Idaho Legislative Summary - Education Policy

The Targhee Group, Government Affairs for the Coalition of Idaho Charter School Families

2025 Session

The 2025 legislative session was a particularly active year for public K–12 education policy in Idaho, with at least 40 bills introduced. Some of these bills are particularly relevant for virtual and charter education, while others addressed broader issues with implications for the entire public education system.

Below is a summary of the bills that directly or indirectly impact virtual and charter education. I’ve also included several proposals that did not pass this session but are worth noting, as they may reemerge in future sessions.

Virtual Charter/Charter School Specific Bills – Passed Into Law

H293/H396 School Transportation - This bill started as H293 and would have eliminated virtual charter school funding for transportation. But after concerns were raised that the ‘transportation’ funding for virtual schools was a valid funding mechanism used by the State Department of Education for nearly 20 years, the bill was modified to allow the virtual schools to retain that funding. The new H396 which ended up being signed by the Governor, does modify somewhat the redistribution of the current block grant which will impact mainly the Oneida school district. The remainder of the bill allows alternative vehicles (such as private cars or vans) to be used to transport students when necessary. The bill also eliminates bussing reimbursements for virtual students.

H256/H331 Charter School Facilities Credit Enhancement – This bill helps established charter schools secure lower interest rates on bonds. The credit enhancement program already exists. This bill raises the cap on the overall capacity so that more schools may participate.

S1142 Repeal Empowering Parents Program (Still Awaiting Governor’s signature as of this report) – This bill repeals the Empowering Parents Program as of June 30, 2025. Any funds not used by then will be returned to the General Fund. The reasoning was that this was a program created to help with the COVID crisis but that crisis is now over and this program is no longer necessary. The bill has been sent to the Governor but as of Apr. 10 had not yet been signed by him.

Virtual Charter/Charter School Specific Bills – Not Passed

S1176/ S1188 Virtual Charters – According to the bill sponsor, the purpose of this bill was to create a clear lane of operations for any statewide virtual charters. The bill would not allow district-run virtual schools to enroll students outside their boundaries and any virtual charter that operates statewide would have to move under the authority of the State Charter Commission. It also would have required any contracts with an ESA to first be approved by the Charter Commission. The original S1176 also would have removed staff allowance funding to virtual charters. After many concerns with S1176 were raised, the bill was reintroduced as S1188 which reinstated the staff funding and pushed out the implementation date by one year. However, virtual charter schools still had great concerns with the new version of the bill. The bill passed out of the Senate Ed committee and was sent to the 14th order to be amended, but after significant parent concerns the bill was pulled and sent back to committee. A new version of this bill will likely be introduced in the next session.

H163 Admission Preference to Military Families – This bill would have given admission preference in charter school lotteries to families with at least one active duty military member. After addressing concerns that siblings of current students should still have first admissions priority, the bill still failed to receive a hearing in the House and was referred back to the Education Committee.

S1017/S1068 – Self-Directed Learner Bill – This bill presented by former Senator Thayne aimed to create a category of self-directed learners with parent supported instruction. These learners would be schooled at home under the direction of parents but would be overseen by a public school teacher. The families would be reimbursed for educational expenses. The first version of the bill failed to pass the committee. The second version of the bill also was held in committee.

Other Relevant Education Bills – Passed and Signed Into Law

H93 Parental Choice Tax Credit – This bill will allocate $50m to allow parents to receive up to $5,000 per student who opts out of the public education system ($7,500 for special needs students). The funds can be used for private school tuition, homeschool curricula, tutors, microschools etc. Lower income families will be prioritized.

S1092 Lifetime Teaching Certificate – This bill provides a lifetime teaching certificate to an educator with 25 years or more of experience and exempts them from further professional development.

H32 Mask Mandates – Schools will be prohibited from requiring any type of face masks or face shields. A school may recommend face masks but cannot require them.

H41 Flags in Schools - Restricts the flags or banners that an elementary or secondary school may display to mostly state, country, military and official flags of Indian tribes. The bill passed after clarification was added that it does not apply to personal items worn by students such as a shirt or button, and that the restrictions do not extend to parking lots.

S1023/S1210 – Medical Freedom Act - This bill bans schools (and all government entities) from mandating medical interventions such as vaccines. The bill does make an exclusion for the currently required childhood vaccines. S1023 was vetoed by the Governor and the Senate vote to overturn his veto failed. A reworked bill, S1210, was introduced which clarified that schools would still be able to send sick children home and the Governor signed it into law.

S1007 Public Comment at School Board Meetings – This bill allows comments at local school board meetings on items not officially on the agenda.

H397 Civics Test for Graduation – This bill requires that all secondary students pass a civics test as a graduation requirement. A new civics test will be developed by the State Department of Education. The requirement would begin with the 2026-2027 school year. Students graduating prior to Jan 1, 2029 who have satisfied the previous civics requirements prior to the 2026-2027 school year are exempt.

H239 Sexual Education Parental Rights – This bill changes the state’s current opt out policy for sexual education to an opt in policy. Parents need to provide an affirmative opt in at least two weeks prior to instruction being given.

H236 Enrollment Denial – This bill allows school boards to deny enrollment to a student who was disenrolled at a previous school due to serious behavioral problems. It requires parents to disclose a conviction of a severe crime as specified in the bill.

S1032 – Distraction Free Policy – Every school district must create a distraction free policy for dealing with mobile device use by the end of this calendar year.

H352 Parental Rights Education – This bill prohibits public schools from teaching on gender identity or sexual orientation in grades K-12. An earlier version of this bill only prohibited those topics for K-3 but the sponsor received feedback from parents asking for it to be K-12.

S1044 Cursive Proficiency - Current Idaho standards require cursive teaching but do not require proficiency. This bill mandates cursive instruction beginning in 3rd grade with benchmarks set by the State Board of Education.

S1069 Literacy Intervention – A number of literacy bills were introduced this session. This bill allocates $5 million to expand the SMART coach literacy program and ensures existing literacy dollars are spent on programs aligned with the science of reading and evidence-based best practices.

S1046 Fetal Development Instruction – This legislation requires all public schools to provide instruction on human fetal development in grades 5-12, Schools can choose what materials to use to teach this but it must include scientifically accurate materials such as ultrasound videos and animations.

Other Relevant Education Bills Introduced – Not Passed

H238 Display 10 Commandments – This bill would have required schools to display a poster of the 10 commandments; The bill never received a hearing in committee.

S1096 Funding Formula Change – This bill was an attempt to change the funding formula and more heavily weight certain categories of students such as special ed, alternative schools and a few other categories. It passed the Senate but then after JFAC declined to approve the enhancement appropriation needed for the bill, the bill was held in the House.

S1025 Expanding Empowering Parents Program - This was one of a few school choice bills presented this year. It would have added $30 million for new special ed funding, reduced reporting requirements for public schools by eliminating the current 52 state reports that are required; and would have allowed Empowering Parents grants to be used for private tuition. It failed to pass the Senate.

H291 High Needs IEP Reimbursement – This bill would have created a fund to reimburse districts for high needs students IEP costs. Any student whose IEP is more than $15,000 would be able to submit for reimbursement. The bill failed to pass the Senate by 1 vote.

S1097 Public District Converting to Charter – This bill would have allowed any public school district to convert to a charter school with a majority vote of the school board. The bill passed the Senate unanimously but was held in the House.

S1098 Teacher Apprenticeship Program – The bill would have provided a teacher apprenticeship as a pathway to certification. The bill was printed and referred to the Education committee but did not progress any further.

S1070 – Parent Tech Awareness Program – This bill would require parents to be notified of the availability of educational materials regarding the risks of students being on line with school technology. The bill passed the Senate but was held in the House.

H295 – Superintendent Apprenticeship Program – This bill aimed to make it easier for rural districts to find principals and superintendent by adding an apprenticeship program. The bill passed the House but was held in the Senate Education Committee because a State Department committee is already working on this issue and they wanted to wait to hear the recommendations from that committee before passing legislation.

H351 Education Parental Rights – This bill would have required school districts to post a list of their curriculum for K-12 for parent access. The bill passed the House but did not progress in the Senate.

H410 Voluntary School Chaplains – This bill would have allowed school districts and charter schools to accept a paid or volunteer chaplain to serve students, staff and parents. Whether or not to have a chaplain would have been up to the discretion of the school. The bill passed the House but did not advance in the Senate.

S1145 Literacy Funds – This bill would have allowed schools to use literacy funds from K-12 programs for preK programs. It failed to pass the Senate.

S1147 Outcomes Based Funding – This legislation would have allocated student funding based on specific growth and proficiency targets for math in grades 5-8 and another portion of funding for schools meeting certain college and career readiness credentials. It passed the Senate but did not advance in the House.

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