The Joint Legislative Oversight Committee received updates Friday on three significant state challenges: lingering oversight gaps in children’s residential treatment facilities, a statewide shortage of career and technical education instructors, and concerns over hospital billing practices.
The Office of Performance Evaluations presented a follow-up report on its 2025 audit of children’s residential care facilities, which had identified substantial gaps in how the state monitors these operations. Of the 19 recommendations made in that initial audit, progress has been mixed: 13 have been completed, two remain in progress, and four still require legislative action to implement.
Residential Care Reform Advances but Gaps Remain
Earlier this year, lawmakers passed House Bill 723, which created a youth bill of rights for residents, mandated annual unannounced facility inspections, established protocols for interviewing children and staff, and required facilities to report restraint and seclusion incidents. Those measures represent tangible progress on oversight, but significant work remains.
The four recommendations pending legislative action involve licensing authority extensions, public data reporting requirements, a mechanism to add abuse perpetrators to the state’s Child Protection Central Registry, and assignment of responsibility for investigating abuse allegations within facilities.
Rep. Jordan Redman indicated the committee plans to prioritize these remaining items when the legislature convenes in January. “Because I think at the heart of it, it’s protecting kids. And I think there’s some excellent recommendations,” Redman told the Bonner County Daily Bee, according to reporting on the meeting.
CTE Programs Face Instructor Crisis
The committee also heard testimony on the state’s career and technical education landscape, which reveals a system under strain. More than 1,000 CTE programs operate across Idaho’s schools during the 2026 school year, serving over 151,000 public school and public charter students.
Yet schools are withdrawing from this space. Forty percent of surveyed schools reported pausing or cancelling CTE programs since 2022. The primary culprit: instructor shortages. Seventy-six percent of schools cited lack of qualified instructors as the reason for scaling back or eliminating offerings.
Schools also reported unmet demand in specific fields. Fifty-four percent of schools identified health professions and public safety as priority CTE areas where they lack capacity to offer instruction. Fourteen percent said they cannot meet demand for agriculture-focused CTE programs.
The instructor shortage reflects a broader labor-market challenge: career and technical fields compete with traditional four-year college pathways for student interest, while schools struggle to recruit and retain skilled instructors capable of teaching specialized trades and professions.
Hospital Billing Practices Under Review
In a separate action, the committee voted to direct the Office of Performance Evaluations to open an evaluation into hospital Medicaid billing practices and what is known as “upcoding”—billing for more expensive services or diagnoses than those actually provided. The review will examine whether Idaho hospitals are systematically inflating claims to the state’s Medicaid program.
The investigation reflects growing state concern over healthcare cost control and accountability in the Medicaid system, which serves tens of thousands of Idahoans and represents a substantial portion of state spending.
What Comes Next
The committee’s focus on children’s residential care oversight will intensify as lawmakers prepare for the January legislative session. Rep. Redman and other committee members are expected to craft legislation addressing the four remaining OPE recommendations before session convenes. The CTE instructor shortage, meanwhile, may prompt policy discussions around educator compensation, training pathways, and incentives to attract skilled workers to Idaho’s schools. The hospital billing evaluation could take months to complete but may yield findings that inform future Medicaid policy and rate-setting decisions.