Idaho Senate Education Committee holds bill expanding parent-supported instruction after testimony and questions

BOISE — The Idaho Senate Education Committee on Monday heard testimony on Senate Bill 10-68, a proposal to codify a parent-supported instruction model that would allow parents to select curriculum and receive district-administered education savings accounts for certain expenses while remaining enrolled in public or charter schools.

Senator Steven Thain, sponsor of the bill, told the committee the proposal seeks to give parents and districts “flexibility to compete in this new landscape” of school choice and individualized instruction. He said roughly 11,000 students in Idaho already participate in parent-supported or similar models and that the bill would provide four specific areas of flexibility for districts that choose to offer the model.

The bill, as described by Thain, would: exempt parent-selected curriculum used in the model from the usual curriculum adoption process (while still requiring instruction aligned to state standards); permit sponsoring school districts to set education savings account amounts; allow districts to increase pupil-teacher ratios for participating…