South Dakota Searchlight-Makenzie Huber
Lawmakers in the House Education Committee shot down former South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem’s proposed $4 million education savings account program and a similar, competing proposal Wednesday morning at the Capitol in Pierre.
Procedural maneuvers could still be used to bring the bills to the House floor, but the committee votes were an early setback for an idea proposed by Noem and supported by her successor, Gov. Larry Rhoden, after she departed to become secretary of the federal Department of Homeland Security.
The committee voted 9-6 against the governor-supported House Bill 1020, despite the bill having the majority leaders of both legislative chambers as prime sponsors. The bill would provide up to $3,000 per student to help cover private school tuition, homeschooling or other alternative-instruction costs.
Lawmakers and people who testified against the bill included public education stalwarts, who argued that the program would lack oversight and divert funds from public schools, and school choice advocates, who said the program would be too limited.
A competing school choice bill that would create a similar program with a higher price tag and less oversight was also shot down with an 8-7 vote. The bill, HB 1009, was introduced by Rep. Dylan Jordan, R-Clear Lake, and is estimated to cost up to $142 million by the Legislative Research Council.
Reps. Jordan and Phil Jensen, R-Rapid City, both supported Jordan’s bill but opposed the governor’s bill. Rep. Travis Ismay, R-Newell, was the only other committee member to switch his vote — supporting the governor’s bill but opposing Jordan’s bill — while all other committee members either supported both bills or opposed both bills.
Anthony Mirzayants, representing the Texas-based student activist group Young Americans for Liberty, told lawmakers the bill supported by the governor isn’t “a real school choice bill.” He compared it to South Dakota’s Partners in Education scholarship program. That program gives insurance companies up to $5 million in tax credits annually in exchange for their contributions to scholarships for private-school students.
Other opponents of HB 1020 included representatives of public education organizations, teachers, school board members and superintendents, disability advocates, the South Dakota Chamber of Commerce, the South Dakota Retailers Association and the Great Plains Tribal Education Directors.
Opponents were concerned with the impact the programs would have on public school funding and a lack of accountability, standards and transparency. They brought up similar concerns in HB 1009’s committee hearing last week.
“Public education funding should reflect a shared responsibility. Instead, public funds would be drained from public and tribal schools, leaving fewer resources and opportunities for all students,” said Roquel Gorneau, representing the Great Plains Tribal Education Directors. “This bill does not strengthen education. It weakens it, forcing public schools to do more with less.”
Several supporters of HB 1020 (the governor’s bill) included private school administrators who said the program would make alternatives to public education more accessible to students and could lead to better teacher pay within their schools. Supporters also included alternative instruction advocates and alternative school founders.
The bill, introduced by House Majority Leader Scott Odenbach, R-Spearfish, was amended during the hearing to clarify that students who use education savings accounts would not be classified as alternative instruction students. Odenbach proposed the amendment to appease the homeschool advocacy group Families for Alternative Instruction Rights in South Dakota, which feared that not separating education savings account students from alternative instruction students would open the door to regulation of alternative instruction. The organization switched its stance on the bill from opposed to neutral because of the amendment, based on a memo sent to lawmakers last week.
The amendment means that if the bill is revived and becomes law, families opting for homeschooling, microschools or other alternative settings would have to choose whether they want to be ESA families eligible for the state financial assistance or alternative instruction students ineligible for the money.
Both South Dakota Department of Education Secretary Joseph Graves and Governor’s Office Policy Adviser Sarah Hitchcock told lawmakers the program would improve education in the state by increasing competition among schools.
“We can’t force our students to wait until we have perfect funding,” Hitchcock told the committee.
Supporters of the legislation could seek approval from one-third of the House of Representatives to force the committee to send the bills to the floor. Support from a majority of the chamber’s 70 members would then be needed to add the bills to the House calendar for debate and a vote.