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Subcommittee rejects McKenzie's scholarship data-reporting bill after debate
Summary
The K-12 Subcommittee adopted an amendment to House Bill 1052 but voted 2-5-1 to reject the bill as amended. Sponsor Rep. McKenzie said the measure would centralize data on scholarship recipients for transparency; critics said some counts are not currently collected.
The K-12 Subcommittee voted down House Bill 1052, a measure from Representative McKenzie that would require collection and reporting of data on educational scholarship recipients.
Representative McKenzie, the bill's sponsor, said the measure is intended as a "data gathering piece of, legislation on the, educational scholarships" and argued it would provide transparency about "who's getting the vouchers" and allow lawmakers to make informed changes. The committee adopted Amendment 11706, which the chair said rewrote the bill, before resuming consideration of the bill as amended.
Committee members questioned which agency would compile the reports. One member asked why the Office of Research and Education Accountability (OREA) was being asked to produce recurring reports rather than the Department of Education. Representative McKenzie replied that OREA is a "more independent" option and said the Department of Education "has that data" but has not assembled it into a comprehensive report.
Representative Slater pushed back on that point, saying he was not sure the requested information "is being collected" and stated, "I think this would be a new requirement. And, for that reason, I'm gonna have to oppose this legislation." The clerk later reported the vote tally as "2 ayes, 5 nos, and 1 present not voting," and the chair announced the bill failed to pass.
The outcome leaves the topic of scholarship-reporting unresolved at the subcommittee level. No further action on HB 1052 was recorded in the meeting; the bill may be refiled or reconsidered in a future session.
