Originally posted on IdahoEdNews.org.
BOISE, ID – Two national groups that advocate for private school choice have filed a motion to intervene in a recent lawsuit challenging House Bill 93, Idaho’s newly enacted tax credit covering private school tuition.
The Partnership for Educational Choice — a joint effort between the Institute for Justice and EdChoice — Tuesday filed a motion to intervene in defense of the program. House Bill 93 created a $50 million program offering nonpublic school students up to $5,000 — or $7,500 for students with special needs — in tax credits that cover tuition and other education expenses.
This month, a coalition that includes the Idaho Education Association and Moscow School District asked the Idaho Supreme Court to declare the tax credit unconstitutional. Opponents argue that state funding for private education violates the Idaho Constitution’s requirement that the state “establish and maintain a general, uniform and thorough system of public free common schools.”
The Partnership for Educational Choice filed its motion to intervene on behalf of three Idaho families that plan to apply for the tax credit.
“The parents we represent aren’t asking for favors. They’re asking for fairness,” Thomas Fisher, executive vice president and director of litigation at EdChoice Legal Advocates, said in a news release. “We will fight to protect these families’ constitutional right to direct their children’s education from being taken away by a lawsuit that puts politics ahead of students’ needs.”
If the Idaho Supreme Court approves its motion to intervene, the school choice partnership would make arguments alongside the Idaho attorney general’s office, which is gearing up to defend the program.
On Monday, Attorney General Raúl Labrador’s office asked the court for a deadline extension to prepare its response to the lawsuit. Justices had directed state attorneys to respond by Oct. 10. This deadline is “not practicable,” state attorneys wrote to the court. Attorneys assigned to the case have “unavoidable time conflicts,” including from other cases before the Idaho Supreme Court.
EdChoice is an Indianapolis-based, nonprofit advocacy group founded in 1996 by economist Milton Friedman — widely considered the pioneer of the modern private school choice movement.
The Institute for Justice is a nonprofit, public interest law firm based in Arlington, Va., whose mission is to end “abuses of government power” and secure constitutional rights, according to its website. The group has argued 13 cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, winning 11 of them.
Together, the groups are representing Rubi Dagostino, Katie Demczyk, and Joshua and Eleanor LoBue — parents of Idaho children who could qualify for the tax credit.
According to a news release, the LoBue family has seven children, including a 15-year-old who has autism and attends Wired2Learn Academy, a Post Falls private school geared toward students with learning disabilities. The family planned to use the tax credit to move their 11-year-old with dyslexia to the school as well.
“A judgment taking away the program would impose a real financial burden on our family,” the parents said in a declaration to the Idaho Supreme Court.
