May 11, 2017      3:18 PM

The Senate moves to scuttle school finance, inserts school vouchers into HB 21

Several other bills are on the move that still stand a chance to alter school finance

Senate Education Committee Chairman Sen. Larry Taylor made two changes this morning to the House’s major school finance bill that could easily spike the measure: ending a payment deferral the House depended on to balance its budget and inserting school vouchers. 

The expectation the Senate would tie school choice and school finance is not new. But Taylor has squeezed even more out of Senate Bill 3 to entice House members. The bill is limited to special education students, will only include an education savings account and throws in some additional spending to entice rural Republicans and Democrats to get on board.

This could be a “drop dead” statement to the House, however, because the Senate’s school finance bill that preserved many of the better fixes, Senate Bill 2145, never made it out of the Senate Education Committee. So, the biggest fix school finance advocates wanted to see move forward this session – adjusting the small district allotment – could be dead in the water.

Or not.

By Kimberly Reeves

Copyright May 11, 2017, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved