Idaho lawmakers likely to clash over school choice, grocery tax repeal in 2025 session

School choice and tax cuts are some major topics expected to come back to the Statehouse this year.

Idaho Gov. Brad Little and legislative leaders spoke with reporters Friday about their priorities for the upcoming session, which begins Monday. 

"My top priority always is, always will be, education,” Little said.

House Speaker Mike Moyle said his key issues were, in short, “more tax relief and less spending.”

During the annual briefing, Democrats, Senate Minority Leader Melisa Wintrow and Steve Berch sparred with Republicans House Speaker Mike Moyle and at times Senate Majority Leader Lori Den Hartog over school choice and the Idaho Transportation Department building.

Education — school choice and Idaho Launch

The governor said he’s in discussions with lawmakers about “school choice” proposals that would allow state funds to go toward private education tuition or homeschooling. Little said he’d want “sideboards” on any legislation that came forward but didn’t go into detail. 

The minority and majority leadership fell on opposing sides of the school choice issue Friday, at times going back and forth about how the state should fund education.

Over the past few years, lawmakers have been divided on this issue, with no school choice program of this kind making it through. However, a number of Republicans who had opposed those proposals were defeated in their primaries.

“We have to be really vigilant in our protection of our public schools, because that’s our constitutional obligation,” Wintrow said. “Our founders said our citizenry needs to be educated for a thriving community, and that’s our obligation ... it is not to create venues for taxpayer public money to go into private school or religious school.”

Moyle has been a supporter of allowing funding to go to private tuition, and it’s one of his top priorities to get done.

“The money should follow the student,” Moyle said.

Berch quickly interjected.

“Money has never followed the student,” Berch said, sitting on the opposite end of the table from Moyle. “Money follows the support unit, which is the student, and everything else that it takes to have a school in a community to support that student.”

Den Hartog last year with Rep. Wendy Horman, R-Idaho Falls, introduced a bill that would create a tax credit program that could go toward private school tuition. Den Hartog said Friday she plans to bring that back with more of a focus on lower income students.

She said the bill would include measures for financial accountability but not requirements around testing or curriculum for schools that use the money.

Wintrow said that looking at private school tuition, the tax credit — which last year was proposed to be $5,000 — would likely not be enough to cover the cost of tuition for lower income students. Other states that have implemented similar school choice proposals have found that most families who use them were already sending their kids to private schools or homeschooling. 

Another policy that will likely be up for debate is one of the governor’s centerpiece programs — Idaho Launch.

The grants are available to graduating Idaho seniors who are pursuing careers deemed “in demand” and can go toward workforce training, higher education and apprenticeships in those careers. The program received a flood of applicants over the summer, which marked the second year of the program.

Moyle has been a vocal critic of the program.

He said Friday he’s “OK with the program continuing,” but he wants to see some changes, including less of the money going toward universities.

“I think it needs to be brought back to those career-ready jobs. They can go in, one or two years, out the door with the job and performing,” Moyle said. “I think there will be some legislation this year to try and clean that up and make it clear that that was the original intent.”

Wintrow said protecting the Launch program was one of her top priorities.

Taxes

Idaho leaders are often eyeing tax reductions, and this year will be no different. Repealing sales taxes on groceries has been a subject of discussion for years, and will likely be back on the table this year.

Den Hartog said grocery tax relief may look like repealing the tax or increasing the Idaho Grocery Credit, which averages $120 per person and is meant to offset the sales tax spent on groceries throughout the year.

Berch also mentioned repealing the grocery tax as a priority.

Little said he could support a repeal “within certain parameters,” but that it can be difficult to define groceries.

“Most people when they leave a Winco or an Albertsons … you got to realize that there’s a whole bunch of that may not be food,” Little said. “If it’s all groceries, what about me when I buy a curling iron when I’m in there?”

A large chunk of the state’s sales tax revenue has been diverted to major policies in recent years, including a major property tax relief bill passed in 2023 and a school facilities funding bill passed in 2024.

The school facilities bill last session also reduced the individual and corporate income tax rate, with an estimated reduction to state revenue of $60 million.

Through November, sales tax collections came in at nearly $200 million more than last year, but all of that growth has gone to programs, resulting in $48.9 million less going into the general fund than the year before.

Den Hartog said the Senate’s priority would be trying to reduce property taxes, “particularly for homeowners.”

Other issues

Idaho voters approved the expansion of Medicaid eligibility in 2018. A number of bills were introduced over the past few years to repeal expansion or significantly limit the program.

Little said he would caution against the threat of unintended consequences of totally repealing the program.

“We want to make sure that Medicaid is efficient, and we don’t just shift the cost of health care to somebody else by making a radical change,” Little said.

He said he was optimistic the state would be able to make changes to its program under the incoming Trump administration.

Wintrow and Berch both underscored protecting Medicaid services as a top priority going into the session.

Legislation to limit diversity, equity and inclusion programs especially in higher education institutions are likely to come forward this year. An interim DEI legislative task force is preparing to introduce legislation on the topic. 

Den Hartog listed anti-DEI actions as one of her top priorities but didn’t say in what form it would take. She highlighted the decision by the Boise State University women’s volleyball team to forfeit against a team that reportedly had a transgender player on the team.

“I think you saw support for Idahoans,” Den Hartog said. “They’re not looking for a social construct. They really just want that fair playing field.”

Moyle said he’s hoping anti-DEI legislation would ensure “nobody’s treated better or differently than anybody else.”

Little and Moyle both highlighted reducing illegal immigration. Little has previously expressed his support for President-elect Donald Trump’s immigration and deportation policies.

Moyle said to expect more bills coming out of the House that could involve local law enforcement if a person is caught committing a crime and they are undocumented. He said another bill would likely require that if an undocumented person is pulled over, their car would be impounded.

Idaho’s dairy industry, which relies heavily on undocumented workers, has expressed concerns about discussion over widespread deportations and increased auditing, the Idaho Press previously reported.

Moyle and Little both noted the federal government would need to amend the H-2A visa program for seasonal farm workers to allow it to be used for dairy work — which is not seasonal.

“I think there’s a lot of support to do something to help the dairies, but I’m afraid if the dairies can’t come to the table and help find a solution, they're going to get run over,” Moyle said.

Details on Little’s proposed 2025 budget will be shared in his State of the State address at noon PST Monday.