The Senate has approved a deal that takes more than 800 public school buildings off the list of more than 1200 where students will be eligible for private school vouchers starting this weekend. Another big part of the deal goes to the House this morning.
The Senate plan on the performance-based EdChoice vouchers would increase state-paid need-based vouchers to 300% of the federal poverty level, or more than $78,000 a year for a family of four. Republican House Speaker Larry Householder has a problem with expanding those vouchers past the 200% level.
“I have advised the members of our caucus, the people who are big advocates for school choice that I’ve been down the road and seen this before, and when you open the gates too wide sometimes you drown what you’re trying to save.”
Householder also wants K-3 literacy rates to be dropped as a factor in determining whether a building is failing and therefore students qualify for EdChoice vouchers, which are taken out of school district budgets.
