INPEA Executive Director John Elcesser provides an update as the legislature heads into crossover, the period when bills passed out of one chamber head to the second chamber and start the process over again. We are now tracking 14 bills - down from 33 at the start of the session.
INPEA Executive Director John Elcesser provides an update as the legislature heads into crossover, the period when bills passed out of one chamber head to the second chamber and start the process over again. We are now tracking 14 bills - down from 33 at the start of the session.
Statehouse Express S3, E3 Transcript
Hi! I’m John Elcesser, Executive Director of INPEA, and welcome back to another edition of the Statehouse Express. With the Super Bowl right around the corner, we find ourselves coming out of halftime of the 2022 Legislative Session. At the Statehouse, we refer to it as Crossover. Any bills that passed out of one chamber now move to the second chamber and start the process all over again. Strategically, this allows us to fix things in bills that we weren’t happy with coming out of the first chamber.
I was asked by a school leader, “Well if this is halftime, what’s the score?” My response was, we are just slightly ahead. We are slightly ahead primarily because we were able to steer clear of some of the more controversial bills heard in the first half of the session. We did have some wins and some losses, which I will discuss in more detail when I review the bills that we are watching closely.
At Crossover, any bill that didn’t pass out of its original chamber is considered dead. Before Crossover, we were tracking about 33 bills. Now, in the second half of the session, that number has been reduced to 14, thank goodness.
One bill that did pass out of the Senate and that we were heavily engaged in was SB 331. I call it the ESA fix up bill. As you know, the General Assembly in 2021 passed a budget that added a new choice program slated to open in the 22-23 school year, the Education Scholarship Program. Initially after last session, our energies were focused on the significant changed to the voucher and tax credit program, but as we enter 2022, our focus has shifted to the new ESA rollout. As we have shared previously, we have been working closely with the State Treasurer’s Office to ensure the program would work from a non-public school’s perspective. We had a number of concerns with the original language. The folks in the Treasurer’s Office listened to our concerns and attempted to address them in SB 331. Unfortunately, a number of those fixes were stripped out in the Senate Appropriations Committee. Simply, the fixes dealt with the APC dollars, tuition payment priority, and the surety bond requirement. It is our hope that we can get some of those fixes back into the bill on the House side. It is very important that school leaders become familiar with the new ESA program so that you can make informed decisions about participation. The program will be rolled out soon and you will be facing those important decisions before you know it.
Another bill that we are watching closely is HB 1041 which deals with gender identity and sports participation. This bill passed out of the House by a vote of 66-30. It is intended to prohibit biological males who transition to females from participating in female sports. One of our concerns is that it puts the responsibility on the schools to designate sports by gender or as co-ed as well as requiring the establishment of local grievance procedures if someone tries to violate the intent of the legislation. The bill was quite controversial when heard in the House Education Committee and had people testifying over a four hour period.
SB 123 deals with dyslexia screening. Non-public schools were removed from the bill although we do see it as a best practice and would encourage schools to utilize the practice even though it is not required of us by state law.
SB 167 and HB 1134, which are the CRT response bills, do not include non-public schools, thank goodness. SB 167 died in the Senate and there is some supposition if HB 1134 might face the same demise as it makes its way over to the Senate.
SB 1093 has some language in it dealing with school resource officers, but the current language doesn’t apply to non-public schools.
SB 115 deals with employee misconduct. It requires all types of schools to have a policy that prohibits the hiring or continued employment of folks who have committed one of a long list of crimes that necessitate the loss of their licensure.
I think that’s enough for now. Please be ready to engage if our non-public school voice is needed in the second half of the session. Remember we are always stronger together and when we speak with one voice.
So until the next stop on the Statehouse Express, stay informed and stay engaged! We’re counting on you! See you next time.