Former state superintendent: Private schools should not be funded by Idaho taxpayers | Opinion

Now that Idaho legislators have returned to the Capitol, some are once again calling for “school choice,” which is nothing more than a politically sanitized way of saying: private school vouchers.

Schemes for funding private schools at public expense go by many names: “vouchers,” “school choice,” “education savings accounts” and other labels. But they all mean the same thing: taking funds away from our public schools to give to private schools.

Well-funded interest groups and anti-public school legislators have come dangerously close to establishing a voucher system in the past, and with the recent increase of $410 million in education funding, voucher advocates are back with a vengeance.

It’s important to understand what vouchers really mean for education in Idaho. Vouchers do not give Idaho families more “choice,” as proponents claim. Instead of creating more choices, vouchers weaken public schools and hurt rural communities.

This is not a partisan issue. As a four-time elected Republican state superintendent, I’ve always believed in the value of public education and advocated for stronger investment in our public schools.

Surveys show that the vast majority of us — Republicans, Democrats and independents — agree on this issue. One recent survey found that two-thirds of Idahoans oppose school vouchers and 70% believe the legislature should focus on funding public education.

Public schools serve every Idaho community, rural and urban alike. A voucher system would siphon funding out of public schools and use that money to subsidize a small number of urban private schools and may even subsidize parents who choose not to enroll their children in any school.

Make no mistake, Idaho’s private schools are concentrated in cities. Research recently conducted by RISE, an Idaho education advocacy group, found that three-quarters of students attending private schools live in just four counties, and 20 of Idaho’s 44 counties have no private schools at all.

Many rural districts are already struggling to provide the same quality education that wealthier urban districts are able to provide. Taking even more state funds away from these schools would only deepen the inequality between Idaho’s urban and rural districts, as well as between property-rich districts and lower-income ones.

Vouchers would only exacerbate this inequality. They would never cover the cost of Idaho’s most elite private schools where tuition can run as high as $20,000 per year.

We don’t need private-school vouchers. What we need instead, and what parents overwhelmingly support, is investment in public schools.

In other words, we need to invest in schools that are free and schools that welcome the enrollment of all students in Idaho.

Schools that are appropriately supplied with educational materials and equipment and that are conveniently located with a safe and efficient bus system.

Schools that are staffed by competent and caring teachers, support staff, administrators and others who are adequately compensated.

Schools that are safe and foster a positive learning environment, where students can get the requisite education for success and where everyone is treated with dignity and respect.

Our public schools can provide all of these things, not just for a fortunate few but for every Idaho child.

Parents should never have to worry that their children may be at a disadvantage because they went to school in Idaho.

It’s important also to remember that a private school voucher system would open the door to state funding for religious schools. This would violate our state constitution and it would benefit only a tiny fraction of Idaho’s students.

The framers of our state constitution understood the importance of a free, public education system that is available to all. In Article IX, they wrote:

“The stability of a republican form of government depending mainly upon the intelligence of the people, it shall be the duty of the legislature of Idaho, to establish and maintain a general, uniform and thorough system of public, free common schools.”

Instead of subsidizing private schools, our political leaders should do their job and their constitutional duty by fully funding the public schools that serve every Idaho community.

Jerry L. Evans served as the Idaho state superintendent of public instruction from 1979 until 1995.