The public school choice, ESA voucher and charter school expansion, consolidation, and “Tim Tebow” bills that passed the House have been referred to the Senate Education Committee. More detailed explanations are below. Please reach out to members of the Senate Education Committee and ask them to vote NO on HB 1078, HB 1431, HB 1432, HB 1435, and HB 1617. Find contact information for Senate Education Committee members here.
Please also reach out to members of the House Education Committee and ask for their support of SB 2598 (amendments to improve the law allowing retired teachers to return to the classroom and draw PERS benefits) and SB 2616 (adds grades 7 and 8 to the CTE component of the school funding formula). Find contact information for House Education Committee members here.
Descriptions of bills we oppose:
- HB 1078 – Removes accountability that was added to ESA vouchers in 2024 and expands the program to add children in foster care who do not have special needs, a move certain to lead to additional expansions.
- HB 1431 – Creates a task force to develop recommendations for consolidating districts into one per county; of 20 task force members, includes only one designated as a public school representative.
- HB 1432 – Allows charter schools in C districts, punishing districts that have worked hard to improve beyond D and F ratings. Allows multiple bodies to authorize new charters, letting charter applicants “shop” for a lenient authorizer with lax oversight. This reduces accountability and is likely to result in many more failing charter schools.
- HB 1435 – Provides public school choice with state funding to follow the child, allowing students to attend school in districts where they do not live and their households do not pay local taxes; creates a significant administrative burden on school districts. Provides no transportation for students, so very few could participate, leaving hundreds of children in struggling schools with even fewer resources.
- HB 1617 – Allows homeschool students to participate in public school activities and athletics, incentivizes drop-outs, creates an unlevel playing field that favors homeschool over public school students, and inflicts an enormous administrative burden on public school administrators. For public school students to be eligible to participate in school activities, they must maintain a 2.0 GPA on rigorous state standards throughout the school year, but homeschoolers would be required only to show evidence that they were qualified for promotion to the current grade. While the bill requires participating homeschool students to take state tests, it does not require them to pass the tests.
See all the bills we are tracking and how your legislators have voted on important legislation on the Bill Tracker page of our website.
We are so grateful for the terrific work you have done so far this session to fend off the voucher lobby’s push for “school choice” – and for the many legislators who are standing with you to support our public schools. Please reach out to the Education Committee members today and urge them to defeat the “choice” bills that threaten to weaken our public schools and the communities we love. Together, we’ve got this!
