Adds to existing law to establish the Idaho parental choice tax credit and Idaho Parental Choice Tax Credit Advance Payment Fund.
House Bill 93 establishes the Idaho parental choice tax credit, a refundable income tax credit for parents who pay qualified K-12 education expenses for an eligible student. The credit is generally capped at $5,000 per student per year, with a higher cap of $7,500 for eligible students with disabilities requiring ancillary personnel. Qualified expenses include private school tuition and fees, tutoring, testing, curricula, textbooks, and certain transportation costs. The bill also allows some parents to request an advance payment of the credit through a new state fund, subject to income limits and application requirements.
The measure sets out detailed administration rules for the Idaho State Tax Commission, including application windows, priority for lower-income families and prior recipients, anti-fraud certifications, recapture provisions, reporting requirements, and a public website showing program usage. It also requires annual parent satisfaction and engagement surveys about participating nonpublic schools and directs the Legislative Services Office to report the results. The bill expressly states that participation does not authorize state control over nonpublic schools and that schools accepting students funded by the credit are not agents of the state.
The bill adds a new section to Idaho Code creating a refundable tax credit program for private and alternative education expenses and a separate Idaho Parental Choice Tax Credit Advance Payment Fund. It affects state income tax administration by requiring the Tax Commission to process applications, issue credits and advance payments, track a $50 million annual statewide cap, recapture improper payments, and report program data to the legislature and governor. It also creates new obligations for the Legislative Services Office to distribute and summarize annual parent surveys. Parents of eligible students, nonpublic schools, and the Tax Commission are the primary affected parties.
The voting history suggests the bill had meaningful but not unanimous support. It passed the House 42-28 and the Senate 20-15, indicating a partisan or policy split rather than broad consensus. The bill’s findings and structure reflect strong support for parental choice in education, especially for families with lower incomes and students with disabilities. At the same time, the close votes suggest significant concern among some lawmakers about the scope, cost, and policy implications of the program.
The main points of contention are likely the use of state tax revenue to subsidize private and alternative schooling, the size of the refundable credit, and the $50 million annual cap. The advance payment feature may also be controversial because it sends money before expenses are incurred and requires new fund administration. Another likely issue is the bill’s treatment of nonpublic schools, since it explicitly limits state oversight and bars regulation of school creed, admissions, practices, or curriculum, which may concern supporters of accountability. Opponents may also object to the priority structure and the exclusion of students enrolled in public schools from claiming the credit.