Latest news with #EducationSavingsAccounts
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Texas Senate advances $8.5 billion increase to public school funding
AUSTIN (Nexstar) — Late on Thursday night, the Texas Senate advanced a heavily-amended version of House Bill 2 to a third reading, adding $8.5 billion in public school funding over the next two years. The agreement between the Senate and the House was announced to reporters on Wednesday afternoon, more than a month after HB 2 was initially passed on the same day the House passed Education Savings Accounts legislation. 'This historic funding focuses on what works: better-supported teachers, safer schools, and greater opportunities for every student to succeed,' State Sen. Brandon Creighton, R-Conroe, said in a joint statement with seven other lawmakers. 'The majority of these funds go straight to the classroom—not bureaucracy—ensuring student success drives every decision. HB 2 also strengthens school operations and provides districts with the resources they need to balance their budgets in the long term. The plan reflects our Texas values: empowering educators, investing in students, and securing the future of our state's economy.' According to a release from Speaker of the House Dustin Burrows, R-Lubbock, the $8.5 billion is broken down into several subcategories rather than investing a large increase in the basic allotment. The updated HB 2 establishes an 'Allotment for Basic Costs' (ABC), which districts can use for expenses such as insurance, utilities and teacher retirement system (TRS) contributions. $1.3 billion will go to the new ABC. Additionally, $850 million will go to 'overhaul special education,' and $430 million will go towards school safety. A key amendment added to the initial version of HB 2, which establishes a fully funded full-day pre-K program, was also included in the final compromise. 'If the Legislature were to pass just one of the major components in HB 2—be it record-setting teacher pay raises, full-day pre-K, or a long-overdue overhaul of special education—that would be a transformative victory in its own right,' State Rep. Diego Bernal, D-San Antonio, said. Bernal authored the full-day pre-K amendment in the House. 'But HB 2 delivers all of these reforms and more, and when taken together, they represent a truly landmark achievement for Texas public education,' Bernal said. One of Gov. Greg Abbott's seven emergency items at the beginning of the session was to increase teacher pay. The updated version of HB 2 sets aside $4.2 billion for permanent teacher and staff pay raises. The permanent raises come for teachers with over three years of experience, with an additional raise for those with over five years experience. In addition, HB 2 grows the Teacher Incentive Allotment program, expanding it to more teachers across the state. Lastly, the bill allows for up to an $8,000 bonus for rural teachers. ''This agreement represents a historic breakthrough for rural Texas—for far too long, small and mid-size districts have been asked to do more with less, and HB 2 directly responds to those challenges,' State Rep. Trent Ashby, R-Lufkin, wrote. 'This bill will put rural Texas schools on stronger footing than ever before.' While the bill garnered praise from both sides of the aisle, not everyone shares the enthusiasm. 'This was a backroom deal. Members of the legislature in the House and in the Senate weren't involved in the creation of this new version of the school finance bill,' State Rep. James Talarico, D-Austin, said. Talarico is a member of the House Public Education committee and a former classroom teacher. 'It angers me, because I came here to represent my constituents. I work with 150 members of the legislature who also are here to represent their constituents, and the fact that members of the House didn't get an opportunity to craft the details of this bill is an outrage.' Like most, Talarico had only been able to see the details as laid out by Burrow's staff. He took issue with the bill taking funds from the basic allotment and moving them to allotments with less flexibility. 'I think the state legislature is acting like the school board of Texas. They're trying to micromanage our local school communities across the state,' he said. 'The only way that we can keep schools open and that we can increase student performance is if we allow local communities to do the job that we're asking them to do without the state looking over their shoulders and micromanaging everything they do.' Talarico also has issues with the raw amount of new funding coming in, especially after the state dedicated $1 billion to ESAs — a program assisting families with private school tuition — earlier this session. 'This school finance package doesn't even catch us up to 2019 funding levels. We've had six years of rampant inflation,' he said. 'Most of our teachers are leaving the profession within the first five years, and within this package, those are the teachers who are getting the smaller pay raises — if they're getting any at all. Teachers who are under three years don't get any pay raise at all. We have a $24 billion budget surplus in this state. We have enough money to give an across-the-board teacher pay raise to every educator in our state and the Republican leaders in this Capitol refusing to do so. So this package is inadequate to the crisis that we face.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Big Spring ISD adapts budget to school voucher legislation
BIG SPRING, Texas (KMID/KPEJ) – Education Savings Accounts were a top priority for the Texas Legislature this session. Senate Bill 2 – which includes school vouchers – was signed into law by Governor Greg Abbott on May 3. Local school districts are now figuring out how to adapt to the new legislation and work it into their budgets before the next school year. Leaders at Big Spring ISD said it is hard to determine because it depends on the number of students leaving the district to attend a private school or homeschool. 'If a child does that, that means we lose that child from our district,' said Big Spring ISD Superintendent Jay McWilliams. 'They're going somewhere else. That hurts us in terms of our overall ADA, which is our average daily attendance. So if our attendance starts to drop because kids are taking advantage of that, that would definitely hurt us. It would be less money coming in from the state based on our average daily attendance.' The district also receives money from the state for students on a per-child basis. School officials said that amount has not increased since the COVID-19 pandemic. 'We had kids out of school for months,' said McWilliams. 'A lot of kids didn't come back. They went the online option. They went the virtual option. That turned into a disaster for a lot of people. We've had inflation. It went crazy since 2019. The state has not added money to the basic allotment since 2019. We've had the same amount for six years. Even though the inflation rate, the cost of living has went through the roof. That's another thing that needs to be adjusted that would really affect our finances.' School officials have also been looking at the budget since early April to be proactive about any changes the new legislation could cause. 'The House wants to add $395 to the basic allotment. That's good, but it's not near enough. But it would be a great help. Right now we're hearing the senate, they're not wanting to do that. They're wanting to add maybe $50, which to us is a slap in the face. I'll just be honest. But you're working on a budget, you're trying to utilize to your best ability the money that we anticipate coming in, not only from the state, but from our mineral values and our property values,' said McWilliams. Superintendent McWilliams said he still believes in the value of a public education. 'I fully believe in public education. I know what it did for me, I know what it did for my kids, I know what it's doing for my three grandkids that are all in public schools. I would also say to the people or the noise on the outside that say 'nowadays I don't think I'd send my kids to public school,' until you've actually worked in a public school setting, until you've worked with the people that I've worked with, that I've been blessed to work with for all these years, I don't think you really know the dedication and professionalism and love for kids until you've been around them.' Big Spring ISD has been looking at the budget since early April to adapt to the new legislation. Teacher retention was a topic of the budget as well: Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
‘A True Game Changer:' Unprecedented School Choice Tax Credit Part of GOP Bill
A historic bill creating a first-of-its-kind, nationwide tax credit scholarship program to expand private school choice is part of a sweeping Republican tax bill approved by the House Ways and Means Committee Wednesday. 'It is a true game changer that we think would really supercharge school choice across the country,' said John Schilling, senior advisor for the American Federation for Children, a conservative school choice advocacy group. Get stories like this delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for The 74 Newsletter The Educational Choice for Children Act would provide money to families in all 50 states making less than three times their area's median income. The recipients, including families who homeschool, could spend it on a large range of education-related expenses, including private and parochial school tuition, books and other instructional material, online classes, private tutoring, fees for dual enrollment and educational therapies. Related The measure would create $5 billion in annual tax credits starting next year for individuals who donate cash or stocks to nonprofit Scholarship Granting Organizations, which have discretion over handing out the funds. Donors would receive an unprecedented 1:1 return, allowing them to reduce their taxable income by $1 for every dollar donated, up to $5,000 or 10% of their adjusted gross income. Currently, 1.2 million students are being served by 76 private school choice programs enacted in 34 states, according to Patrick Wolf, graduate director of the Department of Education Reform at the University of Arkansas. Those programs include vouchers, which give parents public money directly for private school tuition, and Education Savings Accounts, which set aside public money for a range of educational expenses. Twenty-one of those states already have tax credit scholarship programs, according to EdChoice. That number might be about to radically change. 'If the ECCA is enacted and the maximum amount of tax credits … are claimed through individual donations, basically the number of students being supported by private school choice programs across the country would double in one year,' Wolf told The 74. 'A 100% increase in a single year in the number of people being served by private school choice programs. That's a big deal.' Pro-choice advocates and conservative leaders celebrated the bill's advancement, arguing it will give unprecedented school choice access to families across the country who have historically been locked out, including in Democratic-controlled states where lawmakers generally oppose private school choice. Children, they say, will finally have the opportunity to be matched with the learning environment and tools that suit them best, largely regardless of how much money their parents make. And the tax incentives will allow individuals to fund it. Related Meanwhile, critics expressed serious concern, claiming the far-reaching measure would essentially use taxpayer money to fund largely unregulated private schools primed for discrimination and that loopholes in the bill allow for a system akin to a tax shelter. They also argue wealthier individuals in urban areas — both those donating and those receiving funds — stand to benefit the most, while those in underserved rural areas could be harmed. And, they say, the $5 billion in taxes the government will lose out on has to come from somewhere and will likely drain resources from public schools, which serve the majority of U.S. students. 'This would be a back door way of creating what is essentially a very large, nation-wide private school voucher program, and it would be created by sneaking it into this big budget reconciliation bill,' said Jon Valant, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, who authored a report arguing against the measure. 'It may very well pass without most Americans knowing what it is and what it does.' Because the choice act is part of the fast-track budget reconciliation process, it faces an easier road to passage in the Senate, requiring a simple 51-vote majority, rather than 60, and is not subject to stalling by the filibuster. In the House, where Republicans hold a slim majority, Speaker Mike Johnson has said he expects to have the budget bill done by Memorial Day. With a $5 billion cap, Valant pointed out, the tax credit scholarship 'would overnight become one of the largest federal education programs that we have. As one of those programs, it just doesn't meet the kinds of standards that I think we should expect for public spending in education.' Related While public funding of school choice has been around since at least the late '90s, he said there's been a shift in the philosophy and incentives behind the measures. Historically, they were far more targeted to lower-income students or those with disabilities. But, 'this newer wave of private school choice policies reflects very different motivations,' he said, arguing that when programs have almost-universal eligibility and are set up in ways that help wealthier people, 'it's really not at all equity- and opportunity-motivated policy.' Related One way families with greater wealth are incentivized to donate? Stockholders stand to benefit through a loophole that would exempt them from paying capital gains taxes. For example, if an individual were to donate $10,000 worth of stock that they had originally purchased at $2,000, they'd still get back the full $10,000 in tax credits without ever having to pay capital gains on the $8,000 profit. If the choice act passes, it would run through 2029, with the ability to increase the cap by up to 5% each year. It's part of the 389-page 'one big, beautiful bill' approved by the House Ways and Means Committee Wednesday after a marathon six-hour hearing by 26-19 vote along party lines. Among many other provisions, the controversial bill would make Trump's 2017 tax cuts permanent, cut funding to Medicaid and food stamps and extend the current $2,000 Child Tax Credit while raising it to $2,500 per child through 2028. The specifics for the tax credit scholarship in the omnibus tax bill differ from the original act introduced in January in three major ways: the $10 billion cap has been cut in half; only individual taxpayers, not corporations, are eligible to donate; and participating private and parochial schools must follow the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, which legally mandates support services and accommodations for special education students. 'That's a huge regulatory burden for small private schools, and in a sense, is potentially a poison pill for the legislation,' Wolf said. But experts emphasized that the bill must still go through multiple committees and the reconciliation process, so is subject to significant changes. Pro-choice advocates in particular are hoping the final language more closely mirrors that of the original bill, which allowed corporations to participate and did not require private and religious schools to follow IDEA. A version of the bill was introduced under the first Trump administration but didn't really gain momentum at the time. A new version was re-introduced this January by Sen. Bill Cassidy, the Louisania Republican who chairs the Senate education committee, and a number of his colleagues. 'For years I've advocated for school choice with my Educational Choice for Children Act. I am pleased to see it included in the big, beautiful bill,' Cassidy said in a statement. 'Expanding President Trump's tax cuts is about preserving the American Dream. Giving parents the ability to choose the best education for their child makes the dream possible.'
Yahoo
08-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
The Trump Administration Wants to Promote School Vouchers for Military Families. Would It Help?
Jennifer Barnhill is a columnist for writing about military families. In January, the Trump administration issued an executive order requiring the Department of Defense to come up with a proposal that would determine the feasibility of creating a program letting military families take federal funding and spend it on the school of their choice, including helping pay for religious schools, while possibly reducing funding for Defense Department facilities that rank among the highest performing nationally. Some military families who want to be able to access outside schools have done so, depending on local laws, but no national proposal has been put in place. "We are now able to choose the school choice that we would prefer, as long as we provide transportation," said Tiffany Kelley of her Air Force family's move from OCONUS to Georgia in 2023. "Georgia does it right, in my opinion. You pick the school; they give you three choices." The Kelley family takes advantage of Georgia's Quality Basic Education Act, which enables those living on a military base to enroll in a public school they are not zoned for, without an official address. "We have now utilized school choice for this last school year, and it has been the best decision that we could have made." But that is just one type of "school choice." School choice is a broad term that refers to policies allowing families to select alternatives to their assigned public school districts. School choice options include religious schools, charter schools, magnet schools and voucher programs, also titled Education Savings Accounts (ESAs). While these models offer families more educational options, voucher programs and, to a lesser extent, charter schools shift public funds away from traditional public schools, raising concerns about their long-term impact on districtwide education equity. Those programs can be a boon for families that want to pursue other educational opportunities for their kids. "If I didn't have that option to use the voucher, I would not be able to afford to home-school," said Cella Logan, a Gold Star spouse living in Florida with her two children. Logan first heard about a voucher program from a school liaison officer (SLO), who encouraged her to apply. She was thrilled that her son was approved, but quickly ran into issues trying to utilize the voucher for home-schooling. "Utilizing the voucher was the challenge," she said. So she started to make calls, first to the program administrators, then to the Florida Department of Education and got nowhere. "As soon as I talked to my legislators, within three weeks, it was taken care of." Logan's experience highlights one worry held by military parents. Will this new program make military parents' lives and children's education better, or will it be one more hurdle to navigate? "Private schools aren't bound by the interstate compact," said Eileen Huck, acting director of government relations for the National Military Family Association (NMFA). The Military Interstate Children's Compact is an agreement made by all 50 states to guarantee military students certain rights and protections as they navigate new school districts across state lines. Advocates worry military families may only see the positives of school choice, without being made fully aware of the consequences. "It's not school choice; it's the school's choice," said Nicole Russell, executive director for the National Association of Federally Impacted Schools (NAFIS). NAFIS is a nonprofit that advocates for the receipt of impact aid for the more than 1,200 schools that serve federally connected students. While the executive order doesn't identify how the DoD should fund military school choice, NAFIS worries federal impact aid would be used to fund the program. Impact aid is funding paid to local school districts with high numbers of military students. These payments are used to offset the loss in property tax income, as military families living on military installations don't have to pay local property taxes, which help fund local schools. If military families utilize these funds, their funds go with them. "These private schools have the option to discriminate based on a variety of factors. Public schools do not discriminate against students who enroll," Russell said. Those who oppose school choice often cite private schools' history of discrimination on the basis of race and disability, as well as the lack of education standards in many states for religious schools. These fears are top of mind for mental health counselor and special education advocate, Dr. Destiny Huff. Huff is married to a soldier in the Army and together they have two children, one of whom spends the majority of the school day in a special education classroom. She has seen firsthand that private schools do not have to accept applicants. "[Non-public schools] don't want disabled learners that can have behavior concerns," Huff said. Although she is fully aware that special education and the public school system is flawed, for many, it is the only option. "When that funding is pulled from that public school that is required to take my child, then they don't have the funding to support my child." Huff also shared that as a Black family, they have already experienced racial barriers in accessing education. "School choice is not always an option for us because of stereotypes and perception," she said. To mitigate these challenges, Huff's spouse has turned down desirable duty assignments to ensure educational consistency for their children. They are not the only ones to pay a cost to support their children's education. Parents with children enrolled in special education may have a harder time accessing educational support. When a parent accepts a school voucher, they forfeit their right to access special education services from the public school system under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) as private schools are not bound to honor this law. While vouchers provide funds to parents to seek external special education services, many providers have long waitlists. And it is not just supplemental services that would cost military families. The average cost of a private elementary/middle school is $12,790 and the cost jumps to $15,344 for high school, with costs varying widely by state. However, most vouchers do not cover 100% of tuition, requiring families to cover the difference. Although school choice would not require military parents to send their children to private schools, it would pull funds from local public schools, leaving them with fewer supports and resources for military students who can't afford the extra costs. Military families stationed in Alaska know all too well what happens when districts experience budget shortfalls. In 2024, the school districts closed the second of three schools on Eielson Air Force Base. High school students were told they would need to travel to a school 20 miles away, removing sibling child-care options and building in a snowy commute. "If you decide to do the lottery, you can't take advantage of [school] transportation," Air Force spouse Lisa Slaba said of the concerns experienced by families stationed in interior Alaska. "Now you add in fresh snowfall on the ground ... that's just another added layer to the nervousness and anxiousness that people feel." "School of choice seems like it's going to be really relevant if you have a lot of choice in your area," shared Navy spouse Christy Thomas, whose service member's assignments have mostly been to rural areas. "Some of our locations, even in the continental U.S., don't have choices, which is why we home-schooled in those areas." Many military families report choosing home-schooling as it offers families consistency and flexibility, but this decision comes at a cost to military spouses' retirement savings and future earning potential. It is unclear what problem increasing school options via a universal voucher program would solve. According to Military OneSource, 30 states have already introduced and/or enacted some version of open enrollment aimed at reducing the military-specific barriers of accessing education in a highly mobile environment. The Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) also offers a voucher-like program for families stationed overseas without access to a DoDEA school; the money allocated does not pull from a local public school. And states, too, are offering their own flexibilities. Arkansas and Mississippi have amended state laws, allowing military families to choose the school where they would send their students and enabling military parents to register their children for school in advance of securing housing that would assign them to a public school district. Neither of these policies diverts funding from public schools to support military families. Alabama's does. Its CHOOSE Act offers refundable income-tax credits called education savings accounts (ESAs) to parents of K-12 students, ranging from $2,000 per year per home-schooled student to $7,000 for those attending a "participating school." Of the 232 schools on the list, 58% reference a religious affiliation in their name. And according to initial reports, more than half the applications represented students who were already attending private schools. This April, Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Jim Banks (R-Ind.) introduced the Education Savings Accounts for Military Families Act that would establish military ESAs with protections for discrimination on the basis of religion but not race, gender or disability. Given the work that has already been done at the state level to mitigate the schooling challenges faced by military families, it is unclear what problem this solution is aimed at solving. It is also unclear how this approach would help all military families. Military families are thirsty for good educational choices, choices that thoroughly consider their diverse needs. They don't want the school choice conversation to turn into another privatized military housing or global household goods contract situation, where they are forced to bear the burden of poorly designed policies and contracts. Research shows that the top reason service members leave service is the impact it has on their families. Military parents prioritize their children above their service, making this a policy change the government can't afford to get wrong.
Yahoo
25-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
North Dakota House kills final Education Savings Account bill of session
Rep. Ben Koppelman, left, R-West Fargo, asks a question to Rep. Mike Nathe, R-Bismarck, on the House floor on April 24, 2025. (Michael Achterling/North Dakota Monitor) The North Dakota House overwhelmingly rejected an Education Savings Account bill Thursday night, a day after the governor vetoed a similar bill. House members voted 78-14 against Senate Bill 2400, which sought to provide private school vouchers plus Education Savings Accounts for public school and homeschooled students. In vetoing House Bill 1540, which only benefited private school students, Gov. Kelly Armstrong urged lawmakers to move the competing proposal forward. Armstrong vetoes North Dakota private school voucher bill, but signals support for competing bill But the $110 million price tag to the Senate bill is likely why many opposed it, said House Majority Leader Mike Lefor, R-Dickinson. Lefor, who supported the bill, said he doesn't see a path for an Education Savings Account proposal to come back this session. 'I'm a strong advocate for school choice, and I will continue to be,' Lefor said. The bill, sponsored by Sen. Michelle Axtman, R-Bismarck, included vouchers for private school students ranging from $1,000 to $3,500 per student, depending on household income. The dollars could be spent on tuition or other qualifying educational expenses. Public school and homeschooled students would be eligible for $1,000 for educational expenses. Private school students attending schools that don't participate in the program would be eligible for $500. The House Education Committee voted 11-3 to give the bill a do-not-pass recommendation. Rep. Dori Hauck, R-Hebron, a member of the committee, said members were concerned about the complexity of the bill and the administrative burden to oversee it. 'Questions remain about how easily DPI (Department of Public Instruction) could implement, manage and expand the system without significant additional staffing and resources,' Hauck said. Supporters have advocated for expanding educational opportunities for students and giving parents more power over their children's education. Opponents objected to spending public dollars to pay for private school tuition. Axtman's bill included $3 million in the event it passed and was challenged by a lawsuit. Armstrong advocated for a school choice bill that benefited all students, not only those who attend private school. Others questioned spending additional money on public school students when the state already invests in K-12 education. Bills look to expand North Dakota student opportunities through savings accounts Rep. Ben Koppelman, R-West Fargo, the chief sponsor of the bill vetoed by Armstrong, said he believes it will be difficult to get enough support to overturn the governor's veto. Koppelman said he plans to introduce a bill during the 2027 legislative session that is 'a bit more wide sweeping.' 'We'll come back next session,' he said. Lawmakers began the legislative session with five Education Savings Account bills, but none of the proposals remain under consideration. Rep. Don Vigesaa, R-Cooperstown, said he voted against bills with public dollars for private school tuition because he represents a rural area that doesn't have private schools. 'I guess this session just wasn't the right time,' Vigesaa said. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
