H10 - Require ICE Cooperation & Budget Adjustments. (SL 2024-55)

• Have submitted an application for the 2024‑2025 school year by March 1, 2024.
• Be otherwise eligible to receive a scholarship award but have not yet received an award. A student who received a PESA award for the fall semester and is also eligible to receive an Opportunity Scholarship award would receive an Opportunity Scholarship award for the spring semester only.
• Be enrolled in an eligible nonpublic school by October 1, 2024, and remain continuously enrolled in the same school for the spring semester.

The section requires nonpublic schools receiving scholarship funds from SEAA on behalf of an eligible student to directly reimburse any tuition and fees paid by the student's parent or guardian, up to the amount disbursed by SEAA, within 60 days of receiving the scholarship funds. The nonpublic school is responsible for arranging the method of reimbursement with the parent or guardian.

The section also makes the following changes to the reporting requirements:

• For the 2024‑2025 fiscal year, SEAA must report the nonpublic schools in which scholarship grant recipients are enrolled and award amounts per recipient to the Department of Public Instruction (DPI) by April 1, 2025.
• For the 2024‑2025 fiscal year, DPI must report to the Joint Legislative Education Oversight Committee (JLEOC) on the cumulative difference between the scholarship grant award amount for each prior public school attendee enrolled in a nonpublic school and the average State per pupil allocation by June 1, 2025.
• No later than April 1, 2025, SEAA must report to JLEOC on any reasons eligible students did not receive an award of scholarship funds for the fall semester of the 2024‑2025 school year and the number of students impacted by each reason.

This bill was vetoed by the Governor on September 20, 2024, and that veto was overridden by the General Assembly on November 20, 2024. This section of the act became effective July 1, 2024.