Senate committee forwards House Bill 175 to floor after changes to Advanced Opportunity program

A Senate committee voted to send House Bill 175 as amended to the Senate floor with a due-pass recommendation after hearing from Sen. Janie Ward Engle King, District 18, who described changes to the state's Advanced Opportunity program.

Sen. Janie Ward Engle King, District 18, told the committee the bill would give homeschool students a direct pathway to access Opportunity Scholarship funds through community colleges, clarify that students may take college entrance exams more than once, and make technical adjustments to better align administration across public and private programs. "This is just to make sure those advanced opportunities are putting them on a pathway to a career," she said.

The bill would allow community colleges to receive Opportunity Scholarship money directly from the State Department of Education for homeschool students rather than routing payments through local public schools, according to Sen. Ward Engle King. She said the change is intended to simplify access for families who choose to pursue community-college options outside the public-school system.

Sen. Ward Engle King also described a provision clarifying that students may retake college entrance exams more than once. She said that practice had been limited in some districts following pandemic-era changes and that enabling multiple attempts is intended to help students who improve on a second sitting.

The legislation includes technical edits developed with the State Department of Education to align administration of advanced-opportunity provisions for public and private schools. One change replaces the term "tuition and fees" with "educational costs" to match existing Opportunity Scholarship language. The bill also adds a requirement that private school students consult with a counselor after earning 15 credits through advanced opportunity so staff can confirm the credits are leading toward a career pathway, Sen. Ward Engle King said.

Sen. Markley and another senator asked clarifying questions about how homeschoolers would access program information and about the program's cost limits. Sen. Ward Engle King said homeschool families could still use their local public or charter school pathways but that some prefer to work directly with community colleges. She noted the program cap had been raised in a prior year but did not specify a definitive dollar amount during the hearing.

No members of the public signed up to testify. Following the presentation and brief questions, a motion to send House Bill 175 as amended to the floor with a due-pass recommendation was offered and seconded and the committee adopted the motion by voice vote; the chair announced, "Any opposed? Motion carries." The committee did not record a roll-call vote.

The committee indicated it would reconvene at 2:00 p.m. the following day for additional business.