You’re not going to believe this.

State representatives are moving a bill that would force school districts to CREATE TUITION VOUCHER PROGRAMS if they close a school, even for a day, just because they are FOLLOWING COVID-19 PUBLIC HEALTH GUIDELINES.

Yes, you read that right. This bill would FORCE school districts to create tuition voucher programs if they keep students home from school TO PROTECT THEM AND YOU FROM GETTING COVID-19.

This is a horrible proposal.

State representatives behind this bill are so ideologically committed to tuition voucher schemes that they are using a world-wide pandemic as an excuse to divert hundreds of millions of dollars from public schools to tuition vouchers.

Please contact your state representative RIGHT NOW and tell him or her to vote “NO” on House Bill 1254.

Here’s what you need to know about this terrible bill:

• House Bill 1254 says that “a school district that does not provide full-time in-person instruction or denies a resident student full-time in-person instruction in the district must establish a tuition grant program …”
• So, a school district that closes a school, even for a day, TO PROTECT STUDENTS FROM COVID-19 would be forced to create a tuition voucher program.
• This could even mean that a school district that follows public health guidelines and keeps a student home from in-person instruction BECAUSE HE OR SHE HAS OR HAS BEEN EXPOSED TO COVID-19 would be required to create a tuition voucher program.
• The tuition vouchers would be equal to the per-student amount that the school district receives through the state basic education subsidy.
• This means that school districts that rely more on state funding (the school districts whose students can least afford to lose state money) would be required to offer higher tuition vouchers.
  
• The way the bill is written, these tuition voucher programs could stay in effect FOREVER, EVEN AFTER STUDENTS ARE ALLOWED TO RETURN TO SCHOOL.
• State House leaders want to fast-track this bill and intend to vote on it NEXT WEEK.

This bill uses a world-wide pandemic as an excuse to enact a tuition voucher scheme

Anti-public education forces are using a global pandemic to force school districts to choose between following the public health guidelines designed to keep students and school staff members safe from COVID-19 and losing hundreds of millions of dollars for tuition voucher schemes.

THIS IS THE WORST POSSIBLE CHOICE SCHOOL DISTRICTS COULD BE FORCED TO MAKE. That’s why we need to stop this bill in its tracks. Contact your state representative RIGHT NOW and tell him or her to vote “NO” on House Bill 1254.