Delegates pulled back a bill they’d already passed that would allow families to use public money for private education costs. The bill has been sent to the House Finance Committee for further examination of its possible financial effects.
“The intent would be to send the bill back to finance, have them review all the data,” said House Majority Leader Amy Summers, R-Taylor, who made the motion.
Summers said after further review the bill would return to the full House, which potentially could pass it again. Procedurally, delegates had to take a vote to pull back the bill and refer it to Finance.
Yesterday, House Bill 2013 passed 60-39.
The “Hope Scholarship” would be established through funds from the state Department of Education to pay for expenses like tuition, tutoring, fees for standardized tests or educational therapies.
As originally conceived, the education savings accounts could be used by students who are transferring out of public schools to attend private schools, religious schools or being homeschooled. Also eligible would be students who are just old enough to enroll. The initial cost was estimated to be a little more than $22 million.
On Wednesday, delegates approved an amendment that could significantly broaden those eligible within five years, essentially opening the program to any student in the state.
That could be about 22,000 students, legislators said. State education officials have said the bill would provide $4,624 per student approved for the program.
So that could amount to $101 million, but it’s also not clear how many families would actually choose to use the money.
Delegate Larry Rowe, D-Kanawha, on Thursday said he wants more financial certainty.
“I’ve got trouble with this bill, obviously, and it’s because we don’t have good financial information,” he said. “We need to know what the numbers are. In a floor amendment, we added $77 million to this bill. That’s not fiscally responsible.”