Medicaid expansion defunds public schools. Road construction defunds public schools. Fighting forest fires defunds public schools. Protecting public safety defunds public schools.
These statements are, of course, silly. But they are consistent with the newest arguments being made against any expansion of education choice options for families.
Past legislative proposals have, in good faith, required funding for any education choice plan be separate from a state's regular K-12 budget. In fact, a tax credit proposal introduced last year in the Idaho legislature proposed a separate, $50 million line item - and didn't touch a cent in the state's K-12 budget. In other words, public schools would still receive the same amount, collectively, even though they’d potentially be educating fewer students.
But in a recent editorial opposed to education choice options, the argument was made that "all attempts to wall off public school funding from voucher programs are ultimately futile. The government gets so much money in taxes, and each of those dollars can be used for only one thing."
It's a curious argument, to be sure.
First, no one has proposed an education choice voucher. Using the word "voucher" to describe previous choice proposals in Idaho is intentionally misleading.
Second, the logical conclusion of this argument is that every dollar in a state budget belongs to public education first - something that simply isn't true.
As long as the public K-12 education system receives the full allocation for the statutory funding formula, every other cent spent in the budget is a line item for other important priorities. Just like funding for Idaho's Launch program, an education choice plan would include separate funding.
In reality, government budgets are a question of priorities. Yes, any future lawmaker could change those priorities. But that’s the way our democratic process is supposed to work - the people elect representatives to adopt priorities.
No one would claim, with a straight face, that funding Medicaid expansion, building roads, fighting fires, or protecting public safety defunds public schools. The same holds true for possibly funding a $50 million line item out of more than a $5 billion general fund budget for new education choice options.