The Blog at MSPC

Idaho’s Parental Choice Tax Credit launched with strong momentum, supported by careful and deliberate planning by the legislature. From the outset, policymakers were intentional about designing a program that would be both accessible to families and administratively workable.

Let’s avoid the awkward situation of explaining to Idaho families why a program designed to help them ended up putting them on hold.

If Idaho had the same population as Texas, the current participation rate would translate to roughly 184,000 students.

The proposal would raise Idaho’s income tax rate from 5.3% to 5.325% and repeal the Parental Choice Tax Credit — just months after families began applying for it.

We were honored to have Montana Governor Greg Gianforte attend and address the crowd at our policy event in Helena on February 24. Governor Gianforte discussed his plans for the upcoming 2027 Legislative Session, noting that moving the Treasure State to a flat income tax and providing families with more education choice opportunities were among his top priorities.

As one Idaho justice noted during oral arguments, lawmakers are capable of walking and chewing gum at the same time when it comes to education policy.

By opting into the federal scholarship tax credit program, Idaho continues to reinforce its commitment to education freedom and parental choice, ensuring families have greater access to resources that help tailor education to each child’s unique needs.

Much has been said about Idaho’s new $5,000 education tax credit and the $50 million price tag attached to it. Critics have framed it as a costly new entitlement at a time when the state faces budget pressures. But there’s a critical fact missing from much of the debate: When a student leaves the public school system and uses the tax credit instead, the state saves money. Here’s why. Idaho spends roughly $9,000 per student, per year, of state funds on public education. Under

To put that in perspective: if the students currently represented in applications formed a single public school district, it would rank as the 6th largest district in Idaho. And the application window doesn’t close until March 15.

Since applications opened on January 15, a total of 6,030 families have applied, covering 10,105 students. That’s not a one-day surge. That’s nearly a month of steady participation.

In a comprehensive opinion, the Court denied the petition for a writ of prohibition, dismissed the case in full, rejected every major constitutional theory advanced by the petitioners, and awarded attorney fees to the State. The result is about as close to a clean sweep as constitutional litigation gets.

Montana has taken a meaningful step to expand educational opportunities for families across the state.

Idaho has taken a significant step forward in expanding educational opportunity by joining the nation’s first federal education choice tax credit scholarship program.

the legal theory petitioners are asking the Court to adopt isn’t narrow. It’s sweeping. If accepted, it could transform Idaho constitutional law into a weapon against not just this program, but other long-standing public policies—and even ordinary tax credits.

On day one of the application window for Idaho’s new parental choice tax credit, more than 3,300 families applied. That’s 200 per hour. Four every minute. Since the window opened at midnight, applications have poured in at a pace that’s impossible to ignore.

One poll might be a fluke. Two polls might be a coincidence. But three independent polls—conducted over more than a year, before and after passage—all landing in the mid-60s is not an accident. It’s a pattern. And that pattern reflects broad, durable public support.

A judicial stay creates an urgent need for convening a special session to cure the appropriation defect.

Yet that’s exactly what’s happening. Longtime opponents of education choice are now claiming that Idaho’s education choice law is responsible for the state’s fiscal challenges. That claim may be convenient, but it is not grounded in facts — and it’s irresponsible to suggest otherwise.

A small group of agitators may be determined to intimidate parents, but the rest of Idaho shouldn’t let them. These meetings belong to families. The conversation belongs to the community.

On November 10, 2025, Mountain States Policy Center filed an amicus brief addressing the IEA’s claims with national case law analysis demonstrating that HB 93 is a constitutionally sound program that serves a legitimate public purpose benefiting Idahoans.