Policy And Advocacy: A Force For Systemic Change
While supporting school leaders, funding innovative educational models, and partnering to create innovative facility financing solutions has been central to Bluum’s mission, the organization has also emerged as a significant voice in shaping Idaho’s educational policy landscape through its deeds and its words. In this work with the Idaho Charter School Network (a 501c4 organization), Bluum has developed strong relationships with lawmakers, influencing debates around legislation, and championing practical solutions to Idaho’s education challenges, Bluum, in partnership with the ICSN, has helped create the conditions that allow charter schools to thrive in Idaho.
Elevating the conversation beyond choice alone
One of Bluum’s most significant contributions has been shifting the policy conversation around charter schools from abstract arguments about “school choice” to concrete discussions about educational quality and student outcomes.
“When we first started this, the only voice in policy for charter school advocacy was…focused on volume and money, not on kids and quality,” said Emily McClure, an education lobbyist with the Idaho Charter School Network. “What bringing ICSN and Bluum in did was shift the conversation from money and volume and choice for choice’s sake to empowering communities to open schools that they thought would be beneficial to their communities.”
A focus on quality and outcomes represented a significant evolution in how lawmakers approached charter schools, said Blake Youde, McClure’s lobbying partner.
“In school choice, there are two camps,” Youde said. “There are those who just think there should be choice for the sake of having choice, no matter what. And then there are those who think that school choice comes with an obligation to provide high quality programs. What Bluum has done through the federal grant, through its fellowships, through the work in finance… they took that camp of ‘with choice comes a responsibility,’ and elevated it.”
Building legislative relationships
A consistent theme across interviews was Bluum’s ability to build strong working relationships with lawmakers, a critical ingredient to policy influence.
Senator David Lent, chair of the Idaho Senate Education Committee, said Bluum works more effectively with the legislature than almost any other education organization, providing educational materials and context, since as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit it is prohibited from lobbying.
“Bluum works with the legislature probably more than any other education group… I talk with Terry and others that are from Bluum on a fairly regular basis. I don’t get that from folks in other groups,” Lent said.
Ryan and other Bluum staff understand the value of building relationships with policymakers, Lent said. “If you can develop relationships with the policymakers, it really goes a long way toward helping to further their agenda.”
Bluum works more effectively with the legislature than almost any other education organization, providing educational materials and context, since as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, it is prohibited from lobbying.
State Representative Wendy Horman also noted the steady transformation in legislators’ thinking about charter schools, largely due to Bluum’s evidence-based approach.
“They’ve made it safe to support school choice because of how successful their schools are,” Horman said. “They have converted legislators who may not have been fans of school choice originally, to see the good that different types of schools [offer]—that the one-size model doesn’t work for every child.”
Streamlining charter school authorization
Beyond advocating for quality public charter schools, Bluum has used its federal CSP grant resources to support Best Practices for Charter School Authorizers. This work falls under “Absolutely Priority 1” in the federal grant guidelines funding the CSP program. Meaning Congress authorized state entities like Bluum to use federal CSP funds to help public charter school authorizers improve. In Idaho this means supporting efforts to improve the systems and processes that govern charter schools, particularly the important work of the Idaho Public Charter School Commission.
Alan Reed, Idaho Public Charter School Commission chair, described how Bluum helped transform the commission’s approach to evaluating new charter applications through its support of Jim Goenner and the National Charter School Institute.
“Jim helped us streamline our meetings and to understand what was important and not get caught up in the thick and thin of things,” Reed said. “We started producing information that was easy for the commissioners to digest.”
Flexibility in staffing and governance
Bluum, in partnership with the Idaho Charter School Network, has also successfully championed for policy changes that give charter schools more flexibility in staffing and school operations, critical freedoms that allow for educational innovation.
“Over the course of many years, we’ve shifted things away from the traditional teacher certification and administrator certification models, in part because there’s no evidence showing a tie between certification and student outcomes,” ICSN lobbyist McClure said. Schools can now write their own teacher contracts, and administrators “don’t have to be traditionally certified, as long as they met a certain set of criteria.”
According to McClure, these reforms have begun influencing traditional district schools as well. “We’ve seen now the traditional districts wanting to do similar things,” she said.
Standing for quality in a changing landscape
While Bluum has helped create favorable conditions for charter schools, Idaho’s educational landscape continues to evolve. Recent developments, including the 2025 passage of a $50 million tax credit program in Idaho for parent choice, present new opportunities and challenges for maintaining a focus on educational quality.
McClure observed a concerning trend away from outcomes-based accountability in some segments of Idaho’s education policy world. “We know one legislator, a very close friend who for many years has been with us on this concept of student outcomes. She told us this year, ‘I don’t really care about outcomes anymore,’” McClure said.
Through strategic relationship-building, evidence-based advocacy, and innovative policy solutions, Bluum has helped create an environment where Idaho’s charter schools can thrive. “I think they’ve been a significant influence, especially helping us broaden the perspective on how charter schools can reach and serve different student populations,” State Sen David Lent said.
