Idaho Taxpayers: You're Being Charged Three Times for the Same Student. Here's How.

IDLA’s funding model charges Idaho taxpayers twice and sometimes 3 times for the same student. The 2026 legislature needs to fix this.

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As we prepare for the 2026 legislative session, I want to bring to your attention a significant issue that has come before some members of the Joint Finance and Appropriations Committee and the Senate Education Committee. It concerns the Idaho Digital Learning Academy (IDLA) and how your tax dollars are being spent. What I’ve discovered through my work on this is troubling, and you deserve to know what is happening.

The Double Payment Problem

Let me explain how this works because the numbers tell a clear story.

Your local school district receives state funding for every student through ADA (Average Daily Attendance) funding. Depending on district size and characteristics, this typically ranges from around $7,000 to over $20,000 per student, with an average around $8,000 to $10,000. This money is meant to pay teachers, cover operational costs, and educate your children.

Here’s where it gets concerning: that same district can place your child in front of a computer during the school day to take an IDLA online course. The state then pays IDLA $445 for that course, separately from the ADA funding.

The district keeps their full $8,000+. IDLA receives their $445. Your child gets a screen instead of a teacher in the classroom. And you, the Idaho taxpayer, just paid twice for the same student in the same course.

This is not good stewardship of taxpayer dollars.

The Numbers Are Staggering

IDLA’s budget has grown 158% since 2019. They now receive $25.8 million from Idaho. Nearly 29,000 Idaho students took IDLA courses last fall.

The most ABSURD ABUSE is funding for literacy interventions. Specifically, taxpayers are paying THREE times for the same struggling reader:

1. ADA funding to the district

2. Separate state literacy intervention funding to the district

3. Plus payment to IDLA

All this for remote reading instruction that could be delivered by a teacher already in the building. The district keeps every penny of their funding while outsourcing the actual teaching to a screen. The K-12 Education Budget currently includes $72 million for child literacy and IDLA receives funding as well to teach literacy from the State of Idaho. You would think that after all that spending our elementary students would be fully literate at grade level but they are not.

Even worse, IDLA’s Launchpad reading program loses $1 million annually because it only receives $460 per student (state allocation plus the $30 district fee) while the actual cost is $843. That means taxpayers are subsidizing a program that costs nearly double what it’s funded for, all while the district pockets their literacy funding without providing the literacy instruction. This isn’t just double-dipping. This is taxpayers funding the same service three times while the program runs at a loss that gets covered by other parts of IDLA’s inflated budget.

In my work on JFAC and the Senate Education Committee, I review budgets and policy carefully. These numbers don’t add up to responsible spending.

They Know About This

Rep. Wendy Horman, who co-chairs JFAC, stated it clearly: “We need to make some policy changes to make sure that taxpayers are not paying twice for the same student in the same course.”

IDLA Superintendent Jeff Simmons has defended this model, claiming districts still have “responsibilities” for these students. But let’s be honest about what those responsibilities are: providing a desk and a computer. For that, they keep their full state funding (ranging from $7,000 to over $20,000 per student depending on district size) while the state pays someone else $445 to provide the actual instruction..

IDLA has been operating with minimal legislative oversight. Their founding statute hasn’t been updated since 2008. They have been allowed to grow and operate with very little accountability to the taxpayers who fund them.

I have always supported IDLA because of the educational offerings they provide to rural school districts and their students. Rural Idaho students have traditionally benefited from IDLA’s offerings. IDLA has refused to provide information to Representative Horman Co-Chair of JFAC (Joint Finance and Appropriations Committee) after multiple requests. Let’s get to the bottom of this issue!

I have and will continue to support online and alternative learning options for Idaho families. School choice matters, and rural students deserve access to quality education. But school choice does not mean wasteful spending or lack of accountability.

Private companies provide online courses for around $150 per enrollment. IDLA costs over $500 when you add up all the funding streams. That’s a significant difference that should concern every taxpayer.

Sen. Brian Lenney has asked the legislature’s DOGE Task Force to recommend defunding IDLA and allowing private providers to compete in this space. I believe this conversation is worth having.

Moving Forward

In my work on JFAC, I have been willing to make cuts where we can and work toward compromise on spending. I believe we are moving in the right direction, but we have more work to do. The 2026 legislative session is just around the corner, and this issue will be addressed through both the appropriations process and education policy.

I am committed to:

• Requiring real accountability and oversight for IDLA

• Ensuring that if we fund online learning, and do so efficiently and transparently

• Protecting the hard-earned dollars of Idaho taxpayers

I am aware that not all my constituents will agree with every position I take on appropriations and education policy. However, I review and vote in accordance with what will be best for the people of my district and the State of Idaho. When I see wasteful spending or lack of accountability, I will call it out.

What You Can Do

Please contact your legislators and ask them to address the IDLA funding issue in the 2026 session. Ask them why taxpayers are paying twice for the same student. Ask them why IDLA has operated with minimal oversight for 17 years.

And please continue to pray with me for wisdom and discernment as we work to bring responsible budgeting and fiscal accountability back to Idaho government. Together, we can continue to make Idaho great.

Thank you for your continued support and for allowing me the honor to serve as your Senator.

Senator Cindy Carlson