The Blog at MSPC

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.

This exciting new tax credit was enacted through House Bill 93 to help Idaho families pay for qualified private education expenses.

Mountain States Policy Center (MSPC), the leading free-market think tank serving the Mountain West, is pleased to announce the hiring of Meg Goudy as Director of the Bill & Milly Kay Baldwin Center for Education.

The campaign will include the launch of a website to answer questions, a robust series of public town hall meetings across the state, a multi-phase media effort, and legal support to protect the law from special interest challenges.

If the courts adopt the unions’ radical theory, Idaho’s tax code could be turned upside down, creating chaos for families, uncertainty for schools, and higher costs for everyone. That’s not justice—it’s activism at its worst.

Public schools and education choice are not enemies. They are complementary tools that serve the same purpose: ensuring every child has access to a quality education that fits their needs.

There is no mention of improving outcomes for Idaho children. Instead, petitioners spend nearly nine pages of the legal filing arguing they have standing and another nine pages begging the court to require taxpayers reimburse their attorney fees.

Moscow’s school board isn’t standing up for students. Instead, it's standing in the way of parents, punishing taxpayers, and trying to take choices away from Idaho families who need them most.

The old saying that states are the “laboratories of democracy” was apt in the passing of the new federal school choice law as part of the “One Big Beautiful Bill” enacted in early July.

Opponents of parental choice in education are reviving their favorite scare tactic: the "voucher" boogeyman.