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Committee approves amendments to state tax-credit voucher program for private-school scholarships
Summary
Senate Bill 27, the state's tax-credit scholarship program, was reported with amendments that adjust scholarship distribution timing, testing options for participating private schools, and limits stacking of other scholarships to avoid exceeding tuition and fees.
Senate Bill 27, a long-standing Louisiana program that provides tax-credit donations to school tuition organizations (private‑school scholarships), was reported with amendments by the House Committee on Ways and Means on Monday.
Sponsor Sarah Salbot described the bill as an update to the 2012 tax‑credit scholarship law. "This is the state tax credit voucher bill... that does a private school voucher where they set the scholarship level for kindergarten through eighth grade at 80% of the MFP and ninth through twelfth at 90% of the MFP," Salbot said, using the state's Minimum Foundation Program (MFP) to set scholarship amounts.
Amendments adopted and explained by committee staff change scholarship distribution from four dated payments (September, December, February, May) to quarterly payments, permit electronic check payments in place of paper checks, and allow participating private schools the option to administer either the LEAP test or other nationally approved English/language arts and math examinations for accountability purposes. The bill also authorizes limited "stacking" of state tax-credit scholarships with other scholarship programs (for example, "Gator Scholarships") provided the combined amount does not exceed a school's actual tuition and fees; the Department of Education will coordinate tracking with scholarship‑granting organizations to prevent overpayment.
Representatives from Good Shepherd School in New Orleans described how the changes would help economically disadvantaged students: Lee Reed said Good Shepherd serves students who are largely low-income and that the changes would allow private scholarships and Education Savings Account supports to work together, helping some families reach full tuition coverage.
The committee adopted amendment set 3817 and reported SB 27 with amendments; Representative Johnson made the motion and the chair announced no objections.
SB 27 will move forward with the committee's recommended changes.
