EDITORIAL: It's time to fix Idaho's school funding formula
As the school year winds down, it’s important to remember that Idaho's public schools are facing a funding crisis that demands attention. The current school funding model, which bases allocations on attendance rather than enrollment, has created an unsustainable situation for districts across our state.
The flaws in Idaho's funding approach were once again illustrated this year, as education leaders from across the state voiced frustration with the Legislature's 2025 public school budgets. Post Falls School District Superintendent Dena Naccarato, an educator with 31 years of experience, called it "the worst legislative session in my time in Idaho."
Madison School District board chairman Brian Pyper was equally blunt, stating, "Excepting the Luna laws budget that we had, this is the worst year for public schools from the state Legislature that I can remember."
The current attendance-based formula seems specifically designed to create budget shortfalls. As Naccarato pointed out, her district takes a 7.4% hit on operations funding because attendance averages 92.6% of enrollment. Yet when students are absent, schools cannot proportionally reduce essential costs like heating or teacher salaries.
Perhaps most troubling is the Legislature's failure to address special education funding. A March report from the nonpartisan Idaho Office of Performance Evaluations identified an $82.2 million special education funding gap. Despite this finding, lawmakers provided no additional money to bridge this divide.
Post Falls School District exemplifies this challenge, receiving $5.6 million in state and federal funding for special education while spending $8.2 million to meet student needs. This $2.6 million gap must be filled from other sources. And while holding the line might seems like the Legislature is saving your tax dollars, the reality is that local school districts have to run operational levies, directly which directly increase your property taxes.
Right now, support for reforming the funding formula comes from a broad spectrum of Idaho politicians. Idaho Superintendent of Public Instruction Debbie Critchfield, a respected Republican leader, has explicitly called for change, stating, "Clearly, I believe the time to address the overall limitations of the current funding mechanism is past due."
Rep. Wendy Horman, the Republican co-chair of the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee, acknowledges the need for reform. Horman has "fought to change the public school funding formula for 10 years" and sponsored House Bill 279 this year to move Idaho toward a per-student funding model.
The Idaho School Boards Association and the Idaho Education Association have likewise advocated for formula changes, creating a rare consensus among educational stakeholders and political leaders from various perspectives.
And yet, HB 279 failed, leaving local school districts once again scrambling to make up for budget shortfalls. And yes, that includes asking you to increase your own property taxes via local levies.
While the Legislature has increased educational investments in recent years, particularly for teacher salaries and facilities, these targeted allocations don't solve the fundamental structural problems. Districts need genuine operational flexibility to address local needs, particularly as inflation and unexpected expenses continue to challenge school budgets.
The solution is simple. Idaho must transition to an enrollment-based funding formula that provides adequate operational resources for all students, including those with special needs. Rather than forcing districts to continually seek supplemental levies — what Naccarato aptly calls "fundamental levies" — the state must fulfill its constitutional obligation to "establish and maintain a general, uniform and thorough system of public schools."
With broad support across several branches of government, the time for meaningful funding reform has arrived.