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Committee cuts education savings account payouts, advances bill
Summary
The Appropriations — Education and Environment Division approved an amendment that reduces education savings account (ESA) amounts across tiers by $500 and advanced the bill out of committee.
The Appropriations — Education and Environment Division approved an amendment reducing education savings account (ESA) payouts across income tiers and advanced the bill to the next stage of review.
Senator Kevin Shively, the amendment sponsor, told the committee he reduced every ESA tier in the bill by $500, specifying cuts such as the public-school ESA from $1,000 to $500 and reductions to various means-tested tiers and the home-school amount. The amendment passed and the committee voted to advance the bill as amended.
The amendment was introduced as a across-the-board $500 reduction to each tier shown in the bill. Shively said he lowered the highest means-test tiers (for example, the line he described as moving from $4,000 to $3,500) and reduced private-school and home-school amounts likewise. He said the larger fiscal note attached to the original figures—“about $105,000,000, I believe,” as he put it—was uncertain and that a lower starting point would allow the state to gather experience before committing larger amounts.
Shively described the fiscal rationale in more detail, saying the largest share of the original fiscal estimate came from an assumed large participation rate: “Basically, the biggest part of that, of the fiscal note was, 93,000 kids at $1,000 for the ESA. Well, you cut that in half,” he said, estimating the amendment would reduce the fiscal exposure by roughly $45,000,000 but acknowledging the figure was an estimate tied to uncertain participation rates.
Committee members asked for clarification that the change would apply only to the second year of the biennium as drafted; Shively replied that the proposal covers the second year and that future sessions could revisit the amounts after an initial implementation year.
The committee recorded a unanimous vote in favor of the amendment and then unanimously approved the bill as amended to move forward. The amendment sponsor moved to “accept this amendment, which is the 3,001 version” (as recorded in committee proceedings); a second was recorded, and the motion carried.
What happens next: the bill will proceed from the subcommittee with the amended ESA amounts for further consideration by the larger committee and the other chamber.
