Idaho parents · 7 min read
What Can You Buy With Idaho Parental Choice Tax Credit Funds?
What your Idaho education funds cover for reading and curriculum, how it works, and what is allowed.
From The Dig · Episode 2“Every mark lit gold in the order you had read them… and a stone stairway spiraled down into the earth.”
Program rules change; your program office has the final word on every purchase.
The short version
- Your Idaho Parental Choice Tax Credit pays for homeschool curriculum, including educational software like a reading program.
- Curriculum, educational software, and materials are eligible, and you access it through a claim on your Idaho tax return (keep itemized receipts).
- Amounts and rules shift year to year, so confirm the live number with your program before you buy.
Short answer: your Idaho Parental Choice Tax Credit pays for homeschool curriculum, including educational software like a reading program. Curriculum, educational software, and materials are eligible, and you access it through a claim on your Idaho tax return (keep itemized receipts). Idaho refunds qualified education costs through a tax credit, so you buy first and claim the curriculum as an eligible expense. Here is the plain-English version for a struggling reader, and the smartest way to spend it.
The basics
- How much: up to $5,000 per student ($7,500 for special needs).
- Status: Pays you back Buy it yourself, keep the itemized receipt, and claim the credit when you file. The program is active. Amounts and rules shift year to year, so confirm the live number with your program before you buy. Status as of October 15, 2026.
- How you access it: a claim on your Idaho tax return (keep itemized receipts). Keep every receipt and your child's progress documentation.
What reading families can buy
- Curriculum and textbooks, including a full structured-literacy reading curriculum.
- Educational software and online learning, the category that stretches your dollars furthest because one annual license covers a full year of instruction.
- Tutoring from approved providers. Certified structured-literacy tutors run $80 to $120 an hour, so see what reading tutors cost before you commit.
- Services and therapies for a student with a documented disability such as dyslexia.
Ready to try one night together?
7 days free. No card.
What you cannot buy
- Purchases you can’t document. Keep an itemized receipt for every purchase you claim.
- General household goods and entertainment subscriptions.
- Anything outside the program year's rules. Your Idaho program office has the final word on every purchase.
One example in the software category
A New Page is a structured-literacy program, from first sounds to confident reading, for struggling and dyslexic readers ages 3 to 18, built on the science of reading. A free reading check finds the safest place for your child to start, then explicit phonics is delivered inside illustrated stories your child unlocks by reading aloud. It is offered as a one-time $299 annual reading-curriculum license for one student, purchased with that student’s funds. Start with the free reading check before you spend anything.
A smart order of operations
- Step 1, free: the free reading check finds the right place to start and the skill that is breaking down.
- Step 2, $299: a full year of structured-literacy instruction through A New Page, for one student.
- Step 3, the rest: decodable books, the remainder of your curriculum, and targeted tutoring only if the data says you need it.
Program rules, amounts, and eligibility change; your Idaho program office has the final word on every purchase. This guide is educational, not legal or tax advice. Status as of October 15, 2026.
Idaho families: see exactly how to use your funds for A New Page
A $299 annual license is for one student.
Not sure your child needs it? The reading check is free, no account and no card (we keep only your email; your child's name stays on your device), and you keep the result either way.
What A New Page is
A reading program you do together, at home.
Fifteen minutes a night, side by side, from first sounds to confident reading, for ages 3 to 18. Your child reads the hero’s lines in a real story, built only from the sounds your child has learned. You read the rest from a script, so you never have to guess what to say.
Fifteen minutes a night.
A real story.
Start the free reading checkor read one night free, no account
7 days free. No card.