Partnership for Educational Choice Will Step in to Defend Idaho’s New School Choice Program from Legal Challenge

Chantal Fennell

September 19, 2025
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Press Release: For Immediate Release
September 19, 2025 

For more information or to schedule an interview, contact:
Chantal Fennell
[email protected] | 989-251-8388

Partnership for Educational Choice Will Step in to Defend Idaho’s New School Choice Program from Legal Challenge

INDIANAPOLIS—Today, the Partnership for Educational Choice —a joint project of the Institute for Justice (IJ) and EdChoice—announced its intention to intervene in a lawsuit filed this week by the Idaho Education Association (IEA). The lawsuit challenges the state’s new school choice tax credit program.  

In February, Idaho Gov. Brad Little signed a refundable tax credit bill into law, establishing the state’s first school choice program, the Idaho Parental Choice Tax Credit. The program launched at the start of the current school year and provides a refundable credit of up to $5,000 per eligible student (and up to $7,500 per eligible student who has a disability) for tuition and other educational expenses. The Partnership for Educational Choice, which intends to defend the program, represents three families who plan to use the program to cover costs associated with sending their children to schools that can meet the individual needs of each student. 

“The Idaho Parental Choice Tax Credit is a landmark step forward for educational freedom in Idaho,” said Thomas Fisher, executive vice president and director of litigation at EdChoice Legal Advocates. “It empowers parents, not bureaucrats, to decide what learning environment best serves their children. We will stand firmly against efforts to roll back this progress and ensure Idaho families keep the choices they have fought so hard to secure.” 

“This program is no different than the many other programs across the country that have been upheld as constitutional and helped thousands of families,” said Renée Flaherty, a senior attorney at the Institute for Justice. “Our clients will fight to defend it every step of the way.” 

The Partnership for Educational Choice, which launched in late 2023, is a project of IJ and EdChoice. For more than three decades, IJ has been the nation’s leading law firm defending educational choice programs and expanding educational access and opportunity. Since its founding in 1991, it has successfully represented parents in educational choice lawsuits in numerous state supreme courts, intermediate courts of appeal, and trial courts, as well as four times at the U.S. Supreme Court (Zelman v. Simmons-Harris, Arizona Christian School Tuition Organization v. Winn, Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue, Carson v. Makin). 

During that time, EdChoice has been the premier organization providing critical research and educational information to stakeholders working to expand educational choice throughout the country. In late 2023, it added a litigation arm, EdChoice Legal Advocates, to its portfolio. 

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Chantal Fennell

Vice President of Communications

Chantal is the Vice President of Communications at EdChoice, where she directs the organization’s communications efforts, and manages its brand and public relations.

Prior to joining the EdChoice team, Chantal served as the Director of Policy Advancement at the State Policy Network, where she worked with state-based organizations to advance policy reforms. Before that, Chantal worked as the communications manager at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy in Michigan, and as the Nevada Policy Research Institute’s communications director.

Prior to beginning her career in the policy advocacy movement, Chantal was a journalist in California, where she received awards from the California Newspaper Publishers Association for investigative reporting, economic reporting, and features writing. During her time as a reporter, Chantal authored an exposé that resulted in the creation of one of the nation’s first-ever curriculum for high school students with high-functioning autism.

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