PRIVATE & HOME SCHOOL:  PUBLIC SCHOOL

KINDERGARTEN ENROLLMENT & REIMBURSEMENT

House Bill 4594 as introduced

Sponsor:  Rep. Edward McBroom

Committee:  Education

Complete to 5-20-15

SUMMARY:

House Bill 4594 would amend the School Aid Act to allow the parents of privately-schooled and home-schooled students to also enroll their children in a public school kindergarten to take advantage of curricular opportunities.

Now under the law, parents of students who are enrolled in grades 1 to 12 in a non-public school, or who are being home-schooled, can also enroll their students in a local public school district, public charter school, or public intermediate school district for any curricular offering.  However, state school aid reimburses the district only for curricular offerings that are available to full-time pupils in the minor's grade level or age group during regularly scheduled school hours.  And, for the purposes of state aid, a student enrolled is a part-time pupil.  House Bill 4594 would retain these provisions, and extend them so that they would begin in kindergarten, rather than first grade.

The bill would take effect 90 days after it was enacted into law.

MCL 388.1766b

FISCAL IMPACT:

To the extent that the bill would increase overall public school enrollments, it could create additional costs for both the state and local school districts.  Currently there are approximately 10,300 nonpublic shared-time pupils counted in membership in grades 1-12, which at the FY 2014-15 average foundation allowance of approximately $7,500, costs about $77.2 million.  An exact breakout of shared-time pupils by grade level is not currently available, but if the bill increased the number of shared-time pupils by the current average per grade, it would increase pupils by about 860 at an additional annual cost of $6.5 million.

                                                                                        Legislative Analyst:   J. Hunault

                                                                                               Fiscal Analysts:   Bethany Wicksall

                                                                                                                           Samuel Christensen

■ This analysis was prepared by nonpartisan House Fiscal Agency staff for use by House members in their deliberations, and does not constitute an official statement of legislative intent.