Lesko’s Empowerment Scholarship Bill Comes With Hefty Bill
Two bills, SB1431 and HB2394, which would expand the Empowerment Scholarship Account program to all Arizona K-12 students by the 2020 school year would increase the State’s General Fund costs considerably. The increased costs are outlined in a report from the bipartisan Joint Legislative Budget Committee.
According to that report, “the bill would increase state General Fund costs by $2.1 million in FY 2018, $5.8 million in FY 2019, $12.9 million in FY 2020, and $24.5 million when all prior public school students are eligible in FY 2021.”
Despite this astronomical cost the bills will likely sail through to the governor’s desk due to the fact that the Democrats in both the House and Senate are less effective than ever before.
An Empowerment Scholarship Account (ESA) acts like a checking account in which the state deposits 90% of the state funding that would have been received by the public school the child previously attended.
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