Joint Education Committee recommends emergency rules to implement LEARNS Act Education Freedom Accounts

Courtney Solis Ford, chief of staff for the Department of Education, and Andreas Rhodes, the department's chief legal counsel, presented emergency rules the department said are needed to begin the Education Freedom Account (EFA) program under the LEARNS Act.

"Education Freedom accounts or EFAs will allow participating students and families to cover private school tuition, fees, uniforms, and other required expenses with state funding," Rhodes said, summarizing the program and the department's proposed rules. He said EFAs can allocate up to 90% of the state's prior-year per-student foundation funding and that the 2023'24 per-student amount is about $6,600.

The department told the committee it has received roughly 3,400 applications and approved about 2,000 so far for year one. Staff estimated that if all approved students fully use their accounts, the fiscal impact would be just over $30 million; the program cap for year one was stated as $46 million. Applications began June 20, and department staff said outreach so far has been carried out largely by private schools and third parties rather than by state-paid marketing.

Why it matters: the emergency rules will allow the state to operate EFAs beginning Aug. 1, a date that several members connected to pending litigation and to…