While Moscow’s public schools sue Idaho to stop parents from choosing better options, new data reveal families have already fled—and they’re not coming back.
This editorial ran in the Tuesday 7 Oct 2025 edition of the Moscow-Pullman Daily News.
The Moscow School District (MSD) has joined a lawsuit against Idaho over House Bill 93, the new school choice law. Gov. Brad Little has increased K-12 funding nearly 60% during his time in office. HB93 doesn’t cut district budgets; instead, it provides a $5,000 tax credit ($7,500 for a special-needs child), with priority for families up to 300% of the poverty level, giving poor parents access to quality schools.
This lawsuit will fail. Idaho’s constitution requires the state provide a system of public education, but it does not forbid support for other forms of schooling. Courts have long upheld the legislature’s broad authority over education funding.
The lawsuit is naturally funded by the teachers’ unions. Too bad students don’t pay union dues, then academics might get the attention it deserves.
Even if their lawsuit had merit, it backfires. MSD acts like a monopoly desperate to trap families who have already escaped. Parents already know the district isn’t competing in the marketplace of education; it’s trying to shut it down.
MSD enrollment peaked in 1991 with 2,737 students and has since dropped to 1,911—even as Moscow added 1,000 school-age children since 2011. Families don’t trust MSD with their children’s education and have voted with their feet.
Public school share has now fallen below 60%, and hovers around 50% among younger grades. Over 1,600 children in Moscow already attend Logos, Jubilee, St. Mary’s, Palouse Hills Christian, homeschool co-ops, online schools, or other alternatives. HB93 isn’t triggering an exodus; it simply recognizes the reality parents chose long ago.
And what exactly are families fleeing? The ISAT says it all: MSD scores are 60.9% in math, 63.8% in science, and 70.7% in English. Moscow is home to the University of Idaho with the most educated population in the state. Yet with every advantage—high tax revenues, university resources, and an engaged community—MSD still delivers failure.
By contrast, Moscow Charter School posts 76.4% in math, 83.9% in science, and 85.2% in English—outperforming MSD across the board on a significantly tighter budget. This isn’t unique. Across Idaho, nine of the top ten ISAT performers in English are charters, and all but two in math are charters. Charters spend less yet deliver more. What’s MSD’s excuse?
The real scandal isn’t HB93. It’s MSD’s price tag. The district pulls in $35.6 million to educate 1,911 students—$18,655 each, over three times the cost for other local private options. Moscow families watch their property taxes climb while outcomes deteriorate. By contrast, a $5,000 rebate to poor families under HB93 is a bargain. Parents and taxpayers win—only Moscow School District’s wannabe monopoly suffers.
And even that $18,655 per child doesn’t flow mostly to teachers. MSD’s 2025–26 budget shows about $16.8 million for teacher salaries and benefits, and nearly $9.2 million for administrators and support staff (superintendents, assistants, central office staff, consultants, and overhead). Roughly one dollar of every three funds bureaucracy, not classrooms. Teachers do more with less while administrators thrive, and students pay the price with failing outcomes. This is what MSD is suing the state of Idaho to maintain.
MSD acts as if children belong to the district and its budget is an entitlement. But even with “free” education at $18,655 per student, families aren’t buying it. Enrollment keeps falling despite Moscow’s population growth.
MSD trustees argue that taxpayers can’t guarantee results for private schools with the HB93 rebates. But here’s what we can guarantee: government-regulated MSD delivers failure year after year. Its own ISAT scores are failing grades, especially in a university town with more resources than almost any district in Idaho. MSD is hemorrhaging students while failing to deliver proficiency in an environment most districts would envy. Parents want to send their kids to schools where they will succeed, and they’ll spend their tax rebates accordingly.
The outcome is certain. MSD is losing in enrollment, losing on ISAT scores, and it will lose in court. And it will keep losing the trust of parents and taxpayers. The monopoly is broken: families have left, and no lawsuit can drag them back. The least MSD could do is allow poor parents to use their hard-earned tax dollars to buy their children a successful education—at just a third of the cost of MSD’s failing one. Most of all, HB93 finally gives poor parents a chance to secure for their kids the kind of quality education denied them by MSD.