Hutchinson: $6.3M set for scholarships

$3M in federal funds OK’d for private school vouchers

The state’s Succeed Scholarship program will receive a total of $6.3 million in state and federal funds in the coming fiscal year, Gov. Asa Hutchinson said Monday.

The program provides private school vouchers to students in foster care, students with disabilities and the children of active-duty or reserve members of the U.S. military.

The $3.3 million in state funds will be authorized for the program through the state Department of Education appropriation under Act 216 and the additional $3 million will be from federal Governor Emergency Education Relief II funding earmarked for nonpublic schools received by the state Department of Education in fiscal 2023, the governor said. Fiscal 2023 begins July 1.

“The additional funding is a solution I supported and will provide more opportunity and choice for Arkansans,” Hutchinson said in a written statement.

Hutchinson’s confirmation of his plans to provide $3 million in federal funds to the Succeed Scholarship program in fiscal 2023 comes after a proposal to require the state Department of Education to budget and allocate $6.3 million rather than $3.3 million for the program in fiscal 2023 failed to clear the Joint Budget Committee during the fiscal session.

Approximately 836 scholarships will be available for the 2022-23 school year, including continuing students, and the number may vary depending on the amount of each scholarship awarded, state Department of Education spokeswoman Kimberly Mundell said Monday.

The maximum amount for the scholarship is $7,413 in the 2022-2023 school year, she said.

In the current fiscal year 2022 that ends June 30, the Succeed Scholarship program is financed with $3.3 million in state funds plus $1.2 million in federal funds to provide scholarships to 646 students, state Department of Education Secretary Johnny Key told lawmakers earlier this month. The onetime federal funds are financing 161 of these scholarships, he said. The scholarship is for up to $7,182 per student, he said.

On March 23, the nonprofit Reform Alliance that manages the Succeed Scholarship Program tweeted an announcement dated March 17 that the alliance has received notification that the requested $3 million has been granted to the Succeed Scholarship students and thanked Hutchinson for continued support for the program.

“The failure to pass the Succeed Scholarship amendment to [Senate Bill] 63 meant

nearly 200 students would have lost their Succeed Scholarship,” Reform Alliance managing director Emmy Henley said in the announcement dated March 17.

Henley could not be reached for further comment by telephone Monday afternoon.

In the fiscal session, state Rep. David Ray, R-Maumelle, proposed an amendment to Senate Bill 63, the appropriation for the state Department of Education in fiscal 2023, that would have increased the amount budgeted and allocated for the scholarship program to $6.3 million rather than $3.3 million. SB63 is now Act 216.

Ten state representatives on the Joint Budget Committee voted for the proposal, while 12 state representatives voted against it March 2, according to Bureau of Legislative Research records. The records show six representatives were recorded as not voting on the proposal. The votes of 15 representatives were required for approval of the proposal amendment among the House’s 28 members on the Joint Budget Committee, so the proposal fell short of clearing the committee.

The Joint Budget committee later voted to recommend House and Senate approval of SB63. An attempt to expunge that vote failed.

On March 1, the Joint Budget Committee voted 24-17 for a similar proposal by Ray, but 29 votes were required for approval, so the proposal also failed to clear the committee.

A Joint Budget Committee co-chairman, Sen. Jonathan Dismang, R-Searcy, said Monday that his understanding is the state plans to use $3 million in one-time federal funds for the Succeed Scholarship program.

“It was not a deal,” he said. State Sen. Joyce Elliott, D-Little Rock, who is a critic of the Succeed Scholarship program, said “it was very non-participatory by the entire Legislature.”

“I don’t know of any kind of dealing-making.”

Ray said he’s thankful Hutchinson sees the need for increased and sufficient funding for the Succeed Scholarship program.

He contended there was sufficient support on the Joint Budget Committee to increase the budget and allocation for the program to $6.3 million in fiscal 2023 rather than provide $3.3 million.

“Had everyone been there, it would have easily passed,” Ray said, adding a majority of the Republican-dominated Legislature supports the program and its funding.