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House 'circles' concurrent enrollment bill after funding coordination concerns
Summary
Lawmakers temporarily postponed House Bill 79, which would make concurrent enrollment WPU-driven and add a $350,000 appropriation, after members urged a coordination clause to avoid duplicative funding with recently passed education bills.
House members on Monday agreed to "circle" (postpone) House Bill 79 after floor members raised concerns that the bill lacks a coordination clause to prevent duplicate funding with other education appropriations.
Sponsor Representative Corey Holdaway described HB 79 as the product of a K–16 alliance and said it would (1) create an appropriation line to assign weighted pupil units (WPUs) to concurrent enrollment and (2) establish a 60/40 split of costs between higher education and public education. Holdaway said the fiscal note assigns an additional $350,000 to the concurrent enrollment program and assigns WPUs so growth-driven funding could increase with enrollment.
Representative Todd Bigelow moved to circle the bill, arguing staff differed on how the bill’s appropriations should be shown and recommending a coordination clause so the new language will not double-fund a program if both HB 79 and the recently passed minimum school act (HB 3) were enacted. "You only fund one of them," Bigelow said, asking staff to prepare clarifying language.
Holdaway said he was "fine with circling" and agreed the coordination clause would be sensible. Representative King asked whether the bill’s approach would cause the large top-line WPU total to appear on many education bills, creating confusion; members agreed to seek staff clarification.
The motion to circle HB 79 passed on the floor; members said they would return the bill to the calendar after staff prepared a coordination clause or other clarification about how the appropriation interacts with recently passed education fiscal language.
