Senate Bill 2 | Effective: 9-1-25 |
Senate Author: Creighton et al. | Senate Committee: Education K-16 |
House Sponsor: Buckley et al. | House Committee: Public Education |
Senate Bill 2 amends the Education Code, Government Code, and Health and Safety Code to establish an education savings account program that provides funding for approved education‑related expenses of participating children. Among other provisions governing the program's operation, the bill does the following:
- makes the comptroller of public accounts responsible for establishing and administering the program and provides for the selection of not more than five certified educational assistance organizations to support the program's administration;
- sets out provisions relating to biennial legislative appropriations for the program and caps the amount spent for the program at $1 billion for the 2026‑2027 state fiscal biennium;
- makes a child eligible to participate in the program if the child's parent establishes that the child is a citizen or national of the United States or was lawfully admitted into the United States and is eligible to attend a public school district or open‑enrollment charter school or enroll in a district's or charter school's prekindergarten program;
- authorizes the parent of an eligible child to apply to the program and, in the event there are more acceptable applications than available positions due to insufficient funding, provides for applicants to be approved by lottery in the order of priority specified by the bill, which is based in part on household income;
- sets a cap on the total amount of money spent each year for purposes of participation in the program by children who are members of a household with a total annual income that is at or above 500 percent of the federal poverty guidelines;
- requires a participating parent to agree to certain conditions to receive funding under the program;
- provides for a process by which the comptroller preapproves education service providers and vendors of educational products for participation in the program;
- sets out grounds for suspension and removal of a preapproved provider or vendor;
- specifies the education‑related expenses for which a participating parent may request that program money be spent and the manner of disbursement of program funds;
- sets the amount to be transferred to a participating child's account each school year at 85 percent of the estimated statewide average amount of state and local funding per student in average daily attendance for the most recent school year for which that information is available, but provides for certain additional amounts for a child with a disability and caps the amount for a home‑schooled student at $2,000 for a school year;
- provides for a district to conduct a full individual and initial evaluation of a child who is not enrolled in a district or charter school on request of the child's parent and, if applicable, develop an individualized education program for the child for purposes of establishing the child's eligibility to participate in the program as a child with a disability;
- provides for the effects of a child ceasing to participate in the program during a school year due to the child's enrollment in a public school;
- requires the provision of notice which states that a private school is not subject to federal and state laws regarding the provision of educational services to a child with a disability in the same manner as a district or charter school and provides information regarding rights to which such a child is entitled if attending a district or charter school;
- establishes audit requirements for the program;
- prohibits an education service provider or vendor of educational products from charging a participating child an amount greater than the standard amount charged for that service or product by the provider or vendor or in any manner rebating, refunding, or crediting to or sharing with a program participant, or any person on behalf of a participant, any program money paid or owed by the participant to the provider or vendor;
- provides for an annual program report and for the collection and reporting of demographic information regarding participating children; and
- establishes the right of program participants, eligible children, education service providers, and vendors of educational products to intervene in any civil action challenging the constitutionality of the program.