BOISE, Idaho — This article originally appeared in The Idaho Press.
An Idaho senator is proposing to amend the portion of the state's constitution that requires children be educated.
Sen. Scott Herndon, R-Sagle, proposed a resolution that would ask voters to change the “compulsory attendance at schools” section of the Idaho constitution to say that custodial parents or guardians of any child, “shall have the fundamental right to privately home educate such child or to cause such child to be privately educated.”
It would also add that those who privately educate or homeschool their children, “shall be free from government regulation of such education.”
Herndon noted the Idaho families and guardians may already educate their kids through homeschooling or private schools.
“We don’t regulate private schools here and we don’t regulate private home schools,” Herndon said. “And so we’re taking that concept from statute, we’ve had this now for decades, and we’re protecting that statute for generations with a constitutional amendment.”
Idaho code states that parents or guardians of children in the state between the ages of 7 and 16, “shall cause the child to be instructed in subjects commonly and usually taught in the public schools in Idaho.” This can be done through public, public charter, private or home schooling, the code states; it does not specify what is “commonly and usually taught.”
It does say that schooling should take place “during a period in each year equal to that in which the public schools are in session.”
Sen. Janie Ward-Engelking, D-Boise, said she had concerns that, given recent efforts to use public funds toward private school tuition or homeschooling, the resolution would absolve the non-public forms of education from accountability.
“To me, this is a very important part of the constitution,” Ward-Engelking said.
The committee voted to introduce the bill, which allows it to be brought back for a public hearing. Ward-Engelking was the only "no" vote.
A proposed constitutional amendment would need a two-thirds majority vote from both chambers, which would put the question on the ballot for the voters to decide on.
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