BOISE, Idaho — This article originally appeared in the Idaho Press.
A committee on Tuesday voted abruptly to hold a resolution that would put to voters if a portion of the state’s constitution that prevents public funds from going to religious schools should be repealed.
Rep. Joe Palmer, R-Meridian, who made the motion to hold the legislation, said he supported it but had “technical questions” that he couldn’t’ get answers to at the moment. He didn’t elaborate on his questions and wasn’t available for questions following the meeting.
House State Affairs members voted to hold House Joint Resolution 1 in committee subject to call of the chair unanimously. Another version of the legislation may return later.
Rep. Elaine Price, R-Coeur d’Alene, sponsored HJR 1. She said the portion of the constitution, which is often called the Blaine Amendment, was “rooted in bigotry and discrimination” against Catholic immigrants.
In 1875, a U.S. senator from Maine, James Blaine, proposed an amendment that would have prohibited state taxpayer funds from going to any “religious sect.”
Idaho included Article IX Section 5 in the state’s constitution that was ratified about 15 years after the federal proposal in 1890, Idaho EdNews reported.
Price and the other co-sponsor, Sen. Brian Lenney, R-Nampa, have said that the portion of the constitution should be repealed because of recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings that said other states that provided funds to private schools may not discriminate against religious schools.
The rulings likely wouldn’t impact Idaho unless the state were to provide public funds toward private schools, the Idaho Press previously reported, which it doesn’t currently but multiple proposals have been made in the past few years.
The resolution will need a two-thirds majority vote from both chambers to get into the ballot in the November election.
Nancy Gregory, a past president of the Idaho School Boards Association, spoke in opposition to the bill. She said that should the amendment pass, it would create an “easy path for the passage of ESA (education savings account), school voucher, or tuition tax credit legislation, thus taking away public school funding from the just under 300,000 public school students in the state of Idaho.”
Grace Howat, of the Idaho Family Policy Center, said the policy center is in favor of the legislation. The Idaho Family Policy Center is a conservative Christian ministry that promotes “God-honoring public policy,” according to its website.
“Today (the Blaine Amendment) is being weaponized by the anti-religion radicals on the secular left to target not only Catholic schools but all faith-based schools,” Howat said.
Middleton-based Truth family Bible Church Pastor Danny Steinmeyer also spoke in favor of the legislation, arguing that the state is never really neutral when it comes to religion, citing the state constitution’s preamble which states, “We, the people of the state of Idaho, grateful to Almighty God for our freedom, to secure its blessings and promote our common welfare do establish this Constitution.”
Rowan Astra, of Satanic Idaho, also spoke in favor of the resolution.
“I look forward to the opportunity to be able to start a satanic K-12 performing arts school and being able to have access to the same funds that any other religious school would have,” Astra said.
At another committee meeting held at the same time Tuesday morning, a bill was proposed to create a “Parental Choice Tax Credit.” The program would allow parents to claim tax credits for private school tuition and homeschooling expenses and it would provide a grant program for low-income parents.
This article originally appeared in the Idaho Press, read more on IdahoPress.com.
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