Idaho
Statehouse roundup, 1.13.25: Idaho is a model for funding charter facilities, a national adviser says
Idaho’s charter school facilities funding model is a “success story” that other states should follow, a policy adviser for a national school choice advocacy group told lawmakers Monday.
In 2023, the Legislature passed two bills that helped charters obtain short- and long-term financing for facilities. One bill created a $50 million revolving loan fund to jumpstart newer charters, while the other offered state-backed credit enhancement to established charters, lowering their interest rates on bonds.
These financing tools cost the state nothing on an ongoing basis and they’ve saved $113 million, Matthew Joseph, senior policy adviser at ExcelinEd, told the House Education Committee.
“It means that every charter school in Idaho is able to reinvest the money … into instruction,” Joseph said. “… I work in states all over the country that are not nearly as advanced as Idaho is.”
Unlike traditional public school districts, Idaho’s charter schools can’t levy taxes on patrons to raise funds for facilities. Instead, they leverage state facilities dollars along with bonds and private donations to finance capital projects.

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On top of the financing tools, the state gives charters a per-student allocation for facilities costs. The per-student amount decreased, from $400 to $300, with last year’s House Bill 521, the sweeping facilities funding bill that directed $1.5 billion to traditional districts.
Charter advocates are preparing to introduce a proposal restoring these funds. Blake Youde, a lobbyist for the Idaho Charter School Network, told the House Education Committee that HB 521 eliminated about $3 million in state lottery funds for charters.
“I anticipate that we will be trying to work with you to make charter schools whole again,” Youde said.
Traditional districts lost lottery funding to the tune of $29 million. The Idaho School Boards Association also called for restoring these funds, which traditional districts used for routine maintenance costs and staff salaries.
‘Unfinished work:’ Liebich makes pitch for second State Board term
Kurt Liebich was first appointed to the State Board of Education in February 2020 — weeks before the COVID-19 pandemic shuttered schools across the state and the nation.
“When I signed up five years ago, what I was getting into was not at all what I thought I was getting into,” Liebich said Monday.
On Monday afternoon, the Boise businessman was back before the Senate Education Committee, seeking confirmation to a second five-year State Board term.
Liebich said he decided to seek a second term to focus on “unfinished work,” especially in K-3 literacy, middle school math and preparing high school graduates for college or career.
“Within K-12 you’ve made massive investments in education,” Liebich said. “We could and we should get a return on the investment.”
State Board of Education member Kurt LiebichOver the past five years, Idaho’s K-12 budget has increased by nearly 40%.
The committee took no action on Liebich’s appointment. The committee will likely vote later this week, said Senate Education Chairman Dave Lent, R-Idaho Falls.
The nomination will then go to the full Senate.
At least two other State Board nominations are likely to go through Senate Education.
Idaho
Gov. Little signs bill ending license plate registration stickers in Idaho
Gov. Brad Little has signed House Bill 533, which would remove the need for license plate stickers on Idaho vehicles.
The legislation, introduced earlier this session by Rep. Jon Weber (R) of Boise, eliminates the requirement for registration stickers on Idaho license plates. Weber stated during the bills intorduction that officers can verify the status of license plates without the stickers, potentially saving the state around $300,000.
During the bill’s introduction, some lawmakers argued that it could increase the workload for law enforcement.
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The new law is set to take effect in July.
Idaho
Idaho resolution opposing same-sex marriage advances
For the second year in a row, House lawmakers will consider urging the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn its ruling legalizing same-sex marriage.
The nonbinding resolution, which carries no legal weight, says the decision in Obergefel v. Hodges violates the longstanding religious definition of marriage between one man and one woman.
“The current definition of marriage that allows for same-sex marriages is a defilement of the word marriage,” said Rep. Tony Wisniewski (R-Post Falls), who sponsors the measure.
The resolution further states that the Obergefel decision “arbitrarily and unjustly” rejects the historical definition of marriage.
Idaho voters passed a constitution amendment in 2006 that defines marriage as between one man and one woman, which was invalidated by the Obergefel ruling.
Wisniewski said regulating marriages should be a power left to the states.
Rep. Brent Crane (R-Nampa) agrees.
“If you want to get things … closer to the people with respect to some of these more complex social issues, I think the best place for those things to happen is in the states,” Crane said.
Doing so is a risk, he said.
“You may have states that choose to acknowledge [polyamorous relationships]. You may have states that choose to have relationships between adults and younger children,” Crane said.
Cities in neighboring Oregon and Washington, for example, are considering giving those in polyamorous relationships legal recognition.
But he said that risk is worth it to allow other states that choose to only recognize traditional marriages.
Four lawmakers on the House State Affairs Committee opposed the resolution.
Rep. Erin Bingham (R-Idaho Falls) said she’s tried to balance her own religious beliefs with those of others while considering the measure.
“I do feel like that it is important for us to work together, to find ways to compromise and to live together in peace and mutual respect,” Bingham said.
The resolution now goes to the House floor for consideration.
House lawmakers last year passed a similar measure, but it never received a hearing in a Senate committee.
Copyright 2026 Boise State Public Radio
Idaho
University of Idaho professor awarded $10M after TikTok tarot influencer claimed she ‘ordered’ quadruple murders
A University of Idaho professor won a $10 million judgment after a tarot TikTok influencer publicly pushed false claims that she was behind the savage quadruple slayings of four college students.
A Boise jury in US District Court ordered fortune-telling Texas TikToker Ashley Guillard on Friday to pay $10 million after concluding she falsely accused professor Rebecca Scofield of having a secret romance with one of the four victims and orchestrating their killings, the Idaho Statesman reported.
Following the verdict, Scofield thanked the jury and said she hopes the case sends a clear warning that making “false statements online have consequences in the real world.”
“The murders of the four students on November 13, 2022, were the darkest chapter in our university’s history,” Scofield told Fox News.
“Today’s decision shows that respect and care should always be granted to victims during these tragedies. I am hopeful that this difficult chapter in my life is over, and I can return to a more normal life with my family and the wonderful Moscow community.”
Scofield, the university’s history department chair, filed the lawsuit in December 2022 — just weeks after Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin were brutally stabbed to death at an off-campus rental home in Moscow, Idaho, on Nov. 13, 2022.
Guillard began uploading videos to her more than 100,000 TikTok followers in late November 2022, accusing Scofield of a secret relationship with one of the students and claiming she had “ordered” the killings, garnering millions of views across the social media platform.
The complaint states that Scofield had never met the victims and was out of state when the murders occurred.
Even after being served with cease-and-desist letters and after police publicly confirmed Scofield had no connection to the murders, the Houston-based tarot reader continued posting videos, the history professor’s legal team argued.
Guillard doubled down on her accusations against Scofield after being sued, posting a defiant video saying, “I am not stopping,” and challenging why Scofield needed three lawyers to sue her “if she’s so innocent.”
The professor’s legal team argued the defamatory accusations painted her as a criminal and accused her of professional misconduct that could derail her career.
Bryan Kohberger, then studying criminology at Washington State University, pleaded guilty in July 2025 to the quadruple murders in a deal that took the death penalty off the table. He is currently serving four consecutive life sentences in Idaho.
In June 2024, Chief US Magistrate Judge Raymond Patricco found Guillard’s statements legally defamatory, leaving damages to be decided by a jury.
During the damages trial, Scofield described the anguish of seeing her name tied to the murders online, the Idaho Statesman reported.
However, Guillard, acting as her own attorney, insisted her comments were simply beliefs based on tarot card readings.
She claimed to have psychic powers and testified that she relied on tarot cards to try to solve the shocking homicides that shook the rural college town and sparked global attention.
It took jurors less than two hours to return their verdict, the outlet reported.
The jury awarded Scofield $7.5 million in punitive damages in addition to $2.5 million in compensatory damages.
With Post wires
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