Senate committee holds SB 10‑68 to March 12 after debate over parent‑supported public schooling model

At a Senate committee meeting, lawmakers held Senate Bill 10‑68 to the call of the chair with a date certain of March 12 after extended testimony and questions about a parent‑supported public schooling model used by several Idaho districts.

The bill’s sponsor and several parents described a model in which a public school or virtual charter — for example Idaho Home Learning Academy — enrolls students and routes state funding through the district to a school and then to education service providers. Sponsors said the model allows parents to choose curriculum and for much instruction to occur at home while preserving testing and certain state accountability requirements.

Sponsor Steven Thane said the measure “basically puts in code what I saw as happening,” describing the proposal as a way to give local districts flexibility to “innovate” and to prevent the model from being curtailed by future regulation. Janet Cox, representing Idaho Home Learning Academy, told the committee that IHLA is “a virtual charter school, authorized under Oneida School District,” and explained the payments and services the school and contracted service providers perform.

Why it matters: The bill would formalize a model already operating in several Idaho school districts and clarifies who may provide instruction and which curriculum‑adoption requirements apply.…