Idaho education officials and state lawmakers convened at the Capitol on June 4 to begin gathering public input on a school funding formula that has not seen a comprehensive update since the 1990s — a process that could reshape how billions of dollars flow to classrooms across the state.
State Superintendent Debbie Critchfield, a Republican seeking reelection, hosted the first in what is expected to be a series of listening sessions focused on the current formula’s shortcomings. The effort follows a legislative directive that emerged from the 2026 session, and it carries real financial stakes for school districts that have long argued the existing structure leaves them underfunded and inflexible.
A Formula Built for a Different Era
Idaho currently relies on an attendance-based funding model — one of only nine states still using a resource-based approach. Thirty-five other states have moved to student-based funding models that assign weighted dollars based on individual student characteristics and needs. Critics of Idaho’s system argue that it neither reflects modern enrollment realities nor adequately addresses the diversity of student populations in today’s schools.
The consequences of the current approach have been costly. When Idaho reverted to its attendance-based formula in 2023 after temporarily shifting to an enrollment-based model during the pandemic, school districts collectively absorbed a loss of roughly $145 million. The temporary switch had provided more predictable revenue, and its rollback exposed just how much money is at stake in the formula’s design.
Adding urgency to the discussion is an estimated $100 million gap in special education funding. That shortfall comes even as the Idaho Legislature directed $50 million last year toward education savings accounts for families choosing private schools or home schooling — a decision that drew pointed criticism from public school advocates at the listening session.
Bessie Yeley, who attended the June 4 session, expressed the frustration many in the room shared: “We keep coming back, and we keep telling the people here in this building that they’re not meeting the obligations to our children.”
Legislation Stalled, But Work Continues
Senate Concurrent Resolution 121, sponsored by Sen. Dave Lent (R-Idaho Falls), directed the Idaho Department of Education to develop a bill modernizing the funding formula. The resolution cleared the Senate but stalled in the House before the legislative session ended. Despite that setback, the Department is pressing ahead with drafting a new formula on its own, with the goal of bringing a policy bill to the next legislative session.
Lent, a former school board member and current chairman of the Senate Education Committee, led Thursday’s meeting. His involvement signals that the effort has strong backing in the upper chamber, even if the House has yet to fully commit. Senate Majority Leader Lori Den Hartog (R-Meridian) was also present to observe, as were two Democratic lawmakers — Rep. Soñia Galaviz and Sen. Carrie Semmelroth, both of Boise — indicating bipartisan interest in the outcome.
Greg Wilson, the Department of Education’s chief of staff, acknowledged the broad agreement on the need for change: “No one disagrees that our funding formula is outdated,” he said, adding that the lack of flexibility is a recurring theme from districts trying to serve varying local student needs.
For Nez Perce County and rural districts across Idaho, the stakes in any formula rewrite are especially high. Attendance-based funding can penalize schools in areas with higher student mobility or significant weather-related absences, making an enrollment-based or weighted-student model potentially more equitable for communities outside the urban core.
Residents interested in how school funding decisions are made at the local level and how to engage with the officials responsible for those decisions can find resources at a practical guide to participating in Idaho school board meetings.
What Comes Next
The Idaho Department of Education and participating lawmakers plan to use the feedback gathered from listening sessions to shape a legislative proposal for the next session. Additional public input opportunities are expected. The final product will need to navigate a Legislature that has shown reluctance in the past to overhaul a system that, despite its flaws, is familiar — and in which various stakeholders have entrenched interests. For school districts watching their budgets erode under the current structure, the timeline matters as much as the outcome.