Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the School Choice Funding topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Department defends continued school‑choice funding; staff provided scholarship and subsidy breakdowns
Summary
Department officials told the Senate Education Committee the executive budget maintains scholarship programs, that scholarships represented about 5.6% of department disbursements last year, and offered follow‑up on funding flows and oversight for community schools, charters and e‑schools.
Aaron Rausch, a department official, and Director Steve Dakin answered senators’ questions about school‑choice funding and oversight.
Rausch told the committee that in the most recent full year the department dispersed more than $17,000,000,000 to schools, districts and providers and that scholarship programs represented about 5.6% of that total. Dakin said the executive budget remains “bullish on school choice” and maintains eligibility for five scholarship programs, including the Ed Choice Expansion Program.
Senators raised concerns about the share of taxpayer dollars flowing to providers that are not subject to the same public oversight as traditional districts. Rausch said community schools (charters) are public entities subject to public records and sunshine laws and offered to provide the committee with subsidy breakdowns. Dakin and staff offered to follow up with more detailed calculations comparing where state subsidy dollars flow.
The department also answered questions about e‑school eligibility for Disadvantaged Pupil Impact Aid under a House change; Dakin said e‑school students who are low income would become eligible for DPIA and that those funds are restricted to specific interventions, including supports related to the science of reading.
Ending: Department staff offered to provide follow‑up data to committee offices on funding flows and scholarship fiscal impacts; no committee vote occurred in the hearing.
