Proposes an amendment to the state constitution to remove language allowing for the Legislature to require school attendance and to add language regarding the right of the people to educate their children without government regulation outside of public schools.

This constitutional amendment accomplishes two changes to Idaho’s constitution. First, it strikes the current language in section 9 of Article IX which concerns the legislature’s ability to compel Idaho’s children to physically attend the public schools of the state. The current language also grants the legislature to determine the means that are the exception to public school attendance. In 1925 (Pierce v. Society of Sisters) and 1972 (Wisconsin v. Yoder), the US Supreme Court issued opinions that states cannot compel public school attendance because of protections in the US constitution. This amendment also inserts language into section 9 of Article IX concerning the right to educate children outside of the public schools without burdensome regulation. This mirrors Idaho’s current statutes. The right recognized in this amendment concerns a right to educate – it is not a right to NOT educate. Neither California, Oregon, Washington nor Montana have compulsory school attendance in their constitutions, yet all of those states still possess the power to require children to be educated. Even with this amendment, Idaho may still require children to be educated.