State board seeks funding to sustain rural and underserved educator incentive and software capacity

Kevin Campbell, budget and policy analyst with the Legislative Services Office, reviewed the Scholarship and Grants program budget, which the committee was told is administered within the Office of the State Board of Education.

Campbell said Scholarships and Grants administers five programs — including the Opportunity Scholarship, Armed Forces and Public Safety Officer Scholarship, GEAR UP (Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness Undergraduate Program), Idaho Work Study, and the Rural and Underserved Educator Incentive Program — and that 99.5% of the program's spending is trustee and benefit payments for students and providers.

Josh Whitworth, executive director of the State Board of Education, told the committee that scholarship spending is heavily affected by award-cycle timing, applicants meeting criteria, and federal grant timing. He said other staff in the board office support customer service and related tasks that do not appear in the Scholarships and Grants personnel line.

The board requested $1,375,000 in FY2026 for the rural and underserved educator incentive program and asked for a software engineer position (requested at $124,000) to maintain databases used by students and parents. Whitworth said the board has not yet produced robust performance reporting for all scholarship lines and committed to returning with more detailed outcome information, such as retention and district-level placements for rural incentive recipients.

Senators and representatives asked for district-level breakdowns and retention measures. Co-chair Harmon and Representative Miller requested that the board return data on which districts received awards and whether the incentive improves recruitment and retention in targeted areas; Whitworth agreed to provide the requested information.

No formal vote was recorded in the hearing; the requests were presented for committee consideration as part of upcoming budget decisions.