Idaho Falls legislator resigns for Trump administration post
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IDAHO FALLS (Idaho Ed News) — State Rep. Wendy Horman — who has played a prominent role in education and budget debates for more than a decade — is leaving the Legislature for a job in the Trump administration.
Horman is resigning, effective Jan. 5, to join the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. She will take a job as director of the Office of Child Care in the Administration for Children and Families. First elected in 2012, Horman leaves midway through her seventh House term.
“I first ran for elected office because I want every child to have the opportunity for an excellent education,” Horman, R-Idaho Falls, said in a news release Friday morning. “This is an opportunity to continue that work. The principles of limited government, individual liberty, and fiscal responsibility that guide Idaho will continue to inform my work at the national level.”
Horman’s departure creates a big vacancy on the Legislature’s most powerful committee — and at a critical juncture.
Since 2023, Horman has co-chaired the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee — a 20-member House-Senate panel that writes budget bills for all state agencies, including K-12 and higher education.
This committee goes into the 2026 session at the eye of a fiscal storm. Gov. Brad Little cut most state budgets by 3% in August — the state’s first midyear budget cuts since the COVID-19 pandemic. Even so, the state faces a projected $40 million deficit for the budget year ending June 30, and a projected $555 million gap between 2026-27 agency budget requests and forecasted revenues.
Horman’s time as JFAC co-chair was not without change and controversy. The committee fundamentally changed the way it writes budgets — writing “base” budget bills that cover operating expenses and “enhancement” bills that cover new programs. But committee members frequently sparred over the new process, and spent much of the 2025 session deadlocked on the revenue forecast used as a building block for the budgets.
Horman also used the budget process to put her imprint on education. A former Bonneville School District trustee, Horman focused much of her attention on JFAC on education budget bills.
Horman also was central in Idaho’s polarized debate over private school choice. In 2025, she co-sponsored House Bill 93 — a law that will create a $50 million private school tax credit. Parents can begin to apply for the credits in January, but opponents have taken their case to the Idaho Supreme Court, filing a lawsuit to block the law from going into effect.
Horman’s departure creates a vacancy in the House. Republicans in Horman’s legislative District 32 will nominate three candidates to serve the remainder of her two-year term, and Gov. Brad Little will pick a successor from that list.
Perhaps more important, it means House Republican leadership must pick a new JFAC co-chair for the 2026 session, which opens Jan. 12. Several JFAC House members have leadership experience — including current Assistant Majority Leader Josh Tanner, R-Eagle; Rep. Steve Miller, R-Fairfield, JFAC’s House vice chair; and Rep. Dustin Manwaring, R-Pocatello, who served in House GOP leadership in 2023 and 2024.
Meanwhile, Horman will begin her new job at HHS in late January. She will reunite with another Idahoan, Alex Adams, a former Department of Health and Welfare director and state budget chief who was named assistant secretary of family support earlier this year.
“I am grateful and honored by this opportunity … to help make this nation a better place for children,” Horman said Friday.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
Originally posted on IdahoEdNews.org on December 19, 2025