Here in Owyhee County, we take pride in our schools. They’re more than just buildings where kids learn—they’re the heart of our community. Whether it’s cheering on our sports teams, celebrating student achievements, or coming together to support kids with special needs, our schools are where we show up for each other. That’s why ideas like “education savings accounts” (ESAs), vouchers, and refundable tax credits—what some call school privatization programs—are so troubling.
These programs, pushed by groups from outside our area, would pull tax dollars away from our public schools and send them to private schools. That might work for big cities, but out here, where Owyhee County spans nearly 8,000 square miles, we have just one private school. For most families, sending a kid to private school isn’t realistic, not with gas prices and the distances we’re talking about. And let’s be honest: these programs wouldn’t create new private school options for our rural towns. Instead, our tax dollars would go to help families in urban areas—while leaving our public schools short on funding.
Public schools are the backbone of our communities. They welcome every child who walks through our doors, whether they’re local kids, migrant students, or children with special needs. We provide meals, transportation, and the resources our kids need to succeed. Private schools, on the other hand, don’t have to take every student. They can pick and choose, and they don’t answer to taxpayers. If these privatization programs move forward, we’d lose the accountability and protections that parents and kids rely on in our public school system.
We’ve seen it happen elsewhere. Out of state dollars flow in by special interest groups pushing that this will “save taxpayers money”. In reality once these programs are in place, private tuition raises the cost of the voucher, then public schools lose funding, and the hardest-hit areas are small, rural districts like Marsing, Rimrock, Homedale. That’s not a risk we can afford to take—not when our kids’ futures are on the line. It also befits private schools in poaching athletes, instead of giving a scholarship to the quarterback, now he is coming with state tuition payment.
Rural kids and families deserve the same opportunities as anyone else. We deserve strong, well-funded public schools right here in our own communities. Let’s not let outside interests take that away from us. Let’s stand up for our kids, our schools, and our way of life. This January tell our lawmakers that public money should not go to fund private schools.
