New bill requires unexcused absence for student protests
Originally Published 2/27/2026 by IdahoEdNews
By Ryan Suppe and Kevin Richert
BOISE, Idaho — Public schools would not be allowed to grant excused absences for students attending political protests, under a new bill introduced Friday.
Rep. Steve Tanner’s bill targets recent student walkouts over federal immigration enforcement. Leaving school for such protests would count as an all-day, unexcused absence.
“While we recognize the First Amendment right to protest and to use political speech for all students, it’s a waste of taxpayer money for students to leave their classrooms in order to do so,” said Tanner, R-Nampa. “Students are free to protest at any other time.”
The bill would also require public schools to report annually to the state superintendent their total number of unexcused absences for political protests. The superintendent would then have to report the number to the Legislature.
Idaho students from Boise to McCall to Idaho Falls have staged school walkouts in recent weeks to protest federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement. ICE agents shot and killed two people last month in Minnesota during an enforcement operation.
The House Education Committee voted to introduce the bill, setting the stage for a public hearing.
But there were some questions. Rep. Jack Nelsen worried that restricting “political protests” would cast too wide of a net. The Jerome Republican wondered whether it would apply to students who testify at the Legislature, for instance, and whether it might discourage “political involvement from kids to get involved in things.”
The committee also voted to send two bills to the House floor, including:
- Senate Bill 1244, a DOGE Task Force bill that eliminates sections of state code that reference a regional library system that no longer exists.
- Senate Bill 1227, which would direct the Idaho Department of Education to create a framework for the “responsible use of AI in K-12 education.”
The Senate has already passed both bills.
