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Need a record of school choice legislation and litigation in the states from last month? Our brief roundup has you covered. Missouri Legislators is Missouri have filed three separate bills to create new educational choice programs. HB 1733 and SB 707 would both create tax-credit scholarship “plus” programs that would allow students to enroll […]
LEGISLATION AND LITIGATION District of Columbia The Council of the District of Columbia completed and submitted to Congress its budget request act for the new fiscal year. In it, D.C. lawmakers requested $40 million for the program that houses the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program. That program is now funded at $15 million and must be reauthorized […]
LEGISLATION AND LITIGATION Florida Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed SB 7070, a bill that creates a voucher program for 18,000 children from low- and middle-income families. The cap on enrollment increases by about 7,000 scholarships per year, and priority is given to children from low-income families (earning up to 185 percent of the federal poverty […]
LEGISLATION AND LITIGATION Arkansas After passing the Arkansas Senate during the last week of March, SB 539 died in the Arkansas House of Representatives in late April. The bill would have established a tax-credit scholarship program for low-income students and those already eligible to participate in the Succeed Scholarship Program. A pilot tax-credit scholarship bill for […]
LEGISLATION AND LITIGATION National Indiana Rep. Jim Banks introduced the Education Savings Accounts for Military Families Act of 2019 in the U.S. House of Representatives. The bill would allow children of active-duty military members to use an education savings account (ESA) for tuition and a variety of educational expenses, up to $6,000 per year. Arkansas […]
LEGISLATION AND LITIGATION Arizona The Arizona Senate Finance Committee passed SB 1395, a bill that would improve the administration of the Empowerment Scholarship Accounts program. The bill clarifies eligibility for students living within the attendance boundary of a low-performing district school, clarifies that students are eligible to receive an ESA to enroll in kindergarten until […]
LEGISLATION AND LITIGATION Arizona In Arizona, legislators have filed a large number of bills that would affect the existing educational choice policies, including several that seek to improve or expand the Empowerment Scholarship Accounts program: SB 1395 would improve the administration of the Empowerment Scholarship Account Program. The bill would clarify eligibility for students living […]
LEGISLATION AND LITIGATION Montana Montana Supreme Court’s struck down the state’s tax-credit scholarship program on Dec. 24, 2018. Our Vice President of Legal Affairs Leslie Hiner issued a statement that said the court’s decision was “an extraordinary departure from years of legal precedent set by state, federal, and U.S. Supreme Court decisions.” Attempts to stay […]
LEGISLATION AND LITIGATION National Children receiving a better education thanks to tax-credit scholarship programs may soon see those scholarships reduced or eliminated as a result of a new federal tax rule. Secretary Steve Mnuchin of the Department of Treasury released a new IRS rule applicable to federal deductibility of donations to state tax credit programs, […]
LEGISLATION AND LITIGATION Florida On August 20, the Florida Supreme Court issued an order for oral arguments in Citizens for Strong Schools v. Florida State Board of Education and Celeste Johnson, to be held Nov. 8, at 9 a.m. in Tallahassee. This case was brought by the teachers’ unions against the Florida Department of Education, […]