Presentation of Idaho reports on Idaho Public Television is made possible through the generous support of the Laura Moore Cunningham Foundation, committed to fulfilling the Moore and Bettis family legacy of building the great state of Idaho.

With additional major funding provided by the estate of Darrell Arthur Kammer in support of independent media that strengthens a democratic and just society.

And by the Hansberger Family Foundation.

By the Friends of Idaho Public Television.

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

And donations to the station from viewers like you.

Thank you.

The issue and the problem really is the resources that are available.

Money is tight for every government agency this year.

But when it comes to public education, there are constitutional and legal requirements, particularly for special education students.

We get Superintendent of Public Instruction Debbie Critchfield take on the public schools budget landscape.

I'm Melissa Devlin, Idaho reports starts now.

Hello and welcome to Idaho Reports.

This week, producer Logan Finney sits down with executive Director Jennifer White of the state board of Education to discuss higher ed funding and the presidential search at Boise State University.

Then Superintendent of Public Instruction Debbie Critchfield joins me for an overview of the public education budget proposal, as well as special education needs in the state.

But first, on Tuesday, Secretary Doug Collins of the U.S.

Department of Veterans Affairs visited the new Idaho Veterans Home under construction in Boise.

The VA secretary and Idaho Division of Veterans Services Director Mark Chappell, put the blame on project delays squarely on the previous administration and its lack of action on Idaho's waivers request for materials under the Build America by America Act, or Baba, which says building materials for federal projects must be made in America.

For three years.

We fought with them to determine why they we could proceed with an awarded grant to build this building for our veterans.

There were other states who were getting waivers.

We were diligently saying, why don't we qualify for a waiver when these other states are getting.

And so the BABA legislation said, you know, which is a noble cause, we want to build, federal projects with American products.

But they knew there were going to be problems where a little part of an elevator or a little part of an HVAC system, the only place it was available was overseas, or it was - what how many million dollars difference was it?

If we would have had to... Over $30 million.

It would have been $30 million more, and it would have delayed the project more.

On Thursday morning, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis visited the Idaho State House for the second year in a row trying to rally support for a balanced budget amendment to the United States Constitution, a resolution last year calling for a convention of states to propose such an amendment failed in the House.

We think now it's better.

So they asked me to come by and talk and answer some questions.

So we think it's likely to be positive this time.

You know, Idaho was one of the leaders in this in the 70s through the 90s.

Your U.S.

senator wrote the wrote the amendment.

And so there's a history of this state being a part of this, and it was right for them to do it during that period of time when people like Ronald Reagan were involved.

And it's right to do it now.

In fact, it's even more urgent to do it now, On Wednesday, Idaho Supreme Court Chief Justice Richard Bevan delivered his annual state of the judiciary address to the legislature.

Producer Logan Finney has more.

Chief Justice Richard Bevan told lawmakers he's not coming with any requests for new funding or structural changes to the court budget this year.

However, he did call out how the current revenue situation could jeopardize the sustainability of Idaho's highly effective drug and mental health treatment courts.

We could not sustain this work without strong partnerships.

For nearly 30 years, this legislature, the counties and local communities have shared a vision for the promise of treatment courts.

One critical component of that work now deserves mention: peer support services.

These are provided by individuals with lived experience, and they play an important role in mental health courts.

By helping participants stay engaged, navigate setbacks, and build trust in the process.

Recently, the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare ended funding for these services.

To maintain the vital services for participants already in the system, the judicial branch has identified resources within our existing budget to sustain peer support through the current fiscal year ending June 30th, 2026.

What happens beyond that point remains uncertain, and we are approaching that question deliberately.

In the coming months, we will meet with mental health court judges and professionals to better understand the impact of losing peer support services and whether these courts can continue to operate as intended without them.

Idaho Reports will continue to cover the court's budget request before lawmakers.

On Friday, the Idaho Supreme Court will hear oral arguments concerning whether the new Parental Choice Tax Credit program violates the Idaho constitutional provision that the state must provide free and uniform public education for students, as well as the public purpose doctrine, which says public dollars must be spent for the public good and not private interests.

Meanwhile, last week, the Idaho State Tax Commission began accepting applications for the new tax credit program, which awards up to $5,000 in tax credits per student for private education or home school expenses.

For special education students, that amount can go up to $7,500.

As of Tuesday, the Tax Commission reports that it has received more than 4650 applications from parents on behalf of 7300 students.

Idaho's public colleges and universities also have a lot on their plates this year.

Producer Logan Finney sat down with Idaho State Board of Education Executive Director Jennifer White on Wednesday to discuss enrollment trends and this year's higher education budget forecast.

we're seeing that our institutions are really in demand.

We believe that's because we offer high quality education at a very affordable price point.

I would put any of our programs up against what we have nationally.

How does Idaho LAUNCH play into this picture?

It's a program that was aimed at workforce development training, but we've seen a lot of the traditional higher ed folks are taking advantage of that program, no?

You know, launch provides such great post-secondary opportunities not only for colleges but other alternative post-secondary programs.

We're seeing as a result of the LAUNCH program, we now have a direct correlation between the go on increases we're seeing from Idaho residents and the LAUNCH program.

So we're seeing a direct correlation of an increase of 11% of our Idaho residents going on.

We're also seeing a corresponding decrease in the number of Idaho residents who are leaving the state.

So we are really stopping the brain drain and increasing our retention in state, which we think is really critical to ensuring that we continue to have Idaho competitiveness and a strong workforce as we enter kind of this next stage of evolution.

Idaho's economy is faring pretty well, but we are still, of course, facing a pretty tight budget year.

Among other things, the governor's proposed budget includes no enrollment workload adjustment or EWA that's a factor in the university budget.

What exactly does that funding cover and how much of a hit would it be for the colleges and universities if we don't see an increase there?

The EWA is the historic funding model for higher education, which was developed primarily to incentivize getting students to go on, since the go on rate has been such a struggle in the state for some time.

EWA this year would have funded our institutions at record numbers.

I believe the outcomes, this year of that hold back will be about over $9 million.

For us, that means, our institutions will be in a position where they're having to be very thoughtful about strategic investments, very thoughtful about program prioritization and consolidation.

And, that was just one of the ways that public education and higher education contributed to protecting the K through 12 budget this year.

So in addition to the EWA hold back our institutions experienced a 3% permanent hold back and also our higher education institutions, and experienced impact of the CTE programs as well.

While CTE was protected in the K through 12 space, it was not in higher education.

Now our institutions stepped up and they were very willing to do that to protect the K through 12 budget.

But further hits or further hold backs will start to impact student services.

The landscape for higher education and recruitment for these positions is is definitely changing.

And the environment in which this president will enter is, is certainly not a job where it will be a lot of, shaking hands and kissing babies.

This is going to be getting down to actual, very difficult decision making.

And we are looking for someone who's prepared for that task.

You can find that full conversation with Executive Director White on our website or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Search for the Idaho Reports podcast.

And for full disclosure, Idaho Public Television is an agency under the umbrella of the state Board of Education, but Idaho Reports maintains editorial independence and control over our content.

On Tuesday, Superintendent of Public Instruction Debbie Critchfield presented the K through 12 public schools budget proposal to the Joint Finance Appropriations Committee.

This comes after Critchfield withdrew a $50 million request late last year for special education services to help districts with those costs.

But the need for special ed paraprofessionals, ASL interpreters and others who help these students hasn't gone away.

And the new budget request does include a smaller amount, $5 million, for high needs students.

The ongoing conversation about special education and its cost prompted questions and conversation from the budget committee members.

If the student has no future and some level of self care, and I believe they need to be in facilities that have the professional capability of taking care of them, helping them, training them and helping them get to a point where maybe with some assistance, they can do that.

We need to draw that line in education.

We need to have our educators educating.

We need to have other people mental health and physical health, medical health, taking care of the kids who don't have that future.

Respectfully, I got to disagree.

I'm thankful that we're not in the 1970s and we're institutionalizing kids and adults.

We left that time behind, and it used to be a time in the 1970s, a parent had to get the permission of a teacher if they had a child with special needs, and they would have to get that permission.

And then sometimes they said no.

On Thursday morning, I sat down with Superintendent Critchfield to learn more about her budget proposal.

Superintendent, thank you so much for joining us.

As you've been talking to districts across the state, what are the biggest concerns you're hearing.

Looking at the budget projections and speculation over what what that's going to look like for the coming school year.

And and I think that that's fair and that's reasonable, particularly this time of year.

Our districts and charters are going in to taking a look at their own budgets.

What does their hiring situation look like?

What are they going to be able, to put together for the, 27-28 school year.

In so many districts across the state with such a large range of needs and realities?

But but the budget that you presented to the Joint Finance Appropriations Committee this week, does that address those concerns from those districts?

Sort of.

Sort of means that we don't want to go backwards on the budget.

The priority for myself and for the governor was to maintain the budget that we have with all of the cuts that have been well put into place.

And we're so happy and thankful that, you know, nothing happened mid-school year.

But looking forward, we don't want to go backwards.

Now, the other part of ‘sort of,’ that answer, is that not adding new dollars into operations is, in effect, a cut.

Inflationary costs are everywhere.

It's not just in our own homes, it's at schools, too.

It's the cost of fuel.

It's the cost of utilities, the cost of doing business at school.

So yes, maintaining is the priority and is a good thing.

But also taking into consideration that districts will have to accommodate for those gaps somewhere in their budget.

That maintaining, can you give us a broad overview of of what that looks like?

Well, class size, you know, for the lower grades, they want to keep those smaller.

And so looking at what your staffing looks like, being able to offer programs, you know, many of our districts are relying on, supplemental levies to fill gaps in extracurricular activities.

I think it's really just across the board.

Some districts may choose to delay a curriculum adoption.

Those are very those are hundreds of thousands of dollars.

When you bring those in into, classrooms, books into classrooms, so they may kick that down a year.

There may be other maintenance or repairs that they say, hey, we're not going to be able to make that this year because we want to make sure that what we need in the classroom itself is accommodated for.

And while costs are going up, public school enrollment went down about 1% this past school year, despite Idaho's growth.

And that's not unique to Idaho.

I listened to an interview yesterday with Colorado's governor, where their public school enrollment went down by about 10%, and they have a different situation.

He attributed that to lower birth rates, families being concerned about increased immigration enforcement.

But what are the factors in Idaho?

I think this is one of the most fascinating, aspects of our school enrollment and what we're seeing and really an important part of the conversation when we talk about where do we go with funding and what is the school dynamic look like?

Similar to other states in the country, Idaho is also experiencing a decline in birth rates.

In Idaho, it was 29% last year.

So that alone is that there's just not as many children coming into schools.

Regardless of of what the choices are, there just aren't as many kids.

We're also seeing some other interesting, factors that go into the decision making.

We're seeing a reduction or I guess, a decline in the numbers of students that are coming to school, kindergarten for second grade.

But we also then see a bump in junior high and high school.

And so as we we talk to schools, talk to parents, I'm talking to people all the time.

On why we would see some of those things.

One, we're hearing that for our, our youngest kids, kindergarten, first, second grade, the cost of daycare is such that for many parents, that they're choosing other options rather than putting their child in daycare.

Maybe one of the parents is going to stay home.

And so they're they're looking at other options for schooling in that way.

Popping up into, junior high and high school, maybe the choices that parents had when that worked for their kids when they were younger don't work for an older student.

We know that career technical education, you know, we talk a lot about competition in schools.

I think our public schools for career tech beat the competition in that sense.

The offerings.

And so we see more kids that are popping up, into those grades.

We're also seeing shifts in where students are going to schools.

And so in Idaho, there's been so much, so much conversation about affordable housing.

Who's moving into the state?

The demographic is that, you know, it's more of a retired person.

And since Covid, we definitely we’re on the map.

And, the cost of housing has, has gone up and specific and everywhere in the state, not just here in the Treasure Valley, but for the Treasure Valley, where we're seeing shifts of where young families who have school aged children can afford to buy homes.

And and so as we see that shift go more to the west and south, we're seeing districts like Middleton that are really busting at their seams as an example.

But also in our rural communities, we're also seeing a housing shortage, along with, the rising cost of housing.

And and those factors play into who's coming to school when and really, how are we going to fund our schools, from here on.

And all those factors about the cost of living and housing shortages in rural communities are things that we've been talking about for years, even before Covid and before that population explosion.

As, as we're seeing such interest in the tax credit for, school choices outside of public schools, do you think that is going to affect public school enrollment, or do you anticipate that people who are already homeschooling or private schooling, their kids are taking advantage of that opportunity?

I think it's the second thing.

Now, it remains to be seen, who's going to get the credit, what the choices will be.

But, what what we believe based on what we have looked at, that the tax credit is, I guess more attractive, to families that have not typically chosen, public school options.

And because there is a requirement that you cannot apply or wouldn't receive if you applied the tax credit, if your child is a public school student, we are not seeing, at least from what we hear from, superintendents and charter school administrators, that there's been a huge reduction in their enrollment so that families could then go apply for the tax credit.

And I think one of the talking points for the proponents of the tax credit was that parents have been making a different choice while paying taxes into a system that they didn't access.

And so it fits that there I don't think there's going to be a mass exodus.

The majority of, families are choosing public school options in Idaho, so we'll see what that looks like when the tax commission, you know, releases that information.

This came up a lot last year.

It's coming up in front of the Idaho Supreme Court later this week.

Concern that this tax program creates competition for dollars that would otherwise go to public schools.

Do you see it that way?

This is another ‘sort of’ answer.

It's not a yes and it's not a no because it's a tax credit.

The money is not coming out of the public schools budget.

And that's one of the things that I get asked about frequently.

Well, this is coming out of the public schools budget.

Not.

No, it isn't.

It's a it's a different stream of revenue.

Now, not collecting all of the tax dollars does ultimately impact the money that's available to go into the public schools budget, but that also has the same impact for any other agency budget.

It's roads.

It's, Health and Welfare, it's Corrections.

And so the tax credit is is its own thing.

But it is also true to say that it is not coming directly out of public schools.

And speaking of school funding, you heard during your budget presentation on Wednesday that some lawmakers would like to see a fix to the funding formula to address some of these issues, as opposed to putting more money into programs.

Is that a possibility this year?

I am so happy.

I felt like I've been on an island with, well, it wasn't a one man stranded island, but on this island of a few people saying, ‘Hey, this isn't working, it's not sustainable.

Where we're going, our funding formula.’ And so hearing more conversations from some that, haven't been, I guess, at the front of the room on this makes me happy.

I there's no money to put into a completely new system, but I would absolutely love to see something that we build that has a place, for a couple of things.

One, we know that the federal government is going to be changing how they send their dollars out.

I want something that's ready.

I don't want 2 or 1 year from now to say, oh, gee, wouldn't it have been nice if we had something ready for the federal government dollars coming in?

Now, on the state side, we also know that there is not an alignment for how the money goes out compared to what our districts are needing to prioritize.

It's a 1994 model that probably worked really great then.

It's not the same classroom, it's not the same set up.

And so I'm happy and encouraged to see more attention to it.

It needs some work.

And then I'm gonna just add one other thing on there.

That part of this conversation has got to be around how we're consolidating services, consolidating administration.

We've got 190+ independent school districts and charters.

And I think that there's a more efficient way to to do what we're doing while still getting results.

And for those who aren't familiar, aren't in the weeds like we are.

Can you briefly explain what the current funding formula is and what you'd like to see change?

First of all, explaining it would require some sort of math translator.

A large white board.

And your eyes will be like, I don't know, circling.

And you'll have a headache after.

The simplest way to put a complex formula out is to say that it is based on support units, and support units take in the components of of what are believed to support learning in the classroom.

It's part kid, part teacher, part classroom based on the grades, based on how many students you have on the grade.

So it's a very complicated and complex math formula that spits out a number to say, here's what we're going to pay you for what we think it costs.

For the classroom.

What I've been advocating all along is to have an alignment to what the student needs are.

So last year we worked on a funding formula change.

That really was part one of where we want to go.

We wanted to take a portion of the budget and base it on, distributing the money based on the type of student that you have.

We know that certain students cost more money if you're in special education, if you're in an alternative school, if you're gifted and talented.

And so we wanted to weight those, and we were successful in getting it out of the Senate.

It didn't get heard in the House.

But I back to your earlier question.

I think we've got some critical mass there to say this isn't working, folks.

Let's let's get in front of it.

You brought up special ed, and regardless of whether or not there is funding for these programs or even requirements to provide services for those students, they're they're still there.

Their needs are still there.

You withdrew a $50 million request for special education because of the revenue situation.

What now?

We're still talking about it.

I presented yesterday or whenever it was that I presented.

All the days are running into each other, to, the finance committee around a bridge.

What I'm calling a special education bridge.

I withdrew the $50 million.

We submitted a budget in August, and we had more information, in December, November, December that indicated and and produced a decision which was we're not going to have the dollars for new money.

And and I didn't want those new dollars to become competitive with the existing dollars.

And there at times, education, it’s been a shell game, where they take it from one part of the budget and put it into a new part and say, hey, look at all the new money that we gave you.

I didn't want to present that scenario.

So, the new recommendation is to take interest off of an existing education account.

So it is one time money.

It's not coming from the general fund.

It's not taking away from anyone else, to set up, two programs that we could build on into the future and hope to self-fund, but all intended to take some pressure off of, the budget impacts of special education.

Are you concerned about Idaho's ability to fulfill the constitutional requirements to educate all kids, including those with special needs, as well as the federal legal obligations to to, educate these these kids.

The the work around it?

No, the actual are we supporting kids in in their needs and in their classrooms and and what the parents want that works getting done.

The issue and the problem really is the resources that are available.

And those students must be accommodated.

Those dollars must go first before anyone else.

And so it's coming out of other areas of the budget.

It's coming out of operations.

It's supplemental levies, that many times, parents will say, why are we paying?

Why are we getting asked to supplement or pay extra taxes to buy books?

Isn't the state paying for books?

Well, yes and no.

When other dollars have to be moved around.

So to me that that's the real concern.

We have a growing population, growing trends around special education.

Any parent at any time in the state can request that their child be evaluated.

And that evaluation must take place.

And so as more parents are asking for evaluations and more attention to accommodations for their children, we're going to see this grow.

It's already grown, but I don't want it to get more out of hand than where it is.

This is your budget proposal.

The governor's budget proposal.

You fielded a question yesterday during the budget presentation about whether the public school budget could absorb a 5% cut, and what you would cut in your discussions with lawmakers.

Do you think that might happen?

I sure hope not.

You know, when you're in the moment, you give an answer and then I think we all do this.

We go back and sort of replay it in our mind like, why didn't I say that?

And one of the sort of I wish I would have added, statements to what I said.

And in the moment I really was caught off guard.

And I think, my answer was, I have no idea.

And I was thrown off by it.

Honestly, I feel like not adding money to the budget is a cut in itself.

The maintenance budget will cause, districts to have to use other funds that are available to them within their existing budget because of all the issues we just talked about with inflation.

And so, I'm hopeful that maintaining where we are is enough of a feel for some.

But then I also know that there are legislators who don't think that it's enough.

And so that'll be a discussion that takes place at the statehouse.

And we'll do our best to, to, to advocate where we can.

But, all the, all the pieces are getting laid out, and I guess we're going to see where that comes together, particularly with the revenue number just being set.

So a lot is in motion.

And we'll keep watching.

Superintendent Debbie Critchfield, thank you so much for joining us.

Thank you.

Thanks so much for watching.

Join us next week for conversations on Medicaid and how proposed cuts could affect Idahoans.

Presentation of Idaho reports on Idaho Public Television is made possible through the generous support of the Laura Moore Cunningham Foundation, committed to fulfilling the Moore and Bettis family legacy of building the great state of Idaho.

With additional major funding provided by the estate of Darrell Arthur Kammer in support of independent media that strengthens a democratic and just society.

And by the Hansberger Family Foundation.

By the Friends of Idaho Public Television.

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

And donations to the station from viewers like you.

Thank you.