Amends existing law to prohibit certain in-person instruction in schools on election day.

LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF IDAHO Sixty-eighth Legislature Second Regular Session - 2026 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES HOUSE BILL NO. 831 BY STATE AFFAIRS COMMITTEE AN ACT1 RELATING TO ELECTIONS; AMENDING SECTION 33-512, IDAHO CODE, TO REVISE PRO-2 VISIONS REGARDING THE GOVERNANCE OF SCHOOLS; AND PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE3 DATE.4

Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Idaho:5

SECTION 1. That Section 33-512, Idaho Code, be, and the same is hereby6 amended to read as follows:7 33-512. GOVERNANCE OF SCHOOLS. The board of trustees of each school8 district shall have the following powers and duties:9 (1) To fix the days of the year and the hours of the day when schools10 shall be in session. However:11 (a) Each school district shall annually adopt and implement a school12 calendar that provides its students at each grade level with the follow-13 ing minimum number of instructional hours:14 Grades15 Hours 9-1216 990 4-817 900 1-318 810 K19 450 Alternative schools20 (any grades)21 900 (b) School assemblies, testing and other instructionally related ac-22 tivities involving students directly may be included in the required23 instructional hours.24 (c) When approved by a local school board, annual instructional hour25 requirements stated in paragraph (a) of this subsection may be reduced26 as follows:27 (i) Up to a total of twenty-two (22) hours to accommodate staff28 development activities conducted on such days as the local school29 board deems appropriate.30 (ii) Up to a total of eleven (11) hours of emergency school clo-31 sures due to adverse weather conditions and facility failures.32 However, transportation to and from school, passing times between33 classes, recess and lunch periods shall not be included.34 (d) Student and staff activities related to the opening and closing of35 the school year, grade reporting, program planning, staff meetings, and36 other classroom and building management activities shall not be counted37 as instructional time or in the reductions provided in paragraph (c)(i)38 of this subsection.39

2 (e) For multiple shift programs, this rule applies to each shift (i.e.,1 each student must have access to the minimum annual required hours of2 instruction).3 (f) The instructional time requirement for grade 12 students may be re-4 duced by action of a local school board for an amount of time not to ex-5 ceed eleven (11) hours of instructional time.6 (g) The state superintendent of public instruction may grant an ex-7 emption from the provisions of this section for an individual building8 within a district, when the closure of that building, for unforeseen9 circumstances, does not affect the attendance of other buildings within10 the district.11 (h) The state board of education may grant a waiver of the minimum12 number of instructional hours for a school district when districtwide13 school closures are necessary as a result of natural occurrences creat-14 ing unsafe conditions for students or for elections. A county or state15 disaster declaration must have been issued for one (1) or more of the16 counties in which the school district is located. A waiver request to17 the state board of education must describe the efforts by the school18 district to make up lost instructional hours, the range of grades im-19 pacted, and the number of hours the school district is requesting be20 waived.21 (i) There shall be no in-person student instruction on the dates on22 which elections may be conducted under section 34-106, Idaho Code. The23 board of trustees of each school district may determine the instruction24 or activities, if any, to be held on such days as long as such instruc-25 tion or activities do not require or encourage students to be present26 inside any building being used as a polling place, except for encour-27 aging eligible students to vote or to serve as poll workers. However,28 in-person student instruction may occur upon a joint agreement between29 the county clerk and school district that student-occupied buildings30 will not be designated as polling places. For the purpose of this para-31 graph, "instruction or activities" includes but is not limited to pro-32 fessional development, personnel training, teacher in-service train-33 ing, student extracurricular activities, and athletic activities.34 (i) (j) The reduction of instructional hours allowed in paragraphs (f)35 through (h) of this subsection may not be combined in a single school36 year.37 (2) To adopt and carry on and to provide for the financing of a total ed-38 ucational program for the district. Such programs in other than elementary39 school districts may include education programs for out-of-school youth and40 adults, and such districts may provide classes in kindergarten;41 (3) To provide, or require pupils to be provided with, suitable text-42 books and supplies and, for advice on textbook selections, may appoint a cur-43 ricular materials adoption committee as provided in section 33-512A, Idaho44 Code;45 (4) To protect the morals and health of the pupils;46 (5) To exclude from school children not of school age;47 (6) To prescribe rules for the disciplining of unruly or insubordinate48 pupils, including rules on student harassment, intimidation and bullying,49 such rules to be included in a district discipline code adopted by the board50

3 of trustees and a summarized version thereof to be provided in writing at the1 beginning of each school year to the teachers and students in the district2 in a manner consistent with the student's age, grade and level of academic3 achievement;4 (7) To exclude from school pupils with contagious or infectious dis-5 eases who are diagnosed or suspected as having a contagious or infectious6 disease or those who are not immune and have been exposed to a contagious or7 infectious disease; and to close school if the board determines that condi-8 tions warrant such closure, based on consultation with the district health9 department of the public health district in which the school district is lo-10 cated;11 (8) To equip and maintain a suitable library or libraries in the school12 or schools and to exclude therefrom, and from the schools, all books, tracts,13 papers, and catechisms of sectarian nature;14 (9) To determine school holidays. Any listing of school holidays shall15 include not less than the following: New Year's Day, Memorial Day, Indepen-16 dence Day, Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas Day. Other days listed in section17 73-108, Idaho Code, if the same shall fall on a school day, shall be observed18 with appropriate ceremonies; and any days the state board of education may19 designate, following the proclamation by the governor, shall be school holi-20 days;21 (10) To erect and maintain on each schoolhouse or school grounds a suit-22 able flagstaff or flagpole and display thereon the flag of the United States23 of America on all days, except during inclement weather, when the school is24 in session; and for each Veterans Day, each school in session shall conduct25 and observe an appropriate program of at least one (1) class period remember-26 ing and honoring American veterans;27 (11) To prohibit entrance to each schoolhouse or school grounds, to pro-28 hibit loitering in schoolhouses or on school grounds and to provide for the29 removal from each schoolhouse or school grounds of any individual or indi-30 viduals who disrupt the educational processes or whose presence is detrimen-31 tal to the morals, health, safety, academic learning or discipline of the32 pupils. A person who disrupts the educational process or whose presence is33 detrimental to the morals, health, safety, academic learning or discipline34 of the pupils, or who loiters in schoolhouses or on school grounds, is guilty35 of a misdemeanor;36 (12) To supervise and regulate, including by contract with established37 entities, those extracurricular activities that are by definition outside38 of or in addition to the regular academic courses or curriculum of a public39 school, and which extracurricular activities shall not be considered to be a40 property, liberty or contract right of any student, and such extracurricular41 activities shall not be deemed a necessary element of a public school educa-42 tion but shall be considered to be a privilege. For the purposes of extracur-43 ricular activities, any secondary school located in this state that is ac-44 credited by an organization approved through a process defined by the state45 department of education shall be able to fully participate in all extracur-46 ricular activities described in and governed by the provisions of this sub-47 section;48 (13) To govern the school district in compliance with state law and49 rules of the state board of education;50

4 (14) To submit to the superintendent of public instruction not later1 than July 1 of each year documentation that meets the reporting requirements2 of the federal gun-free schools act of 1994 as contained within the federal3 improving America's schools act of 1994;4 (15) To require that all certificated and noncertificated employees5 hired on or after July 1, 2008, and other individuals who are required by6 the provisions of section 33-130, Idaho Code, to undergo a criminal history7 check shall submit a completed ten (10) finger fingerprint card or scan to8 the department of education no later than five (5) days following the first9 day of employment or unsupervised contact with students in a K-12 setting,10 whichever is sooner. Such employees and other individuals shall pay the cost11 of the criminal history check. If the criminal history check shows that the12 employee has been convicted of a felony crime enumerated in section 33-1208,13 Idaho Code, it shall be grounds for immediate termination, dismissal or14 other personnel action of the district, except that it shall be the right15 of the school district to evaluate whether an individual convicted of one16 of these crimes and having been incarcerated for that crime shall be hired.17 Provided however, that any individual convicted of any felony offense listed18 in section 33-1208(2), Idaho Code, shall not be hired. For the purposes of19 criminal history checks, a substitute teacher is any individual who tem-20 porarily replaces a certificated classroom educator and is paid a substitute21 teacher wage for one (1) day or more during a school year. A substitute22 teacher who has undergone a criminal history check at the request of one (1)23 district in which he has been employed as a substitute shall not be required24 to undergo an additional criminal history check at the request of any other25 district in which he is employed as a substitute if the teacher has obtained26 a criminal history check within the previous five (5) years. If the district27 next employing the substitute still elects to require another criminal his-28 tory check within the five (5) year period, that district shall pay the cost29 of the criminal history check or reimburse the substitute teacher for such30 cost. To remain on the statewide substitute teacher list maintained by the31 state department of education, the substitute teacher shall undergo a crimi-32 nal history check every five (5) years;33 (16) To develop and maintain a safe environment for students and employ-34 ees by:35 (a) Developing a system of background checks for all persons who have36 unsupervised contact with students in a kindergarten through grade 1237 setting, which shall include but shall not be limited to a check of the38 Idaho sex offender central registry provided in chapter 83, title 18,39 Idaho Code;40 (b) Requiring each school in the school district to create and maintain41 an emergency operations plan for each school that is approved by the42 board. The board shall ensure plans are developed in coordination with43 local school staff and local emergency response agencies and reviewed44 at least annually for updates and changes. Plans shall meet the guide-45 lines adopted by the Idaho school safety and security advisory board;46 and47 (c) Requiring all school district staff to receive initial and an-48 nual emergency operations training that provides instruction on how to49 conduct exercises in order to respond to emergencies according to the50

5 guidelines established by the Idaho school safety and security advisory1 board; and2 (17) To provide support for teachers in their first two (2) years in the3 profession in the areas of: administrative and supervisory support, mentor-4 ing, peer assistance and professional development.5

SECTION 2. This act shall be in full force and effect on and after Jan-6 uary 1, 2028.7