A statewide online charter school is already offering parents with school choice, including an $1,800-per student education savings account, its director said Wednesday.

But lawmakers pressed Terri Sorensen for details about the Idaho Home Learning Academy’s academic performance and finances — and the millions of dollars going out to families, in the form of state-funded ESAs.

The IHLA’s Statehouse presentations come as Idaho’s private school choice debate ramps up. As the House Education Committee met in one Statehouse committee room, the House Revenue and Taxation Committee met in an adjacent hearing room to introduce a private school tax credit bill. On Wednesday afternoon, Sorensen spoke to the Senate Education Committee, seconds after committee Chairman Dave Lent introduced his version of a private school choice bill.

Sorensen said the rapidly growing IHLA is offering choice within the framework of the public school system. “It has felt hard at times,” she told House Education.

Sorensen noted that IHLA’s 7,900 students take state-required tests — often to the consternation of skeptical parents, who have moved their kids from home school to IHLA. She said IHLA serves about 600 special education students.

But many of the questions centered on the ESAs — which come from state money that is left over after IHLA covers its teacher salaries and pays a trio of private educational service providers. With nearly 8,000 students in IHLA, the payments to parents come to about $14 million, or about a quarter of the school’s $55 million budget.

Sen. James Woodward, R-Sagle, noted that the Legislature has spent years debating ESAs, and has never approved such a program.

“What is the legal basis for handing out money to parents?” Woodward asked.

Sorensen said IHLA’s contracts with the educational service providers spell out the arrangement. The school pays its private vendors about $21 million a year, which covers curriculum, support, student testing and the ESA program. “This is our way of providing parents with their educational materials.”

Oneida School District Superintendent Jon Abrams also defended the practice. “Our intention is not and never has been to violate any rule or law.”

For several years — a period of prolonged and meteoric growth — IHLA operated as an online wing of Oneida, a small district in rural Southeast Idaho, near the Idaho-Utah border. This is IHLA’s first year operating as a charter.

Lawmakers wanted other details about financials, and some of Sorensen’s answers were vague and confounding.

Rep. Lance Clow, R-Twin Falls, asked Sorensen if IHLA families can also qualify for the state-funded Empowering Parents school microgrant program, on top of the $1,800 they receive from IHLA. Sorensen said she was unsure.

Later, Rep. Chris Mathias, D-Boise, cited a December State Board of Education report on Empowering Parents; last year, 1,495 microgrants went to IHLA students, the most of any public school in Idaho. Mathias asked if IHLA was making a concerted effort to encourage parents to apply for Empowering Parents money.

“I couldn’t even tell you what the criteria is to qualify,” Sorensen said.

During Senate Education’s hearing, Sen. Janie Ward-Engelking asked for assurances that parents weren’t getting ESA payments and Empowering Parents dollars for the same purchases.

“Are we double-dipping?” said Ward-Engelking, D-Boise. “It seems like a messy system.”

Sorensen said the school’s vendors make ESA-eligible purchases on parents’ behalf, or reimburse eligible purchases. But she said the state has no way of tracking what families purchase through Empowering Parents.

In both hearings, lawmakers also pressed Sorensen about IHLA’s flagging math scores.

Only 23% of IHLA’s students scored proficient on the math Idaho Standards Achievement Test in 2024, compared to a 37% proficiency rate in English language arts.

Sorensen said IHLA’s scores improve in high school, as Idaho Department of Education data indicates. She conceded math is a “struggle,” and in both hearings, she said parents often have a hard time helping their children with math assignments.

This drew a rebuke from Sen. Carrie Semmelroth, D-Boise, who accused Sorensen of trying to shift blame from IHLA’s teachers to parents. Sorensen said that was not her intent.

State Board launches school choice map

Parents can now map their local school options through a State Board of Education website.

The State Board on Wednesday unveiled a “Mapping School Choice in the Gem State” web page.

Parents will be able to use the site to chart the public, private, charter and alternative schools closest to their address.

“We know that Idahoans and our Legislature want more information about how Idaho’s education system operates. With this interactive map, Idaho parents can know where and how they can get the best education for their children, regardless of their zip code. This new map on education choice makes a major stride towards this goal,” State Board President Linda Clark said in a news release.

The State Board unveiled the map as two legislative committees considered a pair of private school choice bills, one in the House, one in the Senate.