BOISE (Feb. 5, 2025) — After an 8-7 vote in committee this morning, the Democratic Caucus released the following statement on House Bill 93:
“HB 93 is another budget-busting voucher scheme being pushed on Idahoans by out-of-state special interests. Proponents argue that vouchers help low-income families access private schools, but that is simply not true. Data show that the vast majority of students using vouchers in other states – 80% in one study – were already attending these expensive schools. This bill amounts to a government handout for wealthy families, and the money will inevitably come at the expense of public education funding. HB93 also fails to include any of the core principles of fairness, responsibility, accountability and transparency that Gov. Little has said he wants to see in any voucher bill.
This bill puts Idaho on a reckless fiscal track without any meaningful standards or accountability. There’s not one state yet that has managed to stay anywhere near the promised budget outlook – just look at the data in Arizona, Indiana, Florida, Texas, Georgia. In Arizona, vouchers were expected to cost $65 million, but have exploded past $800 million, forcing deep cuts to vital state programs and projects.
Regardless of intent, vouchers unleash a cascade of terrible consequences: blown budgets, increased inequality, defunded public schools, higher property taxes and weakened educational outcomes. Once open, the damage from this Pandora’s Box is irreversible.
Idaho is already among the nation’s leaders in school choice, with online virtual and in-person charter schools, gifted and talented programs, special education, open enrollment, alternative education, magnet schools and vocational-technical schools. Vouchers are wrong for Idaho and will disproportionately harm already-struggling rural school districts.”
According to the 2024 Boise State University Public Policy Survey, only 14.9% of Idahoans said that the Legislature should prioritize sending tax dollars to private and religious schools.