{"id":19384,"date":"2026-01-25T10:30:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-25T17:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gemstatepatriot.com\/blog\/?p=19384"},"modified":"2026-01-25T13:15:32","modified_gmt":"2026-01-25T20:15:32","slug":"ag-labrador-to-defend-school-choice-tax-credit-before-idaho-supreme-court","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gemstatepatriot.com\/blog\/ag-labrador-to-defend-school-choice-tax-credit-before-idaho-supreme-court\/","title":{"rendered":"AG Labrador to Defend School Choice Tax Credit Before Idaho Supreme Court"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>BOISE, ID \u2014<\/strong>&nbsp;On Friday, attorneys in the Office of Attorney General will argue in defense of Idaho\u2019s School Choice Tax Credit before the Idaho Supreme Court. The hearing follows a legal challenge brought by the Idaho Education Association and others seeking to block Idaho families\u2019 ability to use these tax credits to choose the best education for their children\u2019s needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>More than 4,650 Idaho families have applied for the tax credit since the application window opened January 15, covering more than 7,300 students. The petitioners claim the program violates Idaho\u2019s Constitution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em><strong>\u201cIdaho\u2019s school choice law is fully constitutional,\u201d&nbsp;said Attorney General Labrador.&nbsp;\u201cParents\u2014not government\u2014have the God-given right to direct their children\u2019s education. As the father of five kids, I know each of my children learned differently. What works for one doesn\u2019t work for all. This law gives families that choice&nbsp;and takes nothing from public schools. My office looks forward to defending it tomorrow.\u201d<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Three independent statewide&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mountainstatespolicy.org\/post\/three-polls-same-result-idaho-voters-support-ed-choice-tax-credit\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">polls<\/a>&nbsp;show consistent support from Idahoans on school choice tax credits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>December 2024 (before passage): 66 percent in support<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>October 2025 (after enactment): 64\u00a0percent in support<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>January 2026: 65 percent in support<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>That number jumps even higher among parents, with polling by EdChoice and Morning Consult showing&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.edchoice.org\/2025-new-poll-what-idahoans-say-on-refundable-tax-credits-and-school-choice\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">78 percent of Idaho parents support the tax credit.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The School Choice Tax Credit provides up to $5,000 per student in refundable tax credits for qualified educational expenses including tuition, tutoring, curricula, assessments, and transportation. The law gives priority to families earning less than 300 percent of the federal poverty level and allows advance payments so families can afford educational options immediately rather than waiting until tax season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Like other tax credits in Idaho law, the program reduces a family\u2019s tax liability based on how they spend their own money. The program does not take funding from public schools, does not grant government authority over nonpublic schools, and does not require schools to alter their admissions policies, curriculum, or practices.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Since taking office, Attorney General Labrador has made defending parental rights and&nbsp;<em>protecting Idaho families<\/em>&nbsp;a top priority.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>BOISE, ID \u2014&nbsp;On Friday, attorneys in the Office of Attorney General will argue in defense of Idaho\u2019s School Choice Tax Credit before the Idaho Supreme Court. The hearing follows a legal challenge brought by the Idaho Education Association and others seeking to block Idaho families\u2019 ability to use these tax credits to choose the best [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":81,"featured_media":19385,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[243],"tags":[17,1485,253,1150],"class_list":["post-19384","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinions-op-eds","tag-education","tag-idaho-supreme-court","tag-raul-labrador","tag-school-choice","cat-243-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gemstatepatriot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19384","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gemstatepatriot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gemstatepatriot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gemstatepatriot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/81"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gemstatepatriot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19384"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gemstatepatriot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19384\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19386,"href":"https:\/\/gemstatepatriot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19384\/revisions\/19386"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gemstatepatriot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19385"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gemstatepatriot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gemstatepatriot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19384"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gemstatepatriot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}