facility plans  to use few or no holds, which are when staff have to physically restrain patients, he said.

“We know that if we have to put hands on a kid, it sets back their treatment substantially. So part of it is being aware of all the signs ahead of the time the kids start to get dysregulated so we can intervene, (and) intercept that early,” Myers said. “And part of that is a mindset in training that says we’re gonna do everything we can to avoid that.”

But the facility is still built with features that psychiatric facilities have — like metal fences enclosing the facility’s yards and construction features that prevent children from harming themselves.

The facility features four dorm halls of 16 rooms, each named after different Idaho mountain ranges from southwest, central, northern and eastern parts of the state — Owyhee, Sawtooth, Selkirk and Teton. The facility also has a dining hall, therapy and wellness building and recreation hall.

The charter school, called Promise Academy, is chartered through the Middleton School District, as previously reported by.

Eventually, the psychiatric care facility may add a new 32-bed building to its campus, Myers said.

The Idaho Youth Ranch raised $35 million to build the youth residential treatment facility — mostly from private donors, but the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare awarded the nonprofit an $8 million grant.

Idaho $15 million in grant funds in December 2022 to three organizations — Idaho Youth Ranch Northwest Children’s Home in North Idaho and Jackson House in eastern Idaho — to build psychiatric residential treatment facilities.

Residential, inpatient care is part of the continuum of care

In 1952,  Rev. James Crowe and Ruby Carrie Crowe, a married couple, made their dream possible. They founded Idaho Youth Ranch and bought 2,560 acres of land in Rupert for $1 per acre, per year, with no interest, according to an informational brochure for the facility.

The Crowes “believe a ranch lifestyle could provide the residential care that would meet the needs of Idaho’s youth,” Curtis said.

The couple began by treating boys in the original Idaho Youth Ranch facility in Rupert in the 1950s, Myers said. But the Youth Ranch now has more than six decades of experience providing residential care to Idaho’s children and families, he said.

“It’s been the most consistent thing we have done,” Curtis said.

Residential care is only part of the spectrum of psychiatric care that Idahoans need, Curtis noted. Patients will leave Youth Ranch’s facility and need care elsewhere — from specialists, primary care providers and other mental health professionals. Other parts of the system need to be bolstered as well, he said.

The facility hopes to hire 120 full time staff for the campus, Curtis said. Health professionals looking to work at the facility should visit.

The facility will be slowly ramping up its capacity to treat children, starting with eight children initially, Myers said, and adding eight each month.

is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Idaho Capital Sun maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Christina Lords for questions: info@idahocapitalsun.com. Follow Idaho Capital Sun on and .

A coalition of professors from across Idaho have filed a lawsuit in federal court against the state alleging a law prohibiting the use of public funds to promote or counsel in favor of abortion is “sweeping and unclear” and violates their constitutional free speech and due process rights.  

It is the fourth lawsuit filed against Idaho for abortion-related laws, with three others challenging the details of the state’s near-total ban on abortion and a so-called “abortion trafficking” bill that restricts adults from taking minors out of state to obtain abortion care. Tuesday’s lawsuit targets the , which passed in the 2021 session of the Idaho Legislature and prohibited public funds from being used to “procure, counsel in favor, refer to or perform an abortion.” Since public schools are largely funded by the state government, the law applies to faculty and staff at colleges and universities, including the largest schools of Boise State University, the University of Idaho and Idaho State University. Violations of the law include penalties ranging from a misdemeanor to a felony with prison time of up to 14 years, along with termination of employment and restitution of the public funds.

“The NPFAA therefore leaves Idaho’s public university educators with an impossible — and unconstitutional — choice: avoid any speech that could be construed as favorable to abortion in course materials, lectures, class discussions, student assignments and academic scholarship, or risk imprisonment, loss of livelihood and financial ruin for violating the law,” the complaint says.

The lawsuit asks U.S. District Judge David C. Nye to issue a preliminary injunction that would block enforcement of the law.

States Newsroom has reached out to Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador’s office for comment.

The Idaho Family Policy Center, a state-based organization that has pushed for anti-abortion legislation since 2020, drafted the bill in conjunction with the Alliance Defending Freedom, a national religious organization that wrote the model legislation used to overturn Roe v. Wade in 2022. Blaine Conzatti, president of the policy center, said in a press release Tuesday that the challenge is “meritless” and he believes it won’t be successful.

“The First and Fourteenth amendments to the U.S. Constitution do not provide carte blanche legal protections for higher education faculty to advocate or engage in criminal behavior on the taxpayer’s dime,” Conzatti said in the release. “The ‘No Public Funds For Abortion Act’ simply does not infringe on academic speech protected by the First Amendment, including classroom discussion on topics related to abortion.”

Professors have significantly altered courses for fear of prosecution, complaint says

The complaint was filed by the , the University of Idaho Faculty Federation and six individual professors: Aleta Quinn, Casey Johnson, Markie McBrayer, Zachary Turpin and Kathryn Blevins of the University of Idaho, and Heather Witt of Boise State University. The national and Idaho chapters of the American Civil Liberties Union are representing the plaintiffs, along with local law firm Strindberg Scholnick Birch Hallam Harstad Thorne.

Scarlet Kim, senior staff attorney with the ACLU Speech, Privacy and Technology Project, told States Newsroom some plaintiffs reached out to the Idaho branch of the ACLU independently and others contacted the union to express their concerns. 

“It’s vital for Idaho’s public universities to have autonomy in fostering vibrant debate on their campuses, free from government interference,” said Leo Morales, executive director of the ACLU of Idaho, in a press release. “Idaho’s abortion censorship law directly undermines that autonomy, attempting to restrict educators’ free speech and stoke fear of retaliation for such speech in our state.”

The complaint states the professors and the faculty within the two union groups teach about abortion across a diverse array of disciplines and say the law has placed a “straitjacket upon the intellectual leaders” of the state’s public universities.

“(The law) has stifled free and open academic inquiry about abortion across Idaho’s public universities,” the complaint states. “Professors who previously taught, discussed or wrote about abortion no longer do so. … The threat of prosecution continues to hang over professors as they plan for the upcoming school year, renewing their dilemma about how to structure their courses, teach their students and pursue their own research.”

A professor of philosophy removed an entire section of her biomedical ethics course that discussed human reproduction out of fear of prosecution, and professors of history, sociology, journalism, political science and social work have significantly altered course content as well, according to the complaint. Professors have also made changes to lectures and halted classroom discussion, stopped assigning, evaluating and giving meaningful feedback on student research and writing, and refrained from pursuing or sharing some scholarly and academic work because of the law, it said.  

Martin Orr, president of the Idaho Federation of Teachers and a sociology professor at Boise State University, said professors have told him they have felt “on edge” during classroom discussions that veer into the topic of reproductive issues and students have reported feeling frustrated by the limitations placed on course content and professor instruction. The lack of clarity around the meaning of the law makes some teachers wonder if even talking about the law is perceived by some as “promoting abortion.”

“This interview might constitute a violation of that law,” Orr told States Newsroom. “For a faculty member, just being accused of a violation could lead to termination, so it’s not like we would necessarily get our day in court before there were severe consequences.”  

Orr said the stress of avoiding legal consequences is a distraction from the work and time that could be given to students, and it can interfere with the types of exercises typically used in a classroom setting. 

“Students are not infrequently assigned to argue a position they don’t agree with, it helps us think critically and communicate more effectively,” Orr said. “Can we suggest, even as devil’s advocate, that students argue in favor of reproductive rights? There are all sorts of fundamental teaching tools that start to look very dangerous in this context.”

Attorneys argue law does not provide adequate definitions

The attorneys also argue the law violates the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution that prohibits vague laws, in part because the law does not provide definitions for words like referring or counseling in favor of abortion. Because the law is unclear, it allows police and prosecutors to arbitrarily and discriminatorily enforce the law and “draw their own lines between permissible and prohibited speech,” according to the complaint. 

In March, portions of an art exhibit  at Lewiston’s Lewis-Clark State College because it included depictions of abortion pills and taped interviews with women who had abortions for various reasons. The college’s spokesperson cited the section of code with the No Public Funds for Abortion Act and said after obtaining legal advice, some of the proposed exhibits could not be included.

At the beginning of the University of Idaho’s fall semester in 2022, the school’s general counsel  to all employees advising them not to provide any reproductive health counseling to students and prohibiting the dispensing of any drugs classified as emergency contraception except in cases of rape. The memo also said the language of the law was unclear and because violations could result in a felony, the attorneys were taking a conservative approach.

Following the memo, Idaho Rep. Bruce Skaug, R-Nampa, introduced a bill in January to withhold sales tax revenue from cities that declined to enforce abortion laws, and that bill included language stating the law should not be interpreted to include classroom discussion of abortion, but it did not advance. The version that  into law, , did not include that language.

The story was originally published at .

As high school seniors across the nation crammed for finals last spring, Abella Cathey was in her glory, enjoying a warm spring day as she joined a group of 24 children and their grandparents planting sage, yarrow and milkweed along the banks of the Boise River. 

The project was the culmination of a months-long, self-guided inquiry into , a phenomenon in which people become disconnected from the natural world. 

Cathey, 18, attends One Stone, a student-driven private high school near the heart of downtown Boise. While she was out planting, her classmates were similarly engaged: One threw a free, three-day music festival for pediatric cancer patients and their parents. Others were busy advising a local chef about food waste. 

This is the kind of thing that unfolds most days at One Stone — part four-year high school, part educational R&D lab, part design-and-advertising agency — that turns virtually every high school tradition on its head.

Teachers are called “coaches,” and students not only guide the school’s board, but, according to its bylaws, hold two-thirds of board seats and 100% of officers’ positions. 

“A lot of people don’t believe that high school students can do meaningful, big things,” said Teresa Poppen, One Stone’s executive director and co-founder. “And I have always believed that they can do meaningful things when empowered and trusted.”

Or, as Cathey put it, “Being treated like an adult is what makes you act like one.”

Each student shows up in the fall expected to manage their own learning, sitting down with advisors to create a personalized learning plan built around their interests and the importance of serving the community. 

“It’s kind of rare for two people to do the same thing,” said Henry Fears, 17, who has spent much of the past year designing a dual-purpose windbreaker for mountain bikers. In the event they take a spill, it doubles as a sling.

While factual knowledge, here as elsewhere, plays a key role, the school’s four-part “Bold Learning Objectives” — a framework endearingly called the BLOB — puts knowledge in its place, giving it equal footing with creativity and a forward-thinking way of approaching problems that has has become an education buzz-phrase: a growth mindset. The result is a bespoke, four-year education that supporters call a “toolkit for life.”

‘We had no intention of building a school‘

The school may seem like an experimental throwback, but its brand of thinking has been building steam — and converts — for years. 

At least part of its model, a complex “growth transcript” that tracks students’ development in several non-traditional ways, could soon be more widely available: Last year, the school secured close to a quarter million dollars in funding to further develop the idea. It’s testing the waters via licensing agreements with a handful of schools, in hopes that the transcript can provide an ongoing, if small, future revenue stream.

Like most endeavors of its type, One Stone started life as something else entirely. It began in 2008 as a project-based afterschool program for local teens. With its young clientele pushing for more, One Stone’s founders brought groups of 150 high school juniors from across Idaho into a local hockey rink, where they brainstormed what to do next.

“What they came away with is [that] they needed a place to explore their passions and really find out what drives them,” said Celeste Bolin, who directs Lab51, One Stone’s high school program. Essentially, students wondered: Why can’t school be more like One Stone?

“We had no intention of building a school — zero,” said Poppen, the co-founder. “Nor did we really love the idea when kids brought it up.”

But the students made a powerful case that they needed a place and a schedule that allowed them to focus more closely on their interests — no small endeavor for a generation diverted by .

“They don’t want to go from class to class, hour to hour to hour,” Poppen said. “When they find something that they want to dive into, they want to be able to dive into it in ways [that] are meaningful.”

The rink sessions also revealed that teens wanted a more purposeful kind of education, one that embraced both community service and their own personal goals.

So, reluctantly, and with a grant from the Boise-based , the school opened in September 2016 with 32 students.

For its first six years, the non-profit charged no tuition. But with the Albertson grant sunsetting, the student-led board last year voted to enact tuition on a sliding scale — from a maximum of about $16,000 to virtually free for families who can’t afford it. One Stone says families with incomes below $75,000 pay as little as $150 annually.

Mackenzie Link, a senior who chairs the board, said the move, though difficult, “can keep us around for 10, 20, 30 more years.”

Before finalizing the move, Poppen sat down with every One Stone family. Just three opted to leave.

‘The space for uncertainty’

Day-to-day, the school looks nothing like a typical high school. Its one-story building comprises a handful of open-concept rooms, bordered by coaches’ offices and closed-door spaces for cooking, 3-D printing and music production.

The rooms shift quickly from meeting space to arts workshop to performance space. The furniture never seems to stay put.

The school day begins later than virtually any other high school in the nation — 9 a.m. “7:50 (a.m.) is too early for most young brains,” said Bolin. “They are not switched on yet.” 

Students rarely attend formal classes — here they’re called “workshops” — instead  working alone, with coaches or in small groups, on material that pushes their projects forward. In math, for instance, they rarely follow a prescribed sequence. In order to graduate, they take part in eight “math experiences” keyed to their projects, said Josie Derrick, the school’s “lead math innovator.” While they might not necessarily take a course labeled Algebra I, One Stone’s transcript translates its offerings into traditional courses for colleges.

Students might find themselves, on occasion, in a classroom watching a coach demonstrate math concepts, Derrick said, but it’s rare. Often, it’s students who come to her wanting to learn more about a topic because they need it to advance their project.

“I think a lot of the magic in what we do is creating the space for uncertainty and complexity,” said Michael Reagan, a One Stone coach and Lab 51’s director of design. 

But skills aren’t totally left behind. Derrick realized last year that a few students weren’t getting enough math and built out the school’s math workshops.

Nonetheless, a few students seek outside help.

Last spring, after a year at One Stone, sophomore Caden Chorlog enrolled at Boise High School with a dual-enrollment agreement at, a nearby public magnet school. But he soon realized he missed One Stone.

They welcomed him back in the fall, along with his dual enrollment at Treasure Valley.

Many would say that’s actually a very One Stone thing to do: Find what works for you and make it happen.

As a result, virtually every student has a different experience. For instance, while many students spend time making music or putting together benefit concerts and other events, others find both refuge and purpose in , a workshop that houses woodworking and welding tools, a 3-D printer, a laser engraver and a fearsome — a massive automated tool that precisely cuts all manner of materials. The size of a giant dining table, it dominates the room.

The Foundry is where Daniel Krafft, who graduated in 2020, spent most of his time. Krafft has since become a One Stone celebrity with a wildly popular that takes viewers through his 3-D printing projects. At last count, Krafft had 2.1 million subscribers and his videos had nearly 148 million views.

Cadence Kirst first dabbled in the space as a way to make handmade wooden swords for roleplaying games. She then moved on to manufacturing painstakingly detailed wooden boards for a strategy board game called Quoridor.

“I’m hoping to be in here ‘til the minute I graduate,” she said one recent afternoon as she prepared a few of her prototypes for the school’s “Disruption Night” expo, held at nearby Boise State University.

It was there that Fears showed off his prototype windbreaker, developed in a One Stone after a biking trip with his father, who broke his clavicle and had to descend a mountain unassisted. And Chorlog, the dual-enrolled student, showed off another invention prototyped in The Foundry: a small, 3-D-printed reusable box for small mail parcels.

A group of students detailed their efforts working with the chef of a local high-end restaurant to reduce food waste, while another talked about developing a manual for kids to learn about distracted driving so they could discuss it with their parents. Tabitha Smith, an official with the Idaho Transportation Department, told the crowd she brought a draft of the manual back to the office and showed it to co-workers, who were “blown away” by the students’ handiwork.

“I have worked in highway safety for about four years now and this is unlike anything we’ve ever seen,” she said. “They picked a whole new audience to market to.” 

By this fall, Smith said, Idaho drivers should see a final, co-branded version of the manual “in your DMV, county offices and pediatrician’s offices.”

‘They’re tenacious’

The manual, as well as other materials, come compliments of the school’s studio, a professional-grade branding and marketing firm that every One Stone student takes a spin through. And yes, the name is a play on the famous adage about what to do with one stone. Run by a recent alumna and powered by student labor, the firm sells its services to local, regional and national businesses, with proceeds underwriting the school’s budget.

“We build our schedule around experiences,” said Bolin, the Lab51 director. The lab’s name comes from the concept of “51ing” an idea, she said. “We say your first 50 ideas have probably all been thought of as not very creative. We need 51 and beyond.”

To get there, she said, One Stone students are “constantly practicing, talking about what they did, how they grew, what was hard, what they’d like to do — over and over and over again. They’re writing about it, they’re talking about it. They’re telling big groups of people about it and telling small groups of people.”

They’re talking to team members, parents and mentors, she said. “Practice, practice, practice, practice.”

As a result, she said, they begin to see that their experience has value and their endeavors are worth fighting for. “They’re tenacious … They don’t just give up.”

One Stone boasted an 83.8% college acceptance rate this spring and more than $2 million in projected four-year merit scholarships.

Dean Kahler, vice provost for enrollment management at the University of Idaho, said he’s starting to get applications from One Stone students and has enrolled a handful. He’s impressed. 

“It is a neat school and they do produce really wonderful students that are problem-solvers and leaders,” he said. “And they’re collaborative with one another.” 

‘The next thing to care about’

As she prepared for graduation recently, Link, the board chair, was also working on securing the school’s accreditation with the . The school’s highest-ranked officer, she can hold forth on nearly any detail: finances, operations, strategic plan. She has also been known to stay late and sweep the floors. 

Asked what’s next for her, she laughed and said, “I’ve gotten to the point where I’m really comfortable saying, ‘I don’t know.’”

She just earned a license to be a certified nursing assistant. She also plans to work at a lavender farm this summer. Maybe she’ll go to the University of Idaho in the fall and join a sorority. Eventually, she’d like to work as a midwife or nurse practitioner in developing countries.

But she’s also really interested in construction management. It’s all very exciting, she said, and she’s in no rush to decide. She just wants to find something she can throw herself into completely. “I want the next thing to care about.”

]]> /article/idaho-legislators-seek-answers-about-university-of-idahos-plan-to-buy-university-of-phoenix/ Wed, 28 Jun 2023 17:00:00 +0000 /?post_type=article&p=711039 This article was originally published in

Idaho legislators spent two hours Friday questioning University of Idaho officials about the university’s plans to form a new nonprofit organization to acquire the for-profit University of Phoenix for $550 million.

The on May 18, which caught many legislators and members of the public off guard because the deal had only come to light publicly 24 hours earlier, .

The Idaho Legislature’s Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee met in an open, public meeting Friday at the Idaho State Capitol in Boise to allow legislators on the committee to seek additional information about the deal.

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During Friday’s meeting, University of Idaho President C. Scott Green discussed the legal structure of how the two entities would operate moving forward, including transforming University of Phoenix into a not-for-profit and transferring $10 million annually in expected surpluses generated from the University of Phoenix to the University of Idaho. Green also shared a one-page spreadsheet with financial metrics and projections with legislators.

Green called the deal a bold and innovative step into the future of digital education that will allow the university to enroll a wider variety of nontraditional adult students.

“I truly believe this affiliation with the University of Phoenix is a catalyst for greater success in higher education in our state,” Green said Friday.

Idaho legislators question university president on financial risks of acquisition

Several legislators had questions about the financial risks involved with the deal and concerns about nondisclosure agreements signed during the negotiations. Other legislators had questions about University of Phoenix’s prior business practices and public reputation. In 2019, for instance, the University of Phoenix agreed to pay $191 million to settle a complaint from the Federal Trade Commission that alleged the University of Phoenix engaged in deceptive marketing practices to recruit students, .

On Friday, Rep. Wendy Horman, an Idaho Falls Republican who serves as the co-chair of JFAC, told Green that nondisclosure agreements included in the deal raised some red flags for her because they prevent legislators and the public from understanding the financial risks of the deal.

“In a nutshell, this is the University of Idaho proposing to acquire an entire multi-state university system with something of little bit of a troubled history,” Horman told Green.

“What I have yet to appreciate is these strict nondisclosure agreements with anyone who seems to have this knowledge but is forbidden from disclosing, and so that raises some red flags for me, frankly,” Horman added. “If it is such a great deal, you would think people would be anxious to share the proof. … Without those financials, it is a big ask for me to trust that the downward trend in value won’t continue, candidly.”

University’s nondisclosure agreements on deal are still binding, Green says

Green told legislators the deal has not closed, and the nondisclosure agreements are still in place and binding in order to protect competitive trade secrets. The next steps for moving forward to close the deal include seeking approval from the University of Idaho and University of Phoenix’ accrediting organizations and then entering the bond market to reduce financing. The that a new nonprofit organization will borrow $685 million to finance the deal to acquire University of Phoenix. The nonprofit, which is called Idaho Education Initiatives, Inc., will acquire the University of Phoenix’s assets and liabilities and then continue to operate the University of Phoenix under the University of Phoenix name.

“I fully recognize the way this transaction was conducted was not ideal,” Green told legislators at one point Friday.

However Green said financial and legal experts have vetted the deal closely, and Idaho taxpayers will not be on the hook for any payments.

As traditional enrollment dips, University of Phoenix deal could be financial lifeline, UI president says

Green told legislators that the deal is necessary because the university needs to change its business and educational models before running off an “enrollment cliff” with traditional students.

Green estimated that the entire higher education system could see enrollment decreases of more than 15% from 2025 to 2035. One strategy to offset that decline is to expand on the number of nontraditional adult learners that are being served by the university, he said.

“One thing we will learn from the University of Phoenix is how best to serve online students, adult students and non degree-seeking students,” Green said.

Green said it made more sense to acquire the University of Phoenix rather than build a digital education system from the ground up.

Green told legislators that after the deal is closed, the University of Idaho will not own the University of Phoenix and the two will be separate, but affiliated entities.

“Saying that there is no risk, we have never said that,” Green told legislators.

JFAC co-chairman Sen. C. Scott Grow, R-Eagle, told reporters that he felt that Friday’s meeting was productive and helpful, but he still has unanswered questions and concerns about the deal.

“I still have serious concerns about the nondisclosure agreement,” Grow said. “I felt that, at least, legislative leadership should have been involved with that, if not the co-chairs of JFAC. I mean we are the appropriating body for all the universities. … We appropriate moneys for the University of Idaho.”

“We felt that we should have been involved earlier,” Grow added. ”They told us when it was kind of a done deal, when they’ve signed it and that’s one reason we are jumping into it now because this is about as soon as we could get a hearing together.”

Grow told the Idaho Capital Sun that he first found out about the deal on the day before the State Board of Education voted to approve the plan on May 18.

“The State Board (of Education) should consider having public hearings so that the public can be involved in sharing their feelings about this thing, and not just a few folks who are in on the nondisclosure agreement,” Green said.

is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Idaho Capital Sun maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Christina Lords for questions: info@idahocapitalsun.com. Follow Idaho Capital Sun on and .

]]> /article/boises-18-year-old-school-board-member-on-youth-voice-and-right-wing-extremism/ Wed, 03 May 2023 15:01:00 +0000 /?post_type=article&p=708305 When Shiva Rajbhandari won a seat on the Boise school board in September 2022, the 18-year-old made for besting a far-right incumbent in a state known for book bans and critical race theory crackdowns.

But after spending most of a school year in a role at the center of America’s education culture wars, the high school senior said he’s used his first-hand experiences to be a voice of “moderation” on the seven-member board.

In the face of extremist views, he counters with a dose of reality: “Regardless of what Tucker Carlson says is going on in Idaho schools, here’s what’s actually going on,” he’ll offer. “Only students can provide that on-the-ground perspective.”

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In Boise, Rajbhandari’s election win has put in motion a chain reaction of efforts to elevate student voices. The school board now includes a brand new youth advisory council and the district this year administered a first-ever mental health survey to take account of the struggles its students are experiencing.

Meanwhile, the teen has also helped usher along a Climate Action Plan the board is implementing — a measure he had long pushed for as a climate activist with the in his days before holding elected office.

The 74 caught up with the young politician, who’s juggling the responsibilities of senior year alongside oversight of his roughly 23,200-student district, for a Zoom conversation that ranged from his efforts with the nonprofit to facing off against counterprotesters wielding AR-15s.

This conversation has been lightly edited for clarity and length.

The 74: It’s been the better part of the school year that you’ve been on the Boise school board. What has stood out to you most so far?

Shiva Rajbhandari: Coming into the school board, I thought this was really the end-all be-all of problem solving. But there’s such a big team that works across our district to write good policy and to propose a strong budget and to make sure that we’re hiring the top staff to keep our schools running. Learning about the incredible people across our district has been really rewarding. 

Also learning how slow change is sometimes. Coming into this role was this transition from being an activist and really calling the shots. Like, we would meet on a Thursday and have a protest organized by Saturday. Those things were very quick. 

Now, there’s a lot more accountability — to our patrons [constituents], to our students — so things happen slower. But it’s neat to consider all aspects of the solution and think critically about how we can best prepare students for college, career and citizenship while maintaining the integrity of our district and the faith of our patrons.

That must be an interesting transition, from activist to school board member. So what are some of the issues you’re working on now where the pace of change has felt slower?

One thing I’m really excited about is establishing a permanent student position on the school board. We’ve been talking about it since January and before that, I was talking with trustees, talking with staff, about how we could shape this policy. [It’s gone to several committees including our student advisory committee and] now we’re waiting until September to take it back to the Governance Committee for review and then hopefully passing. So that’s one example.

Another example would be our district sustainability commitments. This [issue] is why I ran for the school board initially. I led this campaign with my fellow students across our district to establish a clean energy commitment and a long-term sustainability plan for our schools. We’d seen districts across the country move quickly and then our district was slow and deliberate about it. But ultimately, our efforts did lead to the passage of this commitment on clean energy by our school board. 

Some things just take a lot of time, like reviewing all the carbon emissions of our district. And then [the question of] what does the long-term plan look like that saves our taxpayers money. That’s going to take probably another year or two to craft that plan and get that through. 

Going back to the effort to get a permanent youth board member, in your view why is youth voice so important in school decisions?

Students are the primary stakeholders in our education. And yet, our school boards are elected by people who are over 18, the majority of whom are no longer in K-12. They tend to be parents or grandparents or community members, but really only students can provide that on-the-ground perspective of what’s going on in our schools. I think having students on school boards is about bringing in a perspective that is vital to policymaking.

In addition, elevating students to positions of leadership empowers an entire generation of students within your district. Because when students understand that their voices are being taken seriously, that more than anything allows students to achieve their education goals. 

How have your friends and peers reacted to your role on the board? Are they telling you things to bring up in meetings?

Absolutely. Our whole district is getting so much more engagement with students and it’s helped us think outside the box about how to engage students in policymaking. 

For example, we did a districtwide mental health survey. That’s something we’ve never done before and we found out 30% of our students have had depression or suicidal ideation. We identified stress and social isolation as key contributing factors we really want to tackle. But that’s something our district has never done before, not because our district didn’t value student voices, but I don’t think we understood how incorporating student input could help our district. 

We also put together a student advisory committee [to the school board] and we have peer feedback groups. We’ve seen so many more students attending our board meetings, asking questions of our board, bringing ideas forward. 

It’s a simple thing to have [a student] up there on the dais, but it really opens the floodgates for transformative change within a system that is often really rigid.

I saw that you made YouTube previews of the last few meetings. Was that an effort to make the board more accessible to your peers?

Yeah. I think there’s really this misunderstanding of what the board does, and how folks can give input. And so the goal of the video is to communicate to students, ‘Hey, this is what’s going on at our board meeting.’ Everybody should be able to participate.

Going back to when you won your seat, that was a victory over an incumbent who had an endorsement from a far-right group. How have you navigated extremism in the campaign and in your term on the board?

Our state is split ideologically between the far right and the really far right. And there’s this hate group called the Idaho Freedom Foundation, a policy think tank, whose stated goal is to in our state. And so we’ve seen that come up time and time again with allegations of indoctrination or grooming in our schools. Now we’re seeing the third iteration of that, which is vouchers in the name of school choice, giving public dollars to private and potentially religious institutions with limited accountability.

I think the perspective that I’ve brought is one of moderation. Regardless of what Tucker Carlson says is going on in Idaho schools, here’s what’s actually going on. And here’s what students actually need. No one is scared about a [female-identifying person with male genitalia] going to the girl’s bathroom. What folks are scared about is their friends committing suicide, because we don’t have the mental health resources or the resiliency factors that we need. 

It’s bringing an ounce of reality back to these ideological conversations. I’m super lucky that, in our district, the problems we have with extremists aren’t nearly as bad as in the rest of the state. 

Your time on the board isn’t the first time you’ve interfaced with right-wing activists. Can you tell me the backstory there?

Yeah, gosh. It’s funny, I think nationally, when people hear about Idaho, it’s like, ‘Oh, my gosh, people are running around with guns.’ And living in Idaho, it’s almost like a fact of life, you organize a protest and folks show up with AR-15s.

The first time I interacted with the group I think you’re referring to, the , I was in ninth grade. We were organizing a protest on Capitol Boulevard and it was 70 kids who got together with signs and we blocked the street, we were playing music and it was honestly a fun day. These folks showed up with AR-15s to our rally. Not only that, but then a ton of cops showed up and they all were friends with the [counterprotesters] who weren’t even from Boise.

Then last year, a student brought a gun to Boise High, the school I’m at now, and he was suspended and not allowed to walk at graduation. This same group . 

The threat of extremism and militarism is very real in Boise. But we’re not afraid of them. We’ve been through so much. I think that takes away the power when people aren’t afraid of you. 

I know we’re jumping from one hot-button issue to the next, but I also wanted to ask about book bans. I saw there’s some state legislation proposed schools for ‘harmful’ books. And there have been several Idaho districts, not Boise, that have enacted bans. So I’m curious how that’s come up in your time on the board?

What’s a little humorous to me about the whole book ban thing is, it’s not parents and it’s not students asking for books to be banned. It’s generally random people who have heard something. And so, for example, in the nearby city of Meridian, there was this group that tried to get 200 books banned from the school library and I think they just pulled the list off the internet because half of the books weren’t even in the Meridian library. 

To me, I will never support any kind of book bans ever because I think free access to information is the cornerstone of democracy.

The narrative that’s being missed is that book bans, frankly, are disempowering to students. It’s alleging that students don’t have the agency to know what they should read. Schools are a resource, they’re a tool for students to learn and engage and ensuring that there’s open access to information is critical to that.

You wrote a recent about efforts to reduce youth voting, which seems like a big issue for you also because I saw you co-lead the organization BABE VOTE. Can you tell me about that?

BABE VOTE is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, voter advocacy organization promoting voter registration among young people. We just got the data back and Idaho is the between 2018 and 2022. So the efforts that we’re doing are working and it’s really exciting. 

The [Idaho] House and Senate both just passed a bill banning the use of student IDs at the polls, which for many students, that’s their only form of ID, especially college students. 

As soon as the governor signs this bill, we’re actually going to be and protecting the right to vote. So it’s that kind of stuff, knocking on doors, registering people and reminding people, ‘Hey, there’s an election,’ and then protecting the right to vote in the legislature and across the state.

What’s it been like to juggle all this work alongside senior year?

It’s been a little bit crazy. Honestly, being on a school board is [manageable]. Any student can do it. People try to make it something that it’s not.

Senior year, you have so many opportunities and it’s such a wide world. Sometimes it’s hard to get up for first period everyday. But just keeping a Google Calendar and checking in with my friends and making sure that I’m taking time for myself. Also remembering that I don’t have to do everything right; I have this whole team of folks who have supported me in my election on board and support this climate activism work.

One of the things that’s kind of taking a beating has been my track practice. Sometimes it’s hard to get to my practices.

What events do you compete in?

I run the mile and the 800 [meters].

And do you know what your plans are for next year, both in terms of school and whether you’ll maintain the position on the board?

Yeah, I’ll stay on the board. I made a commitment. All meetings we can mostly do virtually, but I will be leaving the state for college. And I want to study public policy and maybe go become a lawyer or something. [Rajbhandari has been accepted to UNC-Chapel Hill, Whitman College and Stanford University and is still deciding where to attend. He was elected to a two-year term.]

And last, who’s one teacher who made the biggest impression on you and why?

Well, there are so many. My teachers were the best teachers ever. One teacher, Monica Church, she was my Student Council teacher and capstone teacher sophomore year. She’s just been such a mentor and a guiding force in my life. Whenever I have a problem or something I want to talk about, she’s the first person I call.

I remember one time in my capstone class, I was running for [student body] vice president and I was a sophomore, so no one had ever done that before, and I was talking about ‘Hey, the election’s tomorrow. Everyone, make sure you go vote.’ And one of my friends, who is kind of a contrarian, goes, ‘Why would you ever vote for Shiva?’ Then Ms. Church was like, ‘Well, I would vote for Shiva. And one thing I’ve learned in the last eight months has been never bet against him.’

Now that’s a source of [motivation]. Whenever I’m like, ‘This is hard,’ I remember Monica Church, someone I respect more than anyone, said, ‘Never bet against Shiva.’ 

]]> /article/education-savings-account-bill-introduced-in-idaho-senate-committee/ Thu, 02 Feb 2023 18:01:00 +0000 /?post_type=article&p=703467 This article was originally published in

Idaho’s Senate Education Committee introduced a bill modeled after Arizona’s universal education savings account program on Tuesday, with a stated price tag of $20 million in state funds, according to from legislators.

Sen. Tammy Nichols, R-Middleton, is a member of the education committee and the bill’s sponsor. The legislation, titled “Freedom in Education Savings Accounts,” would establish savings accounts using public funds equivalent to 80% of the most recent student funding allocation as calculated by the state.

Committee Chairman Dave Lent, R-Idaho Falls, did not allow discussion on the bill before Sen. Ben Toews, R-Coeur d’Alene, motioned to print it. The bill could be granted a full hearing before the Senate committee in the coming weeks of the legislative session.

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Unlike 529 education savings accounts, which are investment accounts with tax benefits meant to be used for postsecondary education such as college or trade school, education savings accounts typically take the per-pupil spending allocated by a state’s student funding formula and distribute that money to parents for use at a private school or for homeschooling. The bill does not specify if religiously affiliated schools would be included as eligible institutions, but Sen. Brian Lenney, R-Nampa, introduced a bill Monday that would repeal Idaho’s , which prohibits the Legislature and all other public entities from using public funds to support religious organizations.

Under the current calculation, that amount for Idaho students would be $5,950.

“Idaho has limited school choice, but that is not enough,” Nichols told the committee, saying some children face discrimination in education simply because of where they live, their family’s income, disability or race. She then went on to describe other reasons families might want to find a different option.

“Declining test scores, overcrowding, students not meeting grade level benchmarks, bullying, staffing shortages, curriculum issues, indoctrinization (sic), and the list goes on, are contributing to numerous frustrations with the status quo,” Nichols said.

The funds, according to the legislation, could be used for:

• Tuition or fees at a private school or online program approved by the Idaho State Department of Education
• Required textbooks
• Educational therapies from a licensed or accredited provider, curricula and supplementary materials
• Educational and psychological evaluations, assistive technology rentals and braille translation
• Tutoring and tuition for approved vocational and life skills classes
• Fees for standardized tests or college entrance exams, textbooks required by an eligible postsecondary institution
• Fees to manage the education savings account
• Classes and extracurricular programs offered by a public school
• School uniforms and transportation
• Computer hardware and devices primarily used for educational purposes

Savings account would empower parents ‘rather than the unions,’ Middleton senator says

Nichols said 26 states have introduced education savings account bills this year, including Utah, Iowa, Washington and Wyoming. While the policy’s proponents say it is beneficial for students, families and schools, opponents have pointed to states like Wisconsin, where costs have than original estimates and caused property taxes to increase.

The American Legislative Exchange Council, a corporate-backed organization that drafts and disseminates model legislation geared toward conservative policies, was in establishing Arizona’s education savings account program, including providing model legislation language.

“The goal is that through an ESA, parents will be the ones we empower rather than the unions and education bureaucracies that have dominated school governance and the learning and higher standards that students need,” Nichols said. “We can no longer ignore the facts and must change business as usual.”

According to a release from the Idaho Freedom Caucus, which includes Nichols, individual accounts would be randomly audited on a quarterly and annual basis to prevent misuse of public funds. The bill would also establish a parent review commission as well to review the implementation of policies and procedures for the program, parental concerns and any work to address complaints about the program. The commission would consist of six members who are parents of students participating in the program and would be appointed by leadership of the House and Senate majority and minority leaders and two would be appointed by the governor.

is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Idaho Capital Sun maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Christina Lords for questions: info@idahocapitalsun.com. Follow Idaho Capital Sun on and .

]]> /article/idaho-school-chief-transform-education-literacy-innovation-trust/ Wed, 25 Jan 2023 12:15:00 +0000 /?post_type=article&p=702941 Debbie Critchfield was elected Idaho superintendent of public instruction in November, ousting two-term incumbent Sherri Ybarra, a fellow Republican whose tenure was widely panned as lax and ineffectual.

Critchfield has served on the Idaho State Board of Education for seven years, two of them as president. She also spent several years as a substitute teacher, and served on the rural Cassia County school board for 10 years.

Idaho, while a deep red state politically, is undergoing dramatic change as newcomers arrive in unprecedented numbers, many of them from the West Coast, where the political climate is decidedly different. This makes Idaho an interesting national case study, especially as a new state superintendent takes office, with strong ideas about strengthening her department’s support and oversight of school districts.

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Under the Ybarra regime, districts reported receiving little of either support or oversight. As a result, they tended to ignore state mandates. Idaho EdNews assiduously tracked these departmental oversight failures, and districts’ flouting of state regulations.

During the former state chief’s tenure, districts , and ignored the state’s . Test scores stagnated, and Ybarra  

Ybarra, who took a job as earlier this month, defended her record during the campaign, saying state graduation rates and college and career readiness.

Critchfield, who was sworn into her four-year term Jan. 6, is pledging a new day. 

Idaho has long been a state where the concept of local control of public education is sacrosanct, where parental choice is seen as a top value and where public charter schools have proliferated and thrived.

How does Critchfield envision her new role, and the Idaho Department of Education’s place in the state’s education ecosystem? What lessons can Idaho teach the rest of the country? I recently interviewed Critchfield to get her perspective on these issues. 

The conversation has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

The 74: What do you plan to change about how the State Department of Education operated under your predecessor?

Debbie Critchfield: Literally everything. The transparency piece is huge. And earning and deserving the respect and trust of our districts and our legislature. We have to reestablish trust around education. There are things that I believe need to happen immediately. The Department of Education is an agency designed to support schools. We need to demonstrate that we do provide that service. I’m looking at standing up some regional support centers around the state so that our folks in the most rural parts of the state and anywhere in the state aren’t dependent upon trying to contact someone in Boise.

What are some of the key issues you want to address early in your term?

I’m a big believer in the science of reading, and I believe that has been pushed to the side, and we in Idaho have not acknowledged sufficiently what it does for kids. You can expect to see that as a main point of conversation when we talk about literacy. Looking at our math scores, we’re no better than most states. I will want to work with our State Board of Education on a major math initiative. I’ve signaled to those folks that that’s a conversation that they can expect.

And then there is the workforce piece. We at the state, as well as local boards and districts, need to be initiating conversations with their community businesses and industries. One of the biggest services that we can do for our students is providing that connection — how what I’m learning in class translates to the outside world. 

I talk to people in schools and districts frequently who are interested in having us help build these types of relationships and programs for their students. They’re not sure how to go about it. Fortunately, there are lots of models out there to draw from.

What made you decide to run for the state superintendent position?

Well, there were two things, actually. First, the COVID experience really highlighted the missed opportunities that Idaho didn’t move on. We had this interesting time in education where everything, all these state and federal laws, rules, requirements, etc. were waived. That created so many opportunities to try new things. But it felt like many of the educational leaders at the state level just kind of held their breath and then it was like, “Oh, OK, COVID’s over, let’s go back to business. Let’s go back to how things were.”

So that’s the first thing that motivated me. A frustration with the lack of vision, the lack of leadership. There was this tremendous opportunity to reimagine and create a system wrapped around what is most valuable for kids. Public education is in many ways still based on an 1850s model. There are some things that still work, and many that don’t. I felt frustration over the missed opportunity.

Second, I also felt frustrated with our lack of progress. We’re moving, but is it forward and is it towards the outcomes and the goals that we have for our kids? What are we preparing our kids to know and be able to do? Having been on the State Board of Education for the past eight years, I had a front row seat. And it became clear to me that I was doing as much as I could as an appointed volunteer. I needed to change roles to really advance some of the things that I heard from communities, parents, students and teachers.

What did you say on the campaign trail that resonated with voters and allowed you to defeat a well-known incumbent?

I would ask people all the time: Can you tell me what the vision is for K-12 education in Idaho? And every group I spoke to, whether it was business leaders, parents, teachers, they’d all look at each other and just shrug. No one knew. I didn’t know. And I’ve been in a position where I should know. No one knew because there was no vision. 

So then I could tell people here’s my plan, my vision. We’ve got to prepare our kids for the jobs and opportunities of a growing state. To me, this means providing a meaningful experience for high school students, and making sure that they’re prepared at the earliest levels. Providing fundamentals of reading and math for our very earliest learners, to make sure that by the time they hit high school, they’re prepared for that next thing, which to me is less about seat time and more about the application of knowledge. I’m a big fan of any type of work-based learning, project-based learning. internships, apprenticeships, particularly for juniors and seniors.

Those seemed like basic, educational, non-political messages, and they resonated.

Idaho has been stagnant or moving backwards for years in what locally is called the go-on rate, the percentage of high school students who go on to some kind of post-secondary opportunity. The rate for the most recent year was just 37%. That might be in part because of the disconnect between schools and workforce experiences. How do you plan to address that?

 I like to reference two numbers together because I believe they tell an interesting story. First of all, the go-on rate is not a perfect measure because it does not capture everything. It misses, for example, military service. But having said that, it is a data point we have to work with, 37%. But at the same time, 80% of graduating high school seniors have taken at least one dual credit class (high school and college credit).

When I look at those numbers side by side, what it tells me is that students want to jumpstart their future. They want the ability to learn from things that are going to benefit them from outside of high school. There are a lot of opportunities that we are not bringing into the schools, that would indicate to a student that there are a lot of ways that you can be prepared for life after school, and to have early access to things that you’re interested in. That may not always look like college.

For the past eight years, the Department of Education has not fulfilled its accountability role. How do you turn that culture around?

It is going to be a process. Over the past few years, local control became this pat answer, and a cover for a lack of leadership. When our districts asked for support with something, they’d often hear, “Oh, sorry, that’s a local control issue.” Local decision-making the way I define it does not mean being left alone. 

I celebrate local decision-making. But how about if I help you look at and have access to all the best information that’s out there? So before you choose curriculum, which is your decision, and I don’t look to change that, why don’t I offer you some information that might help you make a decision? Did you know that there are several factors that you could consider before you decide? Did you know that these other districts are having success with this particular curriculum?

I’ve heard all over the state that districts have really felt left alone, they feel as though they’re in silos and it really has been every man for himself. Again, it’s under that guise of, “Oh, sorry, local control, can’t help you.” I don’t accept that.

What’s your view of the impact charter schools have had on Idaho public education?

I think there are missed opportunities here. What I mean by that is that we have charter schools that are doing incredible things across the state, and these are things that district-run public schools can do as well. But here’s a real disconnect. I hear about this not just from parents, but from people involved in education. “Well, they’re a charter so they get to design their start and stop times and they get to design the projects that they do.” And I tell them: so do you. You get to do that same thing. 

I believe I can do a lot of matchmaking between innovative charters and district schools. But we have to break down some of the misconceptions, that charters aren’t public schools, and they are not held to the same if not higher standards of accountability.

Finally, what makes Idaho a special place that other states might want to look to for ideas and inspiration?

We’re geographically spread out and diverse in our communities in a number of ways. But statewide we’re talking just over 300,000 students. That gives us the ability to really impact and effect change quickly. We don’t have to wait five or 10 years to really see the result of the work that we’re doing. That’s something that I believe makes Idaho unique. We’ve just lacked the leadership to make it happen.

]]> /article/from-coast-to-coast-whats-going-on-with-state-local-teacher-union-affiliates/ Wed, 18 Jan 2023 18:00:00 +0000 /?post_type=article&p=702543 I usually devote this space to the doings of the two national teachers unions, or labor actions in major cities and large states. But National Education Association and American Federation of Teachers affiliates are active in all 50 states. With state legislatures beginning their 2023 sessions, here’s a roundup of recent union activities across the country that deserve wider attention.

Virginia

This week, public school teachers and staff began voting on whether to make the Prince William Education Association their exclusive bargaining representative. According to the rules set by the school board, more than 50% of employees must vote, and the union must receive a majority of those votes.

Teacher collective bargaining in the state was enacted in 2021, and the Virginia Education Association hopes that it will revitalize a membership that has been steadily dwindling since 2007. Its Prince William affiliate has had troubles of its own, which led the state union to establish a trusteeship over it in October 2021.

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Connecticut

In February 2022, NEA released a survey stating earlier than planned because of the pandemic. It received massive press coverage and is almost a year later, despite that the teachers actually left.

But state unions got the message that such claims would lead to sympathetic media play, and so many began releasing their own survey results. The latest to do so is the Connecticut Education Association, which claims than a few years ago.

The union’s solution is to , a policy that its survey says is supported by 83% of the public. Respondents were not asked if they knew what teachers are currently paid, which is about $80,000 on average, according to NEA.

Michigan

The Michigan Education Association . It didn’t mention a teacher exodus, though it did assert a need for increasing public expenditures on salaries and benefits.

Fifty percent of voters responding expressed support for a hypothetical ballot initiative for “a modest tax increase to provide more money to public schools.”

Ohio

The Ohio Federation of Teachers accused the KIPP chain of charter schools of engaging in a “.” Teachers at the KIPP school in Columbus are seeking to unionize, but KIPP filed a legal challenge with the National Labor Relations Board, which has delayed any representation election.

“We believe that unfair labor practices have occurred, and we may file formal charges on that,” said union President Melissa Cropper. Of the 318 charter schools in the state, nine have unions affiliated with the state organization.

Texas

The state has a $32.7 billion surplus this year, and the Texas State Teachers Association wants it spent on pay increases for school employees. That’s not unusual, but the union is also lobbying for state funding to be based on student enrollment, rather than average daily attendance.

“Just because a handful or more students don’t show up, we lose that money,” . “But we still have to pay the bills for that school district.”

The union is actually behind the curve on this. There are progressive proposals to stop funding based on enrollment and instead . The problem, of course, is that enrollment and attendance numbers are definite and objective, while “need” is in the eye of the beholder.

Idaho

You won’t often find a teachers union praising a Republican governor’s education proposals, but the Idaho Education Association did just that.

Gov. Brad Little’s budget plan would give every teacher in the state .

Calling the proposal “,” state union President Layne McInelly offered “deep thanks to Gov. Little for his continued commitment to Idaho’s public schools and leadership in driving education policy that make our public schools the best they can be for our students.”

Utah

Gov. Spencer Cox made a similar proposal, presenting a budget that provides each teacher with an additional $4,600 in salary and $1,400 in benefits. The union response was positive but more subdued, because Cox’s plan has a string attached.

The compensation increases are attached to a bill that would also establish a school choice program for any K-12 student in the state.

“The Utah Education Association applauds Utah Governor Spencer Cox for making teacher salaries a top priority in his proposed budget,” .

However, Pinkney wants the two issues decoupled. “It feels a bit disingenuous to put a salary increase that the governor is asking for with a voucher bill,” .

Mike Antonucci’s Union Report appears most Wednesdays; see the full archive.

]]> /article/not-where-wed-like-to-be-idahos-school-safety-assessments-slowed-during-pandemic/ Fri, 09 Dec 2022 15:30:00 +0000 /?post_type=article&p=701045 This article was originally published in

State inspectors try to get out into every school once every three years for a safety assessment.

They didn’t come close to staying on schedule in 2021-22 — because of the COVID-19 pandemic, which disrupted K-12 operations across the state.

All told, the state assessed 152 schools last school year, just one-fifth of Idaho’s 735 schools.

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“It’s not where we would like to be,” Mike Munger, the director of the , told a state advisory board Tuesday.

The are supposed to provide a school with a look at its potential safety problems: structural problems or flawed procedures and policies that could put students or staff at risk. And the recent assessments provide a good snapshot at the school level, Munger said. But he is reluctant to draw conclusions from the limited data the state has collected.

“I think anecdotally we’ve learned a lot, but certainly the last two years have been very disruptive, and I’d be hesitant to make any broad-reaching recommendations,” he said.

The May 24 mass shooting at an Uvalde, Texas, elementary school has intensified a national discussion over school safety — putting assessments under increased scrutiny. Texas, for instance, conducted flash assessments at its schools after the Uvalde massacre, even though the schools had been inspected in the past.

Munger said he wants Idaho to ramp up its assessments — and he expects the pace to pick up now that schools are back on a normal schedule. But he said it’s training, policies and structural improvements that make a school safer.

“The assessment provides the foundation,” he said.

Some help is on the way, in the form of federal aid approved in the aftermath of the Uvalde shootings.

Idaho will receive $4.8 million from , passed in June.

The state knows it needs to award the grants through a competitive application process — and direct the money to high-need schools. That could mean a lot of things: a school with a high poverty rate, a school in a community with limited mental health resources, or any number of other metrics.

“There’s still a lot we don’t know yet,” State Board of Education executive director Matt Freeman said.

The Office of School Safety and Security offered up a glimmer of good news Tuesday.

All told, 294 schools across Idaho have signed up for a new school safety tipline, called

Project coordinator Chris Thoms said he expects that number to grow.

Thoms said the program is already making a difference. In four cases, calls to the tipline got help to students who were contemplating suicide. In two cases, he said, classmates called on a student’s behalf. In two other cases, students called directly to get help for themselves.

This story was originally posted on on Dec. 6, 2022.

is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Idaho Capital Sun maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Christina Lords for questions: info@idahocapitalsun.com. Follow Idaho Capital Sun on and .

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