Editor’s note: This story previously said House Majority Leader Jason Monks said he would kill an opposing school choice bill if it passes the Senate. House Speaker Mike Moyle made that statement, but left room for negotiations. We regret the error.
House Republican leaders say a proposed private school tuition subsidy that cleared a Senate committee this week could be dead on arrival should it make it to their side of the capitol.
Senate Bill 1025 from Sen. David Lent (R-Idaho Falls) would use $20 million to fund private school tuition among other education expenses through the existing Empowering Parents grant program.
“I would say the [House Majority Leader Jason Monks (R-Meridian)] is going to tell you that it’s not going anywhere, so I’d probably agree with him,” said House Speaker Mike Moyle (R-Star) during a press conference Tuesday.
Monks co-sponsors a $50 million tuition subsidy bill being considered in a House committee Wednesday morning.
That money would be distributed using a refundable tax credit through House Bill 93, which is also supported by Senate Majority Leader Lori Den Hartog (R-Meridian) and both co-chairs of the legislature’s budget committee.
“It’s the fairest way of doing it. It’s the least bureaucratic way of doing it,” said Monks. “It keeps the Department of Education out of the mix and it puts the power back into the parents where they choose and how they choose to spend their money.”
“I think once you get both those bills on a collision path, we’ll see how it all works out. There’s still more discussion to happen there,” Moyle said.
Lent didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.
Lent’s bill barely passed a Senate committee Monday night with Sen. Carrie Semmelroth (D-Boise) casting the deciding vote.
Semmelroth, who’s a special education instructor at Boise State University, told Idaho Education News she supported Lent’s bill because of an additional $30 million in special education funding.
“Policymaking is about serving the public good,” she told the news outlet. “Separate from partisan politics, separate from vouchers, as a special education teacher, I have to take efforts like that seriously.”
That’s despite Idaho Democrats fervently opposing any use of public funding going to private schools.
“We are, above and beyond everything else, perhaps, the champions of public education in this caucus,” said House Minority Leader Ilana Rubel on Jan. 6, noting Democrats carried “deep disappointment” with Gov. Brad Little’s choice to support private school subsidies.
The House Revenue and Taxation Committee will consider Monks’ preferred tax credit bill Wednesday, Feb. 5 at 9 a.m.
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