State superintendent echoes governor on private school choice: Spending must be accountable
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Ryan Suppe, IdahoEdNews.org
BOISE — (Idaho EdNews) State superintendent Debbie Critchfield says she’s on the same page as Gov. Brad Little when it comes to private school choice. And their positions haven’t changed, despite Little’s announcement Monday that he’s opening the door for state funds to subsidize private education.
“I didn’t hear anything yesterday that tells me he’s changed his mind around accountability or transparency, and I’ve had the same stance,” Critchfield told Idaho Education News on Tuesday. “The governor made a statement that I’ve repeatedly made, that any support towards paying for choice cannot come at the expense of public schools.”
Little and Critchfield, both Republicans, have long expressed misgivings about private school choice. Little as early as 2017 said subsidizing private education could threaten public school funding, and Critchfield said the same while campaigning in 2022.
However, during his annual State of the State address, Little relented, announcing that he’s setting aside $50 million in his budget to “expand education options.” A couple hours earlier, Rep. Wendy Horman and Sen. Lori Den Hartog had debuted a new bill to create a $50 million refundable tax credit program for private education expenses.
Little drew praise from private school choice supporters and backlash from opponents, who had seen the governor as an ally in their resistance to vouchers, education savings accounts and tax credit scholarships subsidizing private education.
During his formal speech Monday, Little said that any private school choice measure he considers must be “fair, responsible, transparent and accountable” and “prioritize the families that need it most.” It also cannot “take funds away from public schools.” He later told reporters that support for private school choice has reached a “critical mass,” and if something is going to happen, he wants to have a say.
“There isn’t critical mass of agreement on any one thing, and that’s been the issue the last couple years,” he said. “I want some things in it. I can’t get them if I’m not part of the discussion.”
Little’s restatement of these expectations was “very important,” Critchfield said.
“As we look at potential legislation…those are going to be the things that we go down and check boxes on.”
There could be several private school choice bills on the table this session, but the one from Horman, R-Idaho Falls, and Den Hartog, R-Meridian, appears to be the favorite. It would cap state spending at $50 million, and families earning less than 300% of the federal poverty limit would have first dibs on the refundable credits.
Many opponents of private school choice — including leaders of the Idaho Education Association, Idaho Schools Boards Association and Idaho Business for Education — have advocated against any form of private school spending, for fears that restrictions could eventually be lifted and costs will balloon.
“Every voucher bill that I’ve heard of… (they) all start out as a modest bill, all start out as something with a cap, all start out with some kind of a measure to restrict their growth,” said Mike Journee, communications director for the statewide teachers’ union. “It always grows and becomes a big budget challenge.”
Critchfield, who’s responsible for overseeing Idaho’s $3.29 billion public school system, said she doesn’t believe Little would sign a bill that threatens public school funding. But she shares concerns that future policymakers could remove guardrails, potentially making the state responsible for hundreds of millions of dollars in annual private school expenses.
“That’s the risk anytime you have legislative action on anything. People change, governors change, legislators change…We’re looking at the experiences of states around us. I think there’s every reason to say ‘We need to be cautious.'”
Critchfield applauds new school spending, endorsement of formula change
Critchfield also praised Little for his public school spending agenda.
Little called for more than $83 million in K-12 teacher, administrator and staff pay raises, and $28.1 million for school employee benefits. This would represent a 5% raise for teachers, but perhaps not for all of them, Critchfield noted. District leaders set salaries at the local level.
Little also proposed $50 million in “gap funding” for rural school facilities, mental health and safety services and literacy. The Department of Education has “put of a lot of time and attention” into these areas, Critchfield said, and she’s “committed to making sure that those dollars, as proposed, stay with public education.”
The governor also endorsed the superintendent’s budget request, submitted in September, which includes reforming a portion of the state’s funding formula to support school districts with high-cost students.
The weighted formula would give each school district and charter school a base amount of funding per student plus additional money based on weights for special education students, English-language learners and other students with unique characteristics.
“I believe this is the most significant update to school funding that we’ve had in 20 years, and really puts us in line with the needs of the modern classroom,” Critchfield said.
House Speaker Mike Moyle appeared lukewarm on the idea Monday.
“If she works with the right people in the building and brings them in, I think there’s a shot at that,” said Moyle, R-Star. “It depends on the cost, too.”
The weights would only apply to districts’ discretionary funding, altogether $432.1 million, or about 13% of the overall K-12 school support budget. Critchfield’s proposal adds $57.6 million to the discretionary allocation, $24.4 million of which is new spending. The other $33.2 million comes from existing funds that would be collapsed into the discretionary account.
If approved by lawmakers, the change could ease one of the major shortfalls pinching local school budgets — an estimated $80 million statewide gap in special education funding. Critchfield and her staff will “talk to anyone that will listen to us,” she said, and they’ve started lobbying members of the House and Senate education committees.
Those adhering to the school choice mantra “the money should follow the student” should also support the formula change, Critchfield said.
“There’s absolutely no reason to not get on board with the same approach to public schools.”
This article was originally posted on IdahoEdNews.org on Jan. 7, 2025.