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Senate Education Committee amends and advances House Bill 1540 to create education savings accounts
Summary
The Senate Education Committee amended House Bill 1540 to define eligibility, assign administration to the Bank of North Dakota, and clarify program rules before voting to report the bill to appropriations.
The Senate Education Committee on a voice vote amended and moved House Bill 1540, a bill to establish education savings accounts (ESAs) for eligible students, to the Appropriations Committee.
Senator Wabamont, who presented the amendment, told the committee that the changes respond to conversations held the previous day and aim to clarify eligibility and administrative roles. "Based on the discussion we had yesterday, we made a couple more adjustments to, the amendment for House Bill 15 40," he said.
The amendment (4003) and the revised bill make several substantive changes: they state that participation is available "regardless of household income," narrow some references to "English language arts," remove homeschool references, and shift responsibility for approving certain expenses and audits to an administrator qualified by the Bank of North Dakota. The bill language nominates the Bank of North Dakota as the state entity that will qualify or contract an administrator, adopt rules under chapter 28-32 governing appeals and rulemaking, and manage deposits and refunds. The amended draft also allows the bank to bar participating schools or providers that fail to meet established standards, with an appeal pathway under chapter 28-32.
On testing and accountability, the amendment removes a clause that would have required the Department to pay assessment costs if a parent selected the state assessment; instead the participating (nonpublic) school will determine which assessments it uses and provide results to the Department of Public Instruction. The bill directs that aggregated assessment data provided to the Department may be limited to state assessment data when compatibility is an issue.
Committee discussion included procedural clarifications about administrator duties (for example, ensuring the Department is notified when a student graduates or terminates participation) and which costs or items qualify as permitted expenses. The amendment also struck duplicative language and made grammatical changes to use the term "student" consistently.
A committee member expressed substantive opposition during debate, arguing the program diverts state funding from public schools and can reduce per-pupil resources when students leave a district; that opposition was recorded without a named roll-call attribution in the transcript.
Actions taken in committee: the committee approved amendment 4003 on a recorded vote of 4 yeas and 2 nays. Following that, the committee voted to give HB 1540 a "do pass" recommendation as amended and to refer it to Appropriations; that motion also passed 4–2. Senator Wabamont was noted as the mover of the amendment and the due-pass motion, and Senator Gearhart seconded both motions.
The bill as amended now moves to the Appropriations Committee for consideration; the committee record shows a carrier will be identified to carry the bill forward in the full Senate.
