Coalition plans to file lawsuit to block new private school tax credit
Originally posted on IdahoEdNews.org on September 17, 2025
MOSCOW, ID – A coalition of public school advocates announced Wednesday that it’s filing a lawsuit seeking to block House Bill 93, Idaho’s first private school choice program.
The coalition — which includes the Idaho Education Association, the Moscow School District and two advocacy groups — held a news conference Wednesday at the Statehouse in Boise. Leaders for the group said they planned to file a petition with the Idaho Supreme Court later that day.
The petition will ask justices to declare HB 93’s tax credit unconstitutional and block the Idaho State Tax Commission from implementing it. The program violates the Idaho Constitution’s requirement that the state “establish and maintain a general, uniform and thorough system of public free common schools,” the coalition argues.
“These 14 words are simple, yet they’re profound, and HB 93 has no basis in them,” said Daniel Mooney, a Boise attorney and president of the Committee to Protect and Preserve the Idaho Constitution, one of the advocacy groups involved in the coalition.
The GOP-dominated Legislature approved HB 93 in February, and Republican Gov. Brad Little signed it into law — despite strong public opposition to the proposal. The bill created the state’s first private school program after years of debate, and Idaho joined dozens of other Republican-led states in unlocking taxpayer dollars for private and home schooling.
Recipients of the tax credit, which is scheduled to launch in January, are eligible for up to $5,000 — or $7,500 for students with special needs — covering private school tuition and other expenses for non-public education.
The lawsuit came as no surprise to HB 93 co-sponsor Rep. Wendy Horman, R-Idaho Falls.
“We’ve been anticipating this,” she told Idaho Education News Wednesday. “We are as confident as we ever have been in the constitutionality of this bill, both with the Idaho Constitution and the United States Constitution.”
Other plaintiffs in the forthcoming lawsuit include Mormon Women for Ethical Government and several individuals, including former Republican state superintendent Jerry Evans and current Rep. Stephanie Mickelsen, R-Idaho Falls.
