House education committee members call for deeper review of funding, studies on school finance and program impacts

BOISE, Idaho — Following the committee’s business on March 6, members of the Idaho House Committee on Education debated several budgetary and policy issues and urged more in-depth review outside the regular session to clarify how education funding streams interact and affect rural districts, special education, virtual-learning programs and higher-education staffing.

Committee members said the current legislative budget book and separate program lines can obscure how funds are allocated. Representative Harris questioned consolidation of several line items into “student support” and flagged what appeared to be separate entries for the Idaho Digital Learning Academy and Idaho Virtual Academy; Representative Clow explained the programs are distinct, saying IDLA is a statewide program that offers online classes to districts while Idaho Virtual Academy is a charter school funded through the public school formula.