Bill Description: House Bill 1 establishes a refundable education tax credit worth up to $9,500 for parents and legal guardians whose children are not enrolled in a public school. It offers education freedom for parents choosing education opportunities outside the public school system.

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Does it create, expand, or enlarge any agency, board, program, function, or activity of government?

A principal danger of poorly structured school choice programs is that they can impede rather than promote educational freedom by imposing unjust government regulations on private education. This can be done directly through the inclusion of testing, teacher certification, admission, or curriculum requirements. This can also be done indirectly by allowing school choice programs to be administered by a state’s respective department of education. In this latter mode, school choice programs can act like a trojan horse, granting opponents of educational freedom the opportunity to impose onerous regulations on non-public education through administrative fiat.

For example, in Arizona, Democrat Attorney General Kris Mayes directed the administrator of the ESA program to begin denying reimbursements for basic “supplementary educational materials,” such as pencils and erasers, without proof from parents that such materials were necessary. This action prompted an ongoing lawsuit by the Goldwater Institute on behalf of two mothers to put an end to the AZ government’s unjust overreach.

House Bill 1 preempts both forms of government encroachment on private education. First, House Bill 1 does not include testing, teacher certification, admissions, curriculum, or other requirements. Second, House Bill 1 provides parents broad discretion to determine for themselves what is considered a “qualified expense” by stating that they “includ(e) but are not limited to” tuition, test fees, textbook and curricula costs, transportation costs, and “(a)ny other expense that is reasonably related to kindergarten through grade 12 academic instruction.” Third, House Bill 1 explicitly dictates that “(t)his section does not permit any government agency to exercise control or supervision over any nonpublic school;” require a non-public school “to alter its creed, practices, admissions policy, or curriculum; nor “expand the authority of any government agency to exercise control or supervision over any parent or legal guardian.”

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Does it increase barriers to entry into the market? Examples include occupational licensure, the minimum wage, and restrictions on home businesses. Conversely, does it remove barriers to entry into the market?

House Bill 1 removes barriers of entry into the teaching profession by incentivizing civil society to establish more non-traditional schools and educational institutions, including Montessori schools, classical schools, and mirco-schools. These institutions will be empowered to hire in-demand educators and instructors without traditional certifications issued by the education establishment, creating a more robust and competitive market for teachers in Idaho.

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Does it directly or indirectly create or increase any taxes, fees, or other assessments? Conversely, does it eliminate or reduce any taxes, fees, or other assessments?

House Bill 1 provides a $9,500 refundable tax credit that will significantly reduce the tax burden of thousands of Idaho families who choose not to participate in public schools.

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Does it promote the breakdown of the traditional family or the deconstruction of societal norms?

It is an unfortunate truth that a large swath of Idaho’s public education system has been captured by the pernicious ideology of cultural Marxism, promoting tenets destructive to traditional Western values and the American way of life. In addition, public education has contributed to the dismantling of the traditional nuclear family by transferring the primary responsibility over the moral, spiritual, and emotional development of our children to the education establishment.

House Bill 1’s refundable tax credit allows families to avoid the negative moral and intellectual influences prevalent in public schools and instead give their children an education that reinforces traditional values. It also strengthens the nuclear family by incentivizing parents to take a more active role in the education of their children.

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Does it expand the government's bureaucratic monopoly on education, reduce family and student choice, or finance education based on an institution or system? 

House Bill 1’s refundable tax credit greatly expands educational freedom. These funds will incentivize families to pursue alternative education options for their children, thus diminishing the power and influence of government bureaucracy and the education establishment.

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