BREAKING: Senator Tammy Nichols Introduces Bill To Fund Students Instead Of Systems — Idaho Parents Rejoice
Thank You Senator Nichols!
Idaho Senator Tammy Nichols (R-Middleton) has introduced a groundbreaking new bill that will give Idaho Parents the ability to really choose where their kids will go to school.
The bill allows tax dollars earmarked for education to follow the students, instead of being locked into the Public Education System. This allows parents who homeschool, or send their kids to private religious schools to use their tax dollars for their children’s education, instead of having to pay twice.
As it stands, if you want homeschool your kids, or send them to a private school, you have to both pay your taxes and pay for the private school or homeschool materials needed to provide an education for your kids.
Nichols teased the bill in late January, saying she had modeled her bill using legislation already passed in Arizona, calling it the “gold standard” of school choice.
Senate Bill 1038 creates what are called “Education Savings Accounts” where the money allocated to each student can be accessed by parents who choose to use alternate education, other than government schools, where students may be exposed to harmful ideologies like Critical Race Theory, and Gender Ideology.
The funds can be used for
(i) Tuition or fees at a qualified school;
(ii) Textbooks required by a qualified school;
(iii) Educational therapies from a licensed or accredited practitioner or provider;
(iv) Tuition for vocational and life skills education approved by the department;
(v) Associated goods and services that include educational and psychological evaluations, assistive technology rentals, and braille translation goods and services approved by the department;
(vi) Tutoring or teaching services provided by an individual or facility; 30
(vii) Curricula and supplementary materials;
(viii) Tuition or fees for a nonpublic online learning program;
(ix) Fees for a nationally standardized norm-referenced achievement test, an advanced placement examination, or any exams related 34 to college or university admission;
(x) Tuition or fees at an eligible postsecondary institution;
(xi) Textbooks required by an eligible postsecondary institution;
(xii) Fees to manage the freedom in education savings account;
(xiii) Services provided by a public school, including individual classes and extracurricular programs;
(xiv) Uniforms purchased from or through a qualified school;
(xv) Public transportation services in this state between the qualified student's residence and a qualified school in which the 44 qualified student is enrolled; and
(xvi) Computer hardware and technological devices primarily used 46 for an educational purpose.
The bill also stipulates that the government cannot “exercise control or supervision over any nonpublic school or homeschooling.”
Education freedom activist Corey DeAngelis praised senator Nichols on Twitter and noted that Idaho is now the 28th state to enact such legislation.
Governor Brad Little has paid lip service to “school choice,” signing a declaration acknowledging that Idaho Parents should have the right to choose how and where their children should be educated.
If, and when this bill passes through the legislature, we will see exactly how committed to school choice the governor really is.
