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It was a unique week in the Idaho Legislature. The House took up its first “maintenance” budget on Wednesday, and it was a clearly divided House chamber. Then, on Thursday, the House conducted a vote to retain Speaker Mike Moyle – which passed unanimously. Shortly thereafter, the Republican Majority party held a closed door caucus, and the members have ousted Majority Leader Megan Blanksma. It’s anticipated the vote for a new Majority Leader will occur on Monday, February 12.

HB 521 - School Facilities

HB521 - This legislation is the Governor’s proposal on school facilities. It has quite a list included, so we’ll do our best to summarize this nearly 30-page bill. While there are some things to be nervous about in this bill, this is a huge step and investment in school facilities in Idaho.

This bill dedicates $125 million of sales tax revenue to the “School Modernization” fund. This fund would authorize the Idaho State Building Authority to issue a bond on a district’s behalf, so you can draw down up to 10-years of the appropriation in one year. However, districts can elect to receive it in an annualized distribution. (Starts on page 9)
The fund will be distributed based upon Average Daily Attendance. It creates a “floor” of $25,000 and caps “Independent Charter Districts” with M & O levies at $40 million. (Page 11)
Other requirements include a 10-year maintenance plan be submitted and limits on those who are looking to transition to a 4-day school week in 2024. (Page 11)
This legislation repeals Bond/Levy Equalization, but grandfathers current folks in for two more years. It also repeals “maintenance match” funding and repurposes those funds and bond/levy equalization to go into the property tax relief bill more commonly known as HB 292 to help provide more tax relief to Idahoans. (Page 5)
It provides additional clean-up to HB 292, including adding plant facilities levies as eligible levies and some clean up about uses of those funds for facilities, should your appropriation exceed your property tax burden. It also includes administrative clean-up requested by the Idaho Association of Counties. (starts on page 4)
It removes the August election date, leaving school districts with only the May and November elections. (Page 6)
It establishes a “model school facilities” counsel to establish standard building plans (Page 12)
It moves the remaining funds in the “Health Insurance Buy-In” pool into the credit enhancement program for charter schools. (Page 24)
It changes how the State Board President and Executive Director are appointed (Page 6)
Reduces income tax rates from 5.8% to 5.695%. (Page 1)

Contact your legislators today and ask them to support HB521!

SB1289 - Children's School and Library Protection

A new library bill was introduced in Senate State Affairs on Wednesday. SB1289 is a compromise bill from Representative Crane and Senator Schroeder - who both had competing library bills earlier this session.

Under this proposed bill, both public schools and libraries would have to set up a Material Review Committee. This committee would be responsible for reviewing any requests to move or remove books. If a parent or anyone who uses the library wants a book to be reviewed, they would fill out a form and submit it to this committee. The committee would then organize a public meeting to discuss the book in question and decide whether it should be moved, removed, or left as is.

If someone who requested a book review disagrees with the committee's decision, they have the right to appeal to the school or library board. And if they're still not satisfied after that, they can take their case to court for a judicial review.

Only if the library does not follow the rules outlined in this legislation would a parent or patron then be able to recover $250 in statutory damages.

We anticipate this bill will be heard in committee sometime next week.

Other Important Legislative Updates

HB415 - ISBA staff joined the president of the Idaho Association of School Resource Officers (IDASRO) on Thursday to discuss this matter with Senate leadership and other lawmakers who have an interest in this bill. Discussions are in place to help make this bill more reasonable for school districts to implement and manage.

It may be a few weeks still before this bill will be heard in the senate. At that time, it will first be heard in Senate State Affairs. You can keep up with the Senate State Affairs Committee agenda here.

HB447 - We are awaiting a hearing on the school choice tax credit bill (HB447). We encourage you to continue contacting your legislators and asking them to vote no on the bill. To do so, click here.

HB422 - The Charter School Rewrite bill, was heard in the Senate Education Committe on Wednesday. It passed the committee and will move to the Senate floor for a vote.

ISBA Bill Tracker

ISBA is currently tracking 24 bills impacting Idaho public education. The complete bill tracker includes detailed information and ISBA staff analysis regarding the bills. Bill topics include:

Public Charter Schools
Libraries
Teacher Savings Accounts
School Board Trustee Quorums
The Blaine Amendment Repeal
Guns in Schools
Immunizations
Tax Credits
Elected Officials Convictions (criminal)
School Facilities
Telehealth for Schools
Sex Ed & Abortion Providers
Constitutional Protection for Private & Home School
Concussion Clearance in Youth Athletes and more

In the News

The house narrowly passed the first 10 omnibus budgets of the year. Read about it here.

Members of the Majority Party in the house ousted Majority Leader Megan Blanksma on Thursday. Read about it here.

HB452 is a bill that will update the funding formula for Idaho Digital Learning Alliance (IDLA). Read about why they are updating their funding formula here.

Representative Barbara Ehardt introduced a bill this week that would not allow state and federal officials to simultaneously serve in elected city, school, or highway district positions. Learn more about it here.