Little: ‘Keeping Promises’ at center of 2025 session

BOISE — School choice, an investment in the state’s natural resources and expanded efforts to address the state’s housing needs were some of the key issues highlighted in Monday’s opening of the legislative session.

In his Monday State of the State address, Idaho Gov. Brad Little revealed what he called the “Keeping Promises” campaign, highlighting key areas of investment throughout the state that would be pursued in the coming session — all of which Little said would come without raising taxes in the state.

A total of $100 million in tax relief has been proposed for Idahoans for the FY 2026 budget, bringing the governor’s cumulative tax cuts to $4.7 million since he took office in 2019.

“We delivered property tax cuts and a new lower flat income tax,” Little said. “We increased the grocery tax rebate, and we stand ready to implement President Trump’s promised tax cuts.”

An elimination of sales tax on groceries in Idaho is expected to be a topic of discussion once again. Little previously said he would support a repeal of the tax “within certain parameters,” though what constitutes groceries would need to be defined, he said.

Beyond continued tax cuts, Little’s priorities heading into the 2025 legislative session and return of President Donald Trump to the White House include expanded investment in school choice initiatives and public schools, restorative investments in the state’s natural resources, and regulatory changes to address Idaho’s housing needs.

EDUCATION

The state’s public schools will continue to be the “first and foremost” priority in the area of education, Little said, but expressed openness to allowing funds to go to private education. For the coming fiscal year, Little has proposed more than $150 million going toward public schools, $50 million of which will be dedicated to funding for rural school facilities, mental health services and for accountability in literacy outcomes, according to budget documentation.

The governor is also recommending a 5% merit-based raise for state education staff, $83 million of which will be dedicated to teachers, administrators and “classified staff.” The remaining $28 million will be dedicated to funding teacher health insurance, budget documentation said.

Little highlighted an increasing demand for public charter schools in the state, and he set $50 million to fund private “school choice” initiatives. The Idaho Legislature has previously been divided on school choice proposals that would have state funds dedicated toward private tuition and homeschooling. Little has previously opposed efforts to allow existing public programs to go toward private education, but he said Monday he would support investment in private tuition or homeschooling so long as it is done in a way that doesn’t “take away funds from public schools.”

Little said the he would only consider a school choice proposal if it meets the same standards of public schools “while prioritizing families that need it the most.”

NATURAL RESOURCES

Coming off a historically dry year that was met with an abundance of wildfires, addressing fire prevention and the state’s water needs will be another central focus.

In response to what was witnessed in Idaho’s past fire season — when hundreds of thousands of acres of wilderness burned — Little would like to see continued investment into the state’s fire suppression account. He said $1 million in “bonuses to hire and retain wildland firefighters,” as well as collaboration with the Trump administration regarding how wildfires are managed by the government will be pursued in the coming term.

The FY 2026 budget proposes an additional $100 million to be dedicated toward fire management — $60 million of which will be allocated to replenishing the Fire Suppression Deficiency Fund, which was depleted during the historic 2024 fire season. The remaining $40 million is an ongoing expenditure for the “five-year average of fire suppression expenditures” that is meant to suppress fires early before they pose threats to agriculture, livestock and homes, according to budget documents.

In his address, Little noted that Idaho has seen a continued decline in its aquifer water, which helps aid the state’s agriculture needs. To boost this industry, $30 million has been proposed to support water infrastructure projects, several of which are in the East Snake River Plain, that facilitates irrigation in south Idaho for much of the state’s agriculture.

“My Keeping Promises plan helps tackle the backlog of unfunded water projects because securing water for future generations and protecting Idaho agriculture requires both the new plan and continued investments that have proven to raise water levels in the Eastern Snake Plain Aquifer — the lifeblood of Idaho agriculture,” Little said.

HOUSING

Little acknowledged Idahoans were “feeling the pinch” in Idaho’s housing supply. To address the issue, Little said he would be looking to remove “regulatory barriers” and promote reform that would allow the state to better keep up with housing demand. The aforementioned $100 million in tax relief is meant to partly address the economic burden of housing in the state. To facilitate the labor needed to address housing demand, an additional $15 million has been proposed to support workforce housing efforts.

“You have all heard me state my goal from Day 1 — to make Idaho the place where our children and grandchildren choose to stay and for the ones who have left to choose to come home,” Little said. “It’s difficult to achieve that goal when home ownership is so far out of reach.”

To ensure that the housing sector’s labor demands can be met with expanded housing investment, Idaho’s Launch program — which works to connect high school seniors with trade programs, higher education opportunities and apprenticeships after graduation — was highlighted in Little’s address as a means of addressing this need, with $25 million proposed to further support expanding program capacity.

“Thanks to Launch, we had the largest cohort ever of students enrolled in an education or training program after high school,” Little said. “Two-thirds of the students who went on to an Idaho school last year used a Launch grant. Community college attendance surged 15%. Those are real results.”

HOUSE LEADERS RESPOND

In response to Little’s school choice proposals, House Minority Leader Ilana Rubel, D-Boise, expressed strong disagreement among Idaho Democrats with Little’s school choice proposals. She highlighted a similar system in Arizona that was “initially advertised as a $30 million plan” and now costs $825 million per year.

“This will not cost $50 million and it will not leave public schools (unharmed),” Rubel said. “It will blow up the budget, and it will defund our public schools.”

Rubel noted that Democrats will also be looking to implement further protections of the state’s public lands.

“There’s an effort right now using ... taxpayer dollars to litigate to the Supreme Court and try to get the federal government to hand over those public lands,” Rubel said. “There is only one outcome from all of this, and that is privatization, that is sale of these lands.”

Opposing these efforts during the legislative session may be the “last chance” to stand up to these efforts and maintain current protections, Rubel said.

In the Republican response, House Speaker Mike Moyle, R-Star, indicated he had outstanding questions about Little’s proposed spending initiatives, including increased investment in Idaho’s Launch program that Moyle said has expanded beyond its initial intention for programming in high schools and community colleges. Moyle has been a vocal critic of the program.

Moyle also noted he would be in favor of examining a reversal of Medicaid expansion and is broadly looking to extend well beyond Little’s proposed $100 million in tax cuts — as much as three times Little’s proposed amount, he said.

“My goal is to have … taxes cut way more, and I want spending to cut way back,” Moyle said. “And that will be how I focus, how I do things as speaker.”

McCandless may be contacted at roycemccandless@idahopress.com.