Senate Education Committee debates expansion of "Empowering Parents" grants; bill moved to Senate floor with no recommendation

Sen. Dave Lent (R‑District 33) presented Senate Bill 10 25 to the Senate Education Committee, a proposal that would expand the state’s Empowering Parents grants, establish accreditation and nondiscrimination requirements for participating private schools, reduce some public‑school reporting requirements and direct additional funds toward special education. After full debate and roughly 40 public testimonies, the committee voted to send the bill to the Senate floor with no recommendation.

Bill basics as presented by the sponsor: Lent described the measure as a package intended to establish a “threshold of accountability” for private schools that receive public funds and to trim state reporting requirements for public schools. Key provisions Lent summarized include raising the Empowering Parents grant from $1,000 to $5,000 per student, a household cap of $15,000, a $50 million annual cap on the program, a five‑year sunset and tiered prioritization so 75% of grants target families with adjusted gross income under $60,000. The bill also would allow parents to use the grant for some services as early as age 3 and would require participating private schools to hold accreditation recognized by the State Board of Education, accept students with special needs (including IEPs), perform criminal background checks for staff with unsupervised student contact and adhere to…