SCHOOL AID: DEFINITION OF 'PUPIL'
House Bill 4790 as introduced
Sponsor: Rep. Edward McBroom
Committee: Education
Complete to 9-9-15
SUMMARY:
House Bill 4970 would amend the State School Aid Act to change the definition of "pupil" so that privately-schooled and home-schooled students enrolled in a public school kindergarten could be counted as "pupils" for the purpose of membership aid, without seeking approval from school officials in a pupil's school district of residence. The bill would take effect 90 days after being enacted into law.
The bill is tie-barred to House Bill 4594, meaning that it cannot not take effect unless House Bill 4594 also is enacted into law. House Bill 4594 was reported from the House Education Committee and passed by the full House earlier in the legislative session, and is in the Senate Education Committee. House Bill 4594 would amend the School Aid Act to allow the parents of privately schooled and home-schooled students to enroll their children in a public school kindergarten to take advantage of curricular opportunities.
The term "pupil" is defined to mean a person in membership in a public school. The law specifies that a school district must have the approval of a pupil's district of residence to count the pupil in its membership. However, the law also specifies 15 exceptions to that requirement, one of which is that approval by the pupil's district of residence is not required for "a nonpublic part-time pupil enrolled in grades 1 to 12 in accordance with Section 166b." House Bill 4970 extends this exception to cover part-time pupils enrolled in kindergarten.
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 2015-16 average foundation allowance of approximately $7,565, costs about $77.9 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. However, if the marginal cost of educating an additional student is lower than the increased funding received by a school district, the school district may benefit.
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.