Legislators push for public education funding amid school choice debate

Boundary County School District officials traveled to Boise last week to voice opposition to state-funded private school tuition and to meet with North Idaho lawmakers. 

Superintendent Jan Bayer and Board Vice-chair Teresa Rae talked with Idaho House Reps. Mark Sauter, District 1A, and Cornel Rasor, District 1B, along with District 1 Sen. Jim Woodward, to address concerns over two emerging school choice bills – one from the House and one from the Senate. 

Bayer said the school choice initiative would disproportionately benefit urban districts like Ada, Canyon, and Kootenai counties, which have a wealth of private, magnet, and charter schools. In contrast, rural districts such as Boundary have far fewer options. 

“The school choice that they're talking about and what could come out of it is just going to benefit large counties and have very little bearing on small communities,” she said. 

Sauter, who has represented District 1 covering Boundary and Bonner counties since 2022, has opposed private school vouchers in all three legislative sessions he’s participated in. 

“I’m very concerned about the two 2025 public tax money for private school tuition bills,” he wrote in an email to the Herald. “It has been said both bills serve as tax relief for a small, limited group of our residents.” 

Disparity between urban and rural school choice 

A newly released map from the Idaho State Board of Education highlights the stark difference in school choice between Boundary County and urban school districts. 

In Bonners Ferry, within a 28-mile radius, there are only three private school options: 9B Foundations School, Cornerstone Christian School, and Mountainview Christian School. The county has no charter or magnet schools. 

In contrast, urban areas have significantly more choices. Caldwell offers 84 private, charter, or magnet schools within the same radius, Boise has 82, and Coeur d’Alene has 27. 

The Foundations School, serving around 100 students, is the only private high school in Boundary County. However, none of the local private schools are accredited by the Idaho State Board of Education, meaning they don’t meet performance standards set by the independent agency, Cognia Accreditation. 

The closest accredited private school is Valor Christian High School, located 34 miles away in Sandpoint and serving grades 9 through 11. The nearest charter school is Forrest M. Bird Charter School, also in Sandpoint, while the closest magnet school is in Coeur d’Alene. 

For many Boundary County students, virtual schools and homeschooling remain the most viable educational options aside from public school. Approximately 12% of North Idaho students attend virtual schools, the highest per capita rate in the state. Statewide, about 10% of students are homeschooled. 

Public schools face funding challenges

Bayer said the state should not prioritize funding for private schools – especially if it means diverting resources from public schools – until it fulfills its constitutional obligation to adequately fund public education. She pointed out that the $50 million proposed for school choice could instead cover 20 local levies, benefiting hundreds of thousands of students and taxpayers, far more than the small group impacted by private school funding. 

“Until public education is fully funded – meaning no need for bonds or levies – I don’t see how we can justify funding private education,” Bayer said. 

Sauter said he shared similar concerns, adding that Idaho could follow the path of other states, such as Florida and Arizona, where school-choice initiatives have cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars more than expected. 

“Given the expansion in the spending for other states with experience in this type of program, I’m concerned about a cap on spending with this program and on the new, program staffing required to implement a program like this as well,” he wrote. 

In the meantime, Sauter and others have made progress with a new bill, introduced on Jan. 28, aimed at financing rural school facilities upgrades, one that could help build a new Valley View Elementary. 

“I am aware of the condition of some of our schools and was part of the supporting vote to begin some historical public school facility funding in 2024,” Sauter wrote. “More needs to be done to improve the condition of our public schools.”