HB 1005 headed to House Ways & Means – take action
URGENT: House Bill 1005 which expands the Indiana Choice Scholarship (voucher) program and creates Education “Scholarship” Accounts (also known as Education Savings Accounts or ESAs) passed out of the House Education Committee last week and is now headed to the House Ways & Means Committee on Tuesday, February 9th upon adjournment of the House Session, which should be mid-afternoon. Note: they will not accept any new in-person testimony on this bill and it is up for “amend & vote” only.
We are asking our members to send emails and call before Tuesday afternoon. Click (+) to expand the action box below for instructions. Thank you for your advocacy!
HB 1005 - Take Action NOW
We are asking our members and friends of public education to send emails to the House Ways & Means Committee before Tuesday afternoon.
Remind committee members that:
1. You oppose both the voucher expansion and the establishment of Education Savings Accounts in HB 1005.
2. The extra expenditures in House Bill 1005 for a new program and expanding an existing one will come at the expense of public school funding while schools are still reeling from the pandemic.
3. These extra expenditures will make it hard for Gov. Holcomb to keep his promises to public schools about 2 percent and 1 percent funding increases and raising teacher pay.
4. It doesn’t matter that the expenditures in House Bill 1005 were trimmed by the amendment. Education Savings Accounts are a bad idea. ESA programs across the country are rife with fraud.
5. Even though LSA projects the expenditure for ESAs to be $12.6 million in the first year, remember that the voucher program cost just $15.5 million in its first year, but has grown to $172.8 million a year. The voucher program that was supposed to SAVE money for taxpayers has now COST taxpayers a cumulative $1 BILLION.
6. The amount of individual ESAs will not be sufficient to adequately serve students with complex special needs. If these families opt for an ESA and can’t get all the services they need for their child, what will happen?
Click here to email the entire House Ways & Means Committee at once.
Click here to see who’s on the committee. There are 24 members.
(800) 382-9842 – House Democrats
(800) 382-9841 – House Republicans