Bill Description: Senate Bill 1281 (S1281) would reduce the amount of funds allocated to the parental choice tax credit in tax year 2026 and 2027.

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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? Conversely, does it reduce government coercion in education, expand education choice, or finance education based on the student rather than the institution?

S1281 would reduce the amount of funds allocated to the parental choice tax credit in tax year 2026 and 2027 from $50 million to $48 million and $47.5 million, respectively. Idaho’s school choice program is already drastically underfunded and incapable of covering more than a fraction of the existing private school population.This legislation would lower that figure by an estimated 900 additional students. 

Though a reduction in education spending is warranted given the state’s current fiscal outlook, a much more appropriate target would be Idaho’s public education system, whose budget has grown dramatically over the past decade despite poor outcomes and declining enrollment. 

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