HB 292

This bill is a masterpiece of cynicism. Struggling school districts — the ones courts have repeatedly said are underfunded — can borrow money from a state revolving loan fund. They can borrow up to 75% of their state education aid, repayable over 5 years at the Federal Reserve effective funds rate (about 3.88% when the amendment was adopted).

But the strings attached are designed to make the problem worse, not better. Any district that accepts a loan must allow ALL parents in the district to obtain Education Freedom Accounts — the state's voucher program — regardless of income eligibility. This is a Trojan horse: the very districts that are most financially vulnerable are forced to open themselves up to the funding drain that vouchers create.

Think about the trap this creates. Claremont's schools are struggling because the state won't fund them adequately (as courts have ruled). So the state offers them a loan — money they'll have to repay with interest — instead of the funding they're owed. And the condition of the loan is that they must enable a voucher program that will drain even more money from their district. It's like offering a drowning person a concrete life preserver.

Every Democrat in the Senate voted against this bill. It passed 16-8 on party lines and is now in the House. This is the kind of bill that sounds helpful in a press release but is designed to accelerate the defunding of public education in the communities that need it most.