Education bills moving through Senate
Charter schools could get local money for buildings, retired teachers could be rehired and voucher program would widen.
Posted — UpdatedA third bill also likely to be on the Senate floor Wednesday would tweak the state's Opportunity Scholarship voucher program, opening it to families with slightly higher incomes.
All three bills moved through the Senate Rules committee on Tuesday, an important step in the legislative process.
Senate Bill 399 is meant to help struggling schools by bringing experienced teachers back into the workforce. Under the measure, retired teachers could get nearly $35,000 a year from the state – plus their regular retirement pay – to teach in Title 1 schools or schools graded as "D" or "F" on the annual school report cards released by the State Board of Education.
Teachers in science, technology and math classes would get more money – about $40,000 a year. These teachers would also get salary supplements paid by local school systems, which vary district to district. They wouldn't get state supplements, such as extra pay for having a master's degree.
Their retirement pay wouldn't be affected.
Senate Bill 522 makes a number of changes to state charter school regulations. The biggest may be that it would waive a prohibition on local tax dollars being used to buy buildings or other facilities. This has been a major priority for charter schools for years and a concern for traditional K-12 schools worried they'll lose money for their own construction needs.
Sen. Jerry Tillman, R-Randolph, the bill sponsor, said it's not fair to treat charters differently than traditional schools because both are public schools, both are funded by the same taxpayers and both are open to the same children.
"The kids are the kids," Tillman said.
Senate Bill 609 tweaks rules for a number of school voucher programs. Among other things, it changes Opportunity Scholarship rules, which currently restrict eligibility to families that don't make more than 133 percent of the federal free or reduced-price lunch program threshold.
That would increase to 150 percent under the bill.
Opportunity Scholarships provide $4,200 a year to families to help them pay private school tuition.
The program hasn't used all the money the legislature has allocated for it. In fact, the House budget includes $500,000 to market the program to boost its numbers.
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