With passage of the Senate budget and the unofficial break after the crossover deadline behind us, we’ve moved into the latter part of the session where the two chambers work out their budget differences and start to work on other stand-alone bills. There wasn’t a flurry of activity this week, but the bills that did move are noteworthy.
Choose Your School, Choose Your Future
The largest expansion of private school vouchers in state history, HB823: Choose Your School, Choose Your Future (primary sponsors Representatives Tricia Cotham R-Mecklenburg, David Willis R-Union, Donnie Loftis R-Gaston, Tim Moore R-Cleveland) passed the House by a 65-45 vote on Wednesday.
HB 823 provides vouchers for every family in the State by expanding the Opportunity Scholarship program. It replaces opportunity income requirements with a sliding scale based on household income as follows.
- A family of four with a household income of up to $55,500 (qualifying amount for free/reduced lunch) is eligible for a maximum voucher award of $7,213 in FY 2023-24 (100% of the average state per pupil allocation)
- A family of four with a household income of up to $111,000 is eligible for a maximum voucher award of $6,492 in FY 2023-24
- A family of four with a household income of up to $249,750 is eligible for a maximum voucher award of $4,328 in FY 2023-24
- A family of four with a household income of more than $249,750 is eligible for a maximum voucher award of $3,246 in FY 2023-24
HB 823 does not include stabilization funds for local school districts that will lose significant funding due to a reduction in average daily membership. This is important because as the number of students decreases in a school, a larger percentage of the per-pupil funding goes towards fixed costs with less going towards educating students. Several Democratic-sponsored amendments to the bill that would have curtailed eligibility and provided accountability were defeated.
The bill now goes to the Senate where there is already a similar bill, SB406: Choose Your School Choose Your Future (primary sponsors Senators Michael Lee R-New Hanover, Lisa Barnes R-Nash, Amy Galey R-Alamance) that is waiting to be heard in the Senate Committee On Appropriations/Base Budget. The Senate version differs from the House slightly in that it prohibits local boards of education from requiring more credits to graduate high school than what is required by the State Board of Education (currently, 22 credits).The K-12 Education Committee removed this language from the House bill. It’s worth noting that both the House and the Senate included the expanded Opportunity Scholarships in their respective budgets. Neither bill is subject to the crossover deadline because they both appropriate monies.
Education Bills Passed by Senate Committees
Local Bills
The following bills passed the Committee on Rules & Operations of the Senate. The next stop is the Senate floor.
SB248: Change Number of Members On Nash County Board of Education (primary sponsors: Senators Lisa Barnes, R-Nash; Buck Newton, R-Wilson)
- Reduces number of seats on the Nash County Board of Education from 11 to seven
- Redraws school district maps to align with County Commission maps
- Makes the filing period two weeks long and changes the date new board members take office to the first Monday in December
- Staggers school board elections to match County Commission elections
- Click here for an official bill summary
HB66: Partisan Boards of Education (primary sponsors: Representatives Jay Adams, R-Catawba; Mitchell Setzer, R-Catawba)
- Changes the method of election for the Catawba County, Hickory City, and Newton-Conover City boards of education from nonpartisan to partisan
- Amended in Senate Redistricting and Elections committee to also make the Pamlico County Board of Elections partisan
- Click here for an official bill summary
HB 452: Franklin County Board of Education Election Method (primary sponsor: Representative Matthew Winslow, R-Franklin)
- Changes the date and method of election of the Franklin County Board of Education to a nonpartisan primary and election method
- Click here for an official bill summary
Education Bills Passed By House Committees
SB17: Stanly Board of Commissioners/Board of Education (primary sponsor Senator Carl Ford R-Rowan) passed in both House Local Government Committee, and the House Rules Committee. The next stop is the House floor.
- Staggers terms for both the Stanly County Board of Commissioners and the Board of Education.