There’s likely to be a waitlist for Idaho’s new parental choice tax credit, unless…

Idaho lawmakers could certainly declare victory on the state’s new education choice tax credit. After all, the policy is popular, applications hit 13,500 and families are eager to take advantage of new opportunities. But before anyone starts packing up for adjournment, there’s an inconvenient reality worth addressing: the program is about to succeed itself into a problem.

The $50 million cap all but guarantees it.

It means hundreds, and quite possibly thousands, of Idaho students will be pushed onto a waitlist almost as soon as the program gets off the ground. Nothing says “opportunity” quite like telling families, “Great news—you qualify. Now get in line.”

And here’s where things go from ironic to just plain inefficient.

The students most likely to end up stuck on that waitlist are the very ones the state should be encouraging: those leaving the public school system. Idaho spends roughly $9,000 to $10,000 per student in public schools. The tax credit, by contrast, is capped at around $5,000. This isn’t complicated math. When a student switches, the state spends less money.

Less.

Not more. Not even the same. Less.

And yet, once the cap is reached, many of those students will be told they can’t access the credit. So instead of saving money, the state continues paying the higher per-pupil cost—while families ready to make a change are sidelined. It’s a policy that manages to limit opportunity and miss out on savings at the exact same time. That’s not just a missed opportunity—it’s a self-inflicted one.

To be clear, the waitlist isn’t some distant, hypothetical concern. It’s coming—and quickly. Within a month, lawmakers could be staring at a growing backlog of families who did everything right, made decisions in good faith, and are now stuck waiting because the policy stopped one step short of common sense.

The good news is that fixing this doesn’t require a new spending bill, a special session, or a legislative miracle. It requires a tweak. Allow students leaving public schools—“switchers”—to access the tax credit even after the cap is reached. Because these students reduce state costs, letting them participate actually improves the state’s fiscal position.

In other words, it’s the rare policy fix that expands access and saves money. You’d think that would be an easy sell.

Idaho lawmakers have rightly supported empowering families, increasing opportunity, and being good stewards of taxpayer dollars. Here’s a chance to do all three—at once.

But it requires finishing the job.

So before adjournment, there’s one more box to check: fix the waitlist. Let switchers in. And avoid the awkward situation of explaining to Idaho families why a program designed to help them ended up putting them on hold—while costing taxpayers more in the process.