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STATE OF WYOMING
HOUSE BILL NO. HB0128
Wyoming Freedom Scholarship Act.
Sponsored by: Representative(s) Andrew, Angelos, Bear,
Haroldson, Heiner, Hornok, Jennings, Knapp,
Neiman, Pendergraft, Penn, Rodriguez-
Williams, Singh, Slagle, Smith and Ward and Senator(s) Biteman, Boner, Brennan, French,
Hutchings, Ide, Kinskey, Laursen, D and Steinmetz
A BILL
for
1 AN ACT relating to education; creating the Wyoming Freedom
2 Scholarship Act; authorizing education savings accounts;
3 specifying legal proceedings; creating an account;
4 providing for a transfer of funds to the account; providing
5 for the use and administration of education savings
6 accounts for education; providing powers and duties of the
7 state treasurer; providing rulemaking authority; specifying
8 that a qualified school is not an agent of the state or
9 federal government; establishing an oversight committee;
10 making conforming amendments; authorizing a temporary
11 committee as specified; providing standing in a lawsuit
12 challenging this act; providing an appropriation; and
13 providing for effective dates.
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1
2 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Wyoming:
3
4 Section 1. W.S. 21-2-901 through 21-2-910 are created
5 to read:
6
7 ARTICLE 9
8 WYOMING FREEDOM SCHOLARSHIP ACT
9
10 21-2-901. Short title.
11
12 This act shall be known as the "Wyoming Freedom Scholarship
13 Act." The program created by this act shall be known as the
14 "ESA program."
15
16 21-2-902. Definitions.
17
18 (a) As used in this act, unless the context otherwise
19 requires:
20
21 (i) "Curriculum" means a course of study for
22 content areas or grade levels, including any supplemental
23 materials required or recommended by the curriculum;
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1
2 (ii) "Education savings account" or "ESA" means
3 the spending account for a child's education to which funds
4 are allocated by the state treasurer, for which a parent of
5 an ESA student enters into an agreement with the state
6 treasurer to choose and pay for qualifying education
7 expenses to educate the ESA student, subject to the
8 requirements and conditions of this act;
9
10 (iii) "Education service provider" means a person
11 or organization, including a qualified school, that receives
12 payments authorized by a parent from education savings
13 accounts to provide educational goods and services to ESA
14 students;
15
16 (iv) "Eligible student" means a child who is a
17 Wyoming resident, who is eligible to attend a public school
18 in this state and who has not graduated from high school,
19 received a high school equivalency certificate or completed
20 the equivalent of high school through a home-based
21 educational program;
22
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1 (v) "ESA student" means an eligible student who
2 is participating in the ESA program;
3
4 (vi) "Parent" means a resident of this state who
5 is the parent, stepparent or legal guardian of an eligible
6 student or ESA student and may include an eligible student
7 or ESA student who is an emancipated minor;
8
9 (vii) "Qualified school" means a nongovernmental
10 primary or secondary school that is located in this state
11 or that provides education services in this state and that
12 does not discriminate on the basis of race, color or
13 national origin;
14
15 (viii) "State treasurer" may include an
16 organization that the state treasurer has contracted with
17 to carry out the purposes of this act under W.S.
18 21-2-906(a)(iv);
19
20 (ix) "This act" means W.S. 21-2-901 through
21 21-2-910.
22
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1 21-2-903. Education savings accounts; Wyoming freedom
2 scholarship program account.
3
4 (a) The total amount to be deposited in an education
5 savings account for an ESA student each year shall be six
6 thousand dollars ($6,000.00) as adjusted annually by the
7 state treasurer for the costs of inflation using the
8 consumer price index or its successor index of the United
9 States department of labor, bureau of labor statistics.
10
11 (b) Payments to ESAs under this act shall be made by
12 the state treasurer from the Wyoming freedom scholarship
13 program account, which is hereby created. The account shall
14 consist of funds transferred to the account and other funds
15 appropriated by the legislature to the account. All
16 earnings from investment of the account shall be credited
17 by the state treasurer to the account. Except as provided
18 by subsection (c) of this section, any unencumbered,
19 unobligated balance of the account at the end of each
20 fiscal year shall not revert but shall remain in the
21 account and shall be expended to fund ESAs as provided by
22 this act.
23
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1 (c) If at the end of a fiscal year the state
2 treasurer determines that the amount in the Wyoming freedom
3 scholarship program account is more than thirty million
4 dollars ($30,000,000.00) and is more than one hundred and
5 fifty percent (150%) of the amount required to fund all
6 approved ESAs for the applicable fiscal year, the state
7 treasurer shall transfer the excess amount determined under
8 this subsection to the school foundation program account.
9
10 (d) Payments to each approved ESA shall be disbursed
11 on a quarterly basis by the state treasurer or another
12 state agency or person designated by the state treasurer to
13 administer and disburse funds to education savings
14 accounts.
15
16 (e) The ESA program shall not be funded with county,
17 city or school district tax revenues.
18
19 21-2-904. ESA program parent agreement; ESA
20 administration.
21
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1 (a) Before participation in the ESA program, each
2 parent of an ESA student shall sign an agreement with the
3 state treasurer to do all of the following:
4
5 (i) Use the funds deposited in the ESA only for
6 any of the following qualifying expenses to educate the ESA
7 student:
8
9 (A) Tuition and fees at a qualified school;
10
11 (B) Tuition and fees for nongovernmental
12 online learning programs;
13
14 (C) Tutoring services provided by a person
15 or a tutoring facility. The tutoring services shall not be
16 provided by an ESA student's immediate family;
17
18 (D) Services contracted for and provided by
19 a public school district including at a charter school.
20 Services under this subparagraph may include, without
21 limitation, individual classes and extracurricular
22 activities and programs;
23
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1 (E) Textbooks, curriculum and other
2 instructional materials, including, but not limited to, any
3 supplemental materials or associated online instruction
4 required by either a curriculum or an education service
5 provider;
6
7 (F) Computer hardware or other
8 technological devices that are primarily used to help meet
9 an ESA student's educational needs;
10
11 (G) Educational software and applications;
12
13 (H) School uniforms;
14
15 (J) Fees for nationally standardized
16 assessments, advanced placement examinations, examinations
17 related to college or university admission and tuition and
18 fees for preparatory courses for the exams;
19
20 (K) Tuition and fees for summer education
21 programs and specialized after school education programs,
22 but not after school childcare;
23
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1 (M) Tuition, fees, instructional materials
2 and examination fees at a career or technical school;
3
4 (N) Educational services and therapies
5 including, but not limited to, occupational, behavioral,
6 physical, speech-language and audiology therapies;
7
8 (O) Tuition and fees at an institution of
9 higher education;
10
11 (P) Fees for transportation paid to a
12 fee-for-service transportation provider for the student to
13 travel to and from an education service provider;
14
15 (Q) Any other educational expense approved
16 by the state treasurer.
17
18 (ii) As provided in this section, use Wyoming
19 freedom scholarship program account monies to provide an
20 education for the ESA student that provides instruction in
21 at least reading, writing, mathematics, civics, history,
22 literature and science. No parent shall be required to
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1 include any instruction that conflicts with the parent's or
2 ESA student's religious doctrines; and
3
4 (iii) Not enroll the qualified student in a
5 school district or charter school and to release the
6 applicable school district from all obligations to educate
7 the qualified student. This paragraph shall not:
8
9 (A) Require an eligible student to withdraw
10 from a school district or charter school before applying
11 for or receiving an ESA if the eligible student withdraws
12 from the school district or charter school before receiving
13 or expending any monies in the student's ESA;
14
15 (B) Prevent a qualified student from
16 applying in advance for an ESA to be funded beginning the
17 following school year;
18
19 (C) Prevent the school district or charter
20 school from charging an ESA for any services provided to
21 the qualified student to the extent authorized by law.
22
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1 (b) Funds in an ESA shall not be paid, refunded,
2 rebated or shared with a parent or ESA student in any
3 manner. Any refund or rebate for goods or services
4 purchased with ESA funds shall be credited directly to the
5 student's ESA.
6
7 (c) Parents may make payments for costs of
8 educational goods and services not covered by the funds in
9 the ESA. Personal deposits into an ESA shall not be
10 permitted.
11
12 (d) Funds deposited in an ESA shall not constitute
13 taxable income to the parent or the ESA student except to
14 the extent required by federal law.
15
16 (e) An ESA shall remain active and any unused funds
17 shall roll over from quarter to quarter and from year to
18 year until the parent withdraws the ESA student from the
19 ESA program or until the ESA student is no longer eligible
20 for the ESA program, unless the ESA is closed because of a
21 substantial misuse of funds. When an ESA is closed, any
22 unused funds shall revert to the Wyoming freedom
23 scholarship program account.
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2 (f) Nothing in this act shall be construed to require
3 an ESA student to be enrolled, full-time or part-time, in a
4 private school or a nonpublic online school as long as the
5 ESA student is receiving instruction as required under
6 paragraph (a)(ii) of this section.
7
8 21-2-905. Application.
9
10 (a) A parent may apply to the state treasurer to
11 establish an ESA for an eligible student.
12
13 (b) The state treasurer shall establish procedures
14 for approving applications in an expeditious manner.
15
16 (c) The state treasurer shall create a standard form
17 that parents can submit to establish their student's
18 eligibility for the ESA program and shall ensure that the
19 application form is publicly available and that completed
20 applications may be submitted through various sources,
21 including the internet.
22
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1 (d) The state treasurer shall approve an application
2 for an ESA if:
3
4 (i) The parent submits an application for an ESA
5 in accordance with any application procedures established
6 by the state treasurer;
7
8 (ii) The student on whose behalf the parent is
9 applying is an eligible student;
10
11 (iii) Funds are available for the ESA;
12
13 (iv) If the number of applications exceeds the
14 amount available from the Wyoming freedom scholarship
15 account for a school year, the students shall be selected
16 on a first come, first served basis, except enrollment
17 preference shall be given to the following students:
18
19 (A) An eligible student who in the previous
20 school year used an ESA; or
21
22 (B) A sibling of an eligible student who:
23
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1 (I) Receives scholarship funds from an
2 ESA at the time the sibling applied for an ESA; or
3
4 (II) Received an ESA in the school
5 year immediately preceding the school year in which the
6 sibling applies for an ESA.
7
8 (v) The parent signs an agreement with the state
9 treasurer as provided in W.S. 21-2-904(a).
10
11 (e) A signed agreement between the parent and state
12 treasurer under W.S. 21-2-904(a) shall satisfy the
13 compulsory school attendance requirements of W.S. 21-4-102
14 if the parent provides the student's resident school
15 district annual notice of intent to participate in the ESA
16 program.
17
18 (f) Upon notice to the state treasurer, an ESA
19 student may choose to stop receiving ESA funding and enroll
20 full-time in a public school. Enrolling as a full-time
21 student in a public school shall result in the immediate
22 suspension of payment of additional funds into the
23 student's ESA and the state treasurer may close the ESA. If
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1 an eligible student applies to the state treasurer to
2 return to the ESA program, payments into the student's
3 existing ESA may resume if the ESA is still open and
4 active. A new ESA may be established if the student's ESA
5 was closed.
6
7 (g) The state treasurer may adopt rules and policies
8 to provide a process for ESA students who choose to stop
9 receiving ESA payments to enroll full-time in a public
10 school.
11
12 21-2-906. Duties of the state treasurer.
13
14 (a) In addition to the state treasurer's duties,
15 obligations and authority specified in other sections of
16 this act, the state treasurer shall:
17
18