Budget committee rejects Critchfield’s spending priorities
State superintendent Debbie Critchfield said she was “puzzled” Friday after the Legislature’s budget committee cut a series of funding requests for public schools and the Idaho Department of Education.
The Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee passed a public schools “enhancement” budget without Critchfield’s top priority — $50 million to add weights for high-needs students to K-12 schools’ discretionary funding formula.
It doesn’t mean that the weighted formula bill — Senate Bill 1096, which narrowly passed the Senate this week — is dead. But JFAC’s decision doesn’t bode well for the policy change. “All the signals are telling me that…is not going to go anywhere,” Critchfield said after Friday’s hearing.
Altogether, budget-writers approved just $7.5 million of the $54 million in line items that Critchfield requested for public schools and $2.5 million of the $5.2 million she requested for the department’s budget.
JFAC also passed over $3 million for a fund targeting special education students who are particularly costly for school districts to support. This money is also tied to a pending policy bill — House Bill 291, which squeaked through the House last week, and is awaiting a vote in the Senate.
If the House and Senate approve the policy bills in the waning days or weeks of the legislative session, JFAC could reconsider funding them. But committee co-chair Rep. Wendy Horman, who’s sponsoring a competing per-student funding bill, signaled Friday that public school funding formula changes will wait until next year.
“I’ve been working for 10 years to try and change that, and I’m hoping next year is the year.”
Here are some of the other actions JFAC took on the public schools and IDE budgets:
ISAT
Budget-writers approved a fraction of Critchfield’s request to rework the Idaho Standards Achievement Test, using leftover federal COVID-19 funds.
JFAC gave the department $500,000 of the $2.7 million it requested for transitioning to a new test when the current ISAT vendor contract expires. According to IDE’s budget request, the department conducted a survey that found “changes should be made” to the Common Core-based assessment.
During a previous hearing on the ISAT request, Horman questioned whether $2.7 million would pay for a new test. Critchfield’s fiscal officer Gideon Tolman responded in an email that the department would use the $2.7 million of federal money and $6.3 million of base funding on a new test.
Critchfield said Friday that she was “puzzled” by restricting federal dollars meant for a federal mandate. The federal government requires that states issue standardized tests like the ISAT.
“That limits our ability to do anything different with the test if we wanted to,” Critchfield said of the budget-writers’ decision. “Those dollars come specifically for that purpose.”
Friday’s decision means IDE likely will stick with the current vendor and assessment.
Indian education coordinator
JFAC also rejected a $114,000 request for a new Indian education coordinator at IDE.
This would have funded a second department position focused on working with the state’s five Native American tribes. Tribal leaders have asked IDE to improve “collaboration with them on curriculum and on strategies,” Critchfield said.
Nez Perce Tribe and Lapwai educators late last year criticized Critchfield’s decision to endorse a “heavily biased” history curriculum from conservative group PragerU.
Transportation routing software
JFAC also scaled back Critchfield’s $5 million request for a statewide transportation routing software that would track school bus mileage through a GPS-based system.
Budget-writers approved $2.2 million to implement the software.
Senate amends WWAMI bill, setting the stage for a possible vote next week
The Senate moved quickly to amend the WWAMI medical education bill.
The changes were not surprising — and they were spelled out in a committee hearing Thursday.
The amendments walk back language to defund at least 10 taxpayer-funded medical school seats with WWAMI — a University of Washington-led partnership, named for the member states of Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana and Idaho. The amended bill would not mandate WWAMI cuts. That means Idaho could continue to fund 40 medical school seats a year, or even expand the $7.5 million-a-year program.
The amendments also spell out the membership of the State Board of Education working group that would study Idaho’s medical education needs and report to the 2026 Legislature. The committee would include one senator and one House member, and representatives from the University of Idaho, Idaho State University and the Idaho College of Osteopathic Medicine, said Senate Education Committee Chairman Dave Lent, R-Idaho Falls, who presented the amendments on the Senate floor Friday. Four at-large members would round out the working group.
The amendments are an attempt to forge a common ground on the future of WWAMI, an issue that has divided lawmakers in a state that ranks No. 50 in the nation for doctors per capita. Some legislators, frustrated with WWAMI, have pushed to curtail the program or kill it entirely. Others have said it makes no sense to walk away from the WWAMI partnership, which began in 1972.
The Senate could take up the amended bill as early as next week. If the Senate passes the WWAMI bill, it would go back to the House, which would have to approve the Senate amendments and again vote to pass the bill.
K-12 accountability bill passes House
The House passed a K-12 budget accountability bill, over some bipartisan opposition.
House Bill 416 would require school districts and charter schools to use state funding only for their intended purpose. And it would give the Legislature’s Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee the power to claw back any misspent K-12 funding.
“This bill is how (they) all should be,” said the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Kyle Harris, R-Lewiston. “It’s simple, it’s to the point and it’s effective.”
JFAC’s co-chair, Rep. Wendy Horman, R-Idaho Falls, debated for the bill.
“This is a problem we’ve been trying to get at for many, many years,” said Horman, who added that the bill would allow the Legislature to take an evidence-based approach to updating Idaho’s K-12 formula.
Opponents raised a range of concerns.
Rep. Lori McCann said the bill unfairly singled out K-12, leaving other state agencies unscathed. “Let’s go back to the drawing board and bring back a bill that affects everybody,” said McCann, R-Lewiston.
Rep. Jack Nelsen chastised the House for trying to micromanage public school budgets — at the same time legislators are handing out $50 million in new private school tax credits.
“To me, it’s a bit disrespectful,” said Nelsen, R-Jerome.
With the House’s 52-17 vote, HB 416 now heads to the Senate.
Budget-writers split over tobacco settlement spending
Legislative budget-writers deadlocked Friday over how to divvy up the Millennium Fund — the state’s tobacco settlement money.
The Legislature’s advisory Joint Millennium Fund Committee in January settled on a range of recommendations for spending the money, which typically targets tobacco and drug cessation programs.
The Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee split over two of the advisory committee’s recommendations: $350,000 for the Idaho Youth Well-Being Assessment and $1.5 million for after-school programs.
Opinions crossed partisan lines. Sen. Carl Bjerke, R-Coeur d’Alene, and Rep. Soñia Galaviz, D-Boise, advocated for funding the two line items.
The survey is effective at guiding “intentional intervention” efforts by educators and parents, Galaviz said. The assessment is “designed by Idahoans for Idaho schools in cooperation with Idaho parents,” she said. “I will stand by those efforts.”
But Rep. Josh Tanner called the survey a “waste of money.” He compared the survey and after-school programs to Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE), the result of which was “moving the needle almost nothing,” the Eagle Republican said.
“Just throwing money at some of these other things (has) shown to be not successful and we’ve got proven track records for that.”
The committee voted 12-8 to fund the survey and after-school programs. But the vote among House members was 5-5, and JFAC rules require majority support from both sides of the joint committee for a motion to pass.
House narrowly approves money to build workforce training capacity
A $10 million infusion in workforce training programs — one of Gov. Brad Little’s priorities — barely cleared the House Friday.
The money is meant to build capacity in Idaho’s six technical colleges — its four community colleges along with Idaho State University and Lewis-Clark State College.
The money will only go to workforce training programs that have waitlists, Rep. Wendy Horman, R-Idaho Falls, said during floor debate.
The House approved the career-technical education budget bill, 36-33. It now heads to the Senate.
House passes funding increase for community colleges
The House approved a $1.7 million line item for Idaho’s four community colleges.
The “enhancement” budget for the two-year schools provides extra funding for personnel, based on growth. Using a complicated formula known as enrollment workload adjustment, House Bill 417 provides an additional $690,000 for the College of Southern Idaho, $496,800 for the College of Eastern Idaho and $493,000 for the College of Western Idaho. North Idaho College’s budget would be unchanged.
During brief debate, Rep. David Leavitt argued against the bill, saying community colleges can already receive money from local property taxes, while a newly passed law gives them the green light to increase tuition. Leavitt is a Republican from Twin Falls, home to CSI.
The budget passed, 50-20, and now goes to the Senate.
English language amendment heads to Senate
An English language constitutional amendment is headed to the Senate for a final legislative vote.
With little discussion, the Senate State Affairs Committee quickly passed House Joint Resolution 6, which would make English the state’s official language.
“This just says that language matters,” said Sen. Brian Lenney, R-Nampa, one of HJR 6’s co-sponsors. “(It) tells us who we are as a nation.”
The proposed amendment reads, in part: “Except as required by federal law, English shall be used in all public proceedings, public documents, public instruction, and any other public acts of any public institution in the state of Idaho.”
Senators didn’t ask many questions about the amendment, and none pertaining to public schools. But Lenney said the amendment would not preclude the use of other languages in public institutions.
After the committee’s unanimous vote, HJR 6 goes to the Senate floor for a vote, where it needs a two-thirds majority to pass. The amendment has already passed the House with two-thirds support.
If the Senate passes HJR 6, it would appear on Idaho’s November 2026 ballot. At that point, the amendment would need a simple majority to pass.
Property tax cleanup bill heads to House floor
The House Revenue and Taxation Committee put a tax cleanup bill on a fast track.
The crux of the new bill surrounds the $100 million property tax relief plan already headed to Gov. Brad Little’s desk.
The followup bill looks to clean up the timing, according to its sponsor, Rep. Jeff Ehlers, R-Meridian. The state would take its $100 million from its 2025-26 budget, at the start of a fiscal year, beginning July 1. By Aug. 31, the state would transfer this money to two state property tax relief funds — including a $50 million fund designed to offset school bonds and levies.
The point of the timing is to ensure that property owners would get their tax relief by the end of 2025, Ehlers said.
The committee voted unanimously to print the bill and send it straight to the House floor, where it could come up for a vote in the next few days.
