Bill Analyses and Ratings
Bill Information: H0940 – Idaho Digital Learning Academy Restructuring
Bill Summary
House Bill 940 restructures the Idaho Digital Learning Academy (IDLA) from a broad public school-choice program into a targeted supplemental course delivery system for grades 6-12. The bill explicitly limits IDLA’s role to filling instructional gaps—credit recovery, dual credit, courses unavailable in small or rural districts, state-required graduation courses, and overload courses—and prohibits it from supplanting regular coursework offered by a student’s local school district or public charter school.
The bill establishes a detailed fee structure requiring state board approval: graduation-required courses are capped at $40, non-required courses must cost at least $100, and fees offset the $445-per-enrollment state reimbursement. Students enrolled in fully virtual schools, driver’s education courses, or non-emergency custom sections lose eligibility for state funding. A 30% cap on administrative personnel costs is imposed on the academy’s total budget, and fees are refunded if a student withdraws within the withdrawal window.
The bill also removes outdated references to a ‘host district’ arrangement that expired in 2009, eliminates adult learners and out-of-state students from IDLA’s scope, redefines the academy as a course delivery program rather than a school, and requires the academy board to report to the state board of education during the 2027 legislative session with a strategic plan for managing digital learning statewide.
Overall Assessment
This bill reshapes the Idaho Digital Learning Academy into a narrowly defined supplemental resource for grades 6-12 students in brick-and-mortar school districts, expanding access to courses unavailable locally while imposing new fiscal guardrails including a 30% administrative cost cap and a structured fee system that limits state subsidy exposure. Students in rural and small districts gain the clearest benefit, gaining access to graduation-required courses capped at $40 and courses their schools cannot offer. Students in fully virtual schools and those seeking custom course sections lose access to state-funded IDLA enrollment under the new eligibility rules.
Rating Breakdown
ARTICLE I. Responsibility in Government (0)
The bill includes a 30% cap on administrative personnel costs and requires state board approval before the academy board can set fees, adding meaningful oversight mechanisms. However, these provisions tighten management of an existing program rather than reducing government size, restructuring taxation, or addressing broader fiscal policy, leaving the net effect on government responsibility marginal.
ARTICLE II. Citizen Involvement in Government (0)
The bill exclusively amends the operational structure and funding mechanics of the Idaho Digital Learning Academy. It contains no provisions affecting elections, public comment processes, citizen participation in government, or political representation.
ARTICLE III. Education (1)
The bill expands access to digital coursework for students in small and rural districts who lack local access to graduation-required courses, dual credit options, and electives, directly addressing educational equity gaps. The structured fee schedule—capping graduation-required courses at $40—keeps costs accessible for families, and the explicit goal of providing 'choice, accessibility, flexibility, quality, and equity' is codified into statute. The requirement that IDLA prioritize credit recovery and courses unavailable locally ensures the program serves students with the greatest instructional need.
ARTICLE IV. Agriculture (0)
The bill addresses online education program structure and funding exclusively. It contains no provisions related to farming, ranching, agricultural markets, or rural land use beyond the incidental benefit rural students may receive from expanded course access.
ARTICLE V. Water (0)
The bill makes no changes to water law, water rights, irrigation, or water management policy. Its scope is limited entirely to the Idaho Digital Learning Academy.
ARTICLE VI. Natural Resources and Environment (0)
The bill contains no provisions addressing natural resource management, environmental regulation, public lands, or related policy. It is confined to digital education program administration.
ARTICLE VII. Energy (0)
The bill makes no changes to energy policy, energy resource development, utility regulation, or related matters. Its provisions are limited to the Idaho Digital Learning Academy's structure and funding.
ARTICLE VIII. Idaho National Laboratories (0)
The bill contains no provisions related to the Idaho National Laboratory, nuclear research, or technology transfer programs. It addresses K-12 online education exclusively.
ARTICLE IX. Private Property Rights (0)
The bill makes no changes to property rights law, eminent domain, land use regulation, or due process protections for property owners. Its scope is limited to public education program administration.
ARTICLE X. State and Federal Lands (0)
The bill contains no provisions addressing state or federal land ownership, management, or transfer. It is an education policy bill with no land management components.
ARTICLE XI. Wildlife Management (0)
The bill makes no changes to fish and game management, hunting and fishing regulations, predator control, or wildlife policy. It addresses online education program operations exclusively.
ARTICLE XII. Economy (0)
The bill restructures funding flows within an existing public education program and imposes a fee structure on course users, but does not address commerce regulation, small business policy, labor markets, or economic development. The fiscal changes are internal to the IDLA program rather than economy-wide.
ARTICLE XIII. Health and Welfare (0)
The bill contains no provisions addressing healthcare, health insurance, public health programs, or welfare services. Its provisions are confined to digital education course delivery for grades 6-12.
ARTICLE XIV. American Family (0)
While the bill expands educational options that families may use, it does not address parental rights in education, family structure, marriage policy, or related matters. The bill's course access provisions benefit students but do not alter the legal relationship between parents and educational institutions.
ARTICLE XV. Older Americans (0)
The bill explicitly limits IDLA's scope to grades 6-12 and removes prior provisions allowing adult learners to participate. It contains no provisions addressing retirement, senior services, elder care, or workforce policies affecting older Idahoans.
ARTICLE XVI. Law and Order with Justice (0)
The bill makes no changes to criminal law, firearms policy, law enforcement, sentencing, or the justice system. It is an education administration bill with no criminal justice components.
ARTICLE XVII. National Defense - Securing the Border (0)
The bill contains no provisions related to military affairs, veterans' services, border security, or immigration. Its scope is limited to the Idaho Digital Learning Academy's operational and funding structure.
ARTICLE XVIII. Election of Judges and Idaho Supreme Court Justices (0)
The bill makes no changes to judicial selection, judicial elections, or constitutional interpretation standards. It addresses education policy exclusively.
ARTICLE XIX. Religious Liberty (0)
The bill contains no provisions affecting religious exercise, faith-based institutions, or free speech in educational settings. Private schools are mentioned only as potential fee-paying course users with no state reimbursement eligibility, which neither burdens nor protects religious liberty.