Education Savings Account Program; established. (HB982)

Introduced By

Del. Phil Scott (R-Spotsylvania) with support from co-patrons Del. Marie March (R-Floyd), and Del. Wren Williams (R-Stuart)

Progress

Introduced
Passed Committee
Passed House
Passed Senate
Signed by Governor
Became Law

Description

Education Savings Account Program established; Education Improvement Scholarships Tax Credits. Establishes the Education Savings Account Program, to be administered by the Department of Education, whereby the parent of any individual who is a resident of the Commonwealth and who is eligible to enroll in a public elementary or secondary school may apply for an Education Savings Account for his child into which the Department of Education deposits certain state and local funds and from which the parent makes certain enumerated qualifying expenses to educate his child in a setting and a manner other than full-time education in a public school. The bill requires the Program to be fully implemented prior to the beginning of the 2022–2023 school year. The bill also increases the value of the Education Improvement Scholarships income tax credit for a donation to a scholarship foundation from 65 percent to 100 percent of the donation. The bill removes the aggregate limit on tax credits per year, which under current law is $25 million, and removes individual minimum and maximum required donation amounts. The bill raises the threshold for students to qualify for scholarships to 1,000 percent of free or reduced-price lunch standards or, for eligible students with a disability, 1,200 percent of such standards. The bill grants scholarship foundations the discretion to determine what expenses may be funded by tax-credit-subsidized scholarships. Under current law, such expenses are limited by statute. The bill expands eligibility for scholarships to any student who is a Virginia resident and eligible to enroll in a Virginia primary or secondary school. Current law restricts eligibility to certain categories of students. The bill removes the requirement that scholarship-funded schools report test results of scholarship-funded students. The provisions of the bill pertaining to the Education Improvement Scholarships income tax credits apply starting with taxable year 2022. Read the Bill »

Outcome

Bill Has Failed

History

DateAction
01/12/2022Committee
01/12/2022Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/12/22 22104074D
01/12/2022Referred to Committee on Education
02/09/2022Impact statement from DPB (HB982)
02/15/2022Left in Education

Comments

Joyce Miller writes:

I put my children through school and am a retired teacher. We paid tuition to a private school and the state used our tax dollars for public education. I believe the tax money used for education should not be directed by the state to state schools only, but that the tax dollars follow the child where ever the parents prefer to send them to school. Our public schools have failed!

Joyce Miller

Michael William Albin writes:

Dear Delegate Scott,
Thank you for introducing HB982. Passage of the bill will guarantee competition in K-12 education with the following results: compensate parents for the cost of alternative education, provide relief to taxpayers by breaking the monopoly of public schools, ease the chokehold "education associations" enjoy over public schools, and, most importantly, boost the quality of instruction throughout Virginia.

Sincerely,
Michael Albin
Board Member, FFX County Taxpayers Alliance
703-405-3067