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Committee amends language stipends bill to award grants to schools rather than individual teacher stipends
Summary
An amendment to Senate Bill 2275 changes language from teacher stipends to school grants, raises the pilot pot to $49,500 and sets a per‑school maximum of $2,500 per year; the Senate Education Committee approved the amendment 6‑0 and directed staff to forward a legislative‑counsel draft.
The Senate Education Committee adopted an amendment to Senate Bill 2275 that changes the structure of a proposed early language program pilot. The amendment replaces individual teacher stipends with grants awarded to schools that provide instruction in a foreign language for young students and raises the total pilot appropriation in the bill.
Under the amendment, the new program language allows grants to schools (rather than stipends to individual teachers) and specifies that grants may be used for program costs, materials or stipends. The amendment caps grants at $2,500 per school per year and raises the total pilot appropriation from the original $25,000 to $49,500 for the biennium.
The committee discussed policy tradeoffs: shifting from individual teacher stipends to school grants may enable more schools to participate, but several senators noted risk that a small per‑school award might be spread too thin across multiple teachers. Senators debated leaving the $2,500 cap in place for the pilot to maximize participation and agreed the pilot could be revisited in later sessions.
Sen. Gerhardt moved the amendment and members approved it; the roll call on the amendment was 6 ayes, 0 nays. The committee asked legislative counsel to produce a formal, redrafted amendment and indicated an intention to consider the bill again later in the day once the amendment text is finalized.
Ending: The committee approved the amendment unanimously and will revisit the bill after legislative counsel prepares the formal language.
