More gains for school choice across the country 

 

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Mar 2, 2025 / 10:40 am (CNA).

Idaho has enacted a school-choice bill that would allow parents to use public funds to send their kids to private schools, and two other Republican-controlled states are moving closer to approving similar legislation.

The Idaho measure provides up to $5,000 per student per year for private school or for homeschooling, and $7,500 per year for students with disabilities.

Idaho Governor Brad Little, a Republican, signed the bill into law on Feb. 27.

Supporters of school choice say it expands the options of poor families who can’t afford private schools.

“Idaho has become the first state to offer education freedom from kindergarten through career,” Little said in a statement.

“Idaho can have it all – strong public schools AND education freedom,” he said. “Providing high-quality education for Idaho students will always be our top priority,”

Opponents of school choice contend that it undermines the public schools by diverting public funds they need.

Layne McInelly, president of the Idaho Education Association, a statewide teachers union, called school-choice vouchers “a huge mistake” and said the recently enacted law “is just the beginning.”

“Voucher proponents — eager to help out-of-state billionaires plunder Idaho’s public school budget — are already planning how to exploit and expand this program during 2026’s legislative session,” McInelly said.

President Donald Trump endorsed the Idaho bill on social media on Feb. 16, saying it would “empower parents to provide the very best Education for their child.”

Meanwhile, Texas and Wyoming are close to enacting their own versions of school choice.

As of late last week, a majority of legislators in the Texas House of Representatives had signed on as sponsors of a school-choice bill, increasing chances the state will enact a version of it this year.

Seventy-six of the 150 members of the lower chamber are now sponsors of Texas House Bill 3, which would create education savings accounts that would allow families to send their children to private schools using public money. The bill would enable parents to use the accounts to pay for tuition, fees, textbooks, and transportation, among other things.

On Feb. 5, the Texas Senate passed a comparable school-choice bill.

To succeed, supporters from each chamber must hammer out a version each chamber can vote for before sending it on to Texas Governor Greg Abbott, a Republican who supports the concept.

The state Senate has passed school-choice bills during previous legislative sessions, but the bills previously failed in the Texas House, according to The Texas Tribune.

In Wyoming, observers expect Governor Mark Gordon, a Republican, to sign a school-choice bill that last week passed the state Senate, 21-8, and the state House of Representatives, 42-19.

The bill provides an education savings account of up to $7,000 per year per student in Wyoming.

Nationwide, 29 states and the District of Columbia “have at least one private school choice program,” according to an analysis by Education Week.

Of those, 14 “have at least one private school choice program that’s universally accessible” to students from kindergarten through grade 12 in the state, according to Education Week.