Senate committee hears bill to expand education grants to private schools; testimony sharply divided, panel sends bill to Senate floor

Senate Bill 1025, a package of changes to Idaho’s school choice and enrollment rules, drew several hours of testimony in the Senate Education Committee on Feb. 5 and a divided committee vote to send the bill to the full Senate without a recommendation.

Sen. Dave Lent (R‑Idaho Falls), the bill’s sponsor, framed SB 1025 as an effort to set accountability and guardrails for private providers if public funds are to be used at nonpublic schools. At the outset he said the intent is to “provide a threshold of accountability” for private schools that accept public grants. Key provisions in the draft the sponsor described include increasing the state’s existing Empowering Parents grants (the testimony referenced raising certain grants from $1,000 to $5,000 per student and phasing family caps up to $15,000); allowing grants for eligible services to children as young as 3 (testimony said daycare per se would not be an eligible expense); requiring participating nonpublic schools to be accredited and to accept…