OPINION: In Boise this week, it’s the same old story

It was “Groundhog Day” at the Idaho Legislature this week.

Much like Bill Murray’s character in that movie, Idahoans seem condemned to wake up once again to another attempt to divert money from their struggling public schools in order to subsidize the private education of economic elites in the state’s urban centers.

It happened last year, before lawmakers beat back a private school voucher bill.

It happened again Tuesday when the House Revenue and Taxation Committee introduced a measure that would extend a $5,000 tax credit per student — or $7,500 in the case of special needs children — that could be spent on private school tuition.

The total cost is put at $50 million and the credit would be available on a first-come, first-served basis.

Same as last year, the cost won’t stay there long.

At $50 million, about half of the Idaho children attending private schools would be turned away. So there will be constant pressure to expand the credit until it’s available to anyone who applies. As the Arizona Mirror’s Gloria Rebecca Gomez reported last year, that state expected to pay $65 million when it launched a voucher program. It’s now on the hook for $900 million.

In Florida, a tax credit for students attending private and religious schools costs $1 billion, Idaho Business for Education President Rod Gramer wrote this week in Idaho Education News.

Same as last year, this plan won’t do much for ordinary Idaho families who might consider transferring their children from a public to a private academy. That $5,000 tax credit falls short of covering tuition payments that can cost as much as $21,970 a year — and typically run in the neighborhood of $8,000 to $9,500 a year. And the bulk of private schools are found in a handful of places, including Ada, Canyon and Kootenai counties.

So families that already can afford tuition will pocket the extra money from the state tax credit.

Same as last year, there’s no such thing as a free lunch. The money has to come from somewhere. Rep. Kenny Wroten, R-Nampa, pinned down the tax credit’s sponsor, Sen. Lori Den Hartog, R-Meridian, on this point: If $50 million is diverted to tax credits, that leaves $50 million less for the general fund, which supports public schools. Fewer dollars in the general fund works a greater hardship for poor, rural communities, which find it more difficult — if not impossible — to fill the gaps in state public education funding by passing local property tax supplemental levies.

Same as last year, there’s no accountability about how these private schools spend your tax dollars. In fact, the bill specifically forbids “any government agency to exercise control or supervision over any nonpublic school. A nonpublic school that accepts payment from grant funds pursuant to this section is not an agent of the state or federal government. A nonpublic school shall not be required to alter its creed, practices, admissions policy, or curriculum in order to accept students who pay tuition or fees from grants under this section.”

Is that clear enough?

That means no publicly elected school board.

There will be no expectation that standardized test scores will be disclosed to the public.

Nor will there be any requirements for teachers to be certified by the state or for curriculum to meet public standards.

But the story is not entirely a retread. There are a few new wrinkles. Among them:

Diverting money from public to private schools isn’t popular. While a near majority told Boise State University’s Public Policy Survey they’d favor a voucher system, support dropped substantially if “it adversely affected public school budgets.”

Idaho is no longer awash in federal COVID-19 relief cash and its own budget surplus has diminished. Spend $50 million on a tax credit now and there won’t be as much money available for repairing and replacing Idaho’s aged public school infrastructure. Resources to help high school graduates obtain training in high-demand fields may be at risk. Perhaps, there would be less money around for property tax relief.

Gov. Brad Little spoke plainly in his State of the State address: “I will continue to support a fair, responsible, transparent, and accountable approach to expanding school choice in Idaho — one that does not draw resources away from our public schools.”

Little’s position is vital because the sponsors behind this package carry a lot of leverage. They include Rep. Wendy Horman, R-Idaho Falls, and Sen. C. Scott Grow, R-Eagle — who preside over the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee — as well as House Revenue and Taxation Committee Chairperson Jason Monks, R-Meridian, and Senate Local Government and Taxation Committee Chairperson Doug Ricks, R-Rexburg.

Little has every reason to stand his ground, up to and including vetoing this measure. He knows long term that a metastasizing tax credit for Idaho’s wealthy will come at the expense of public schools and the families who depend upon them.

Watch closely what the governor does. — M.T.