House Ed Funding Considers Early Bills

January 15th, 2026

Today at the Statehouse:

The House Education Funding Committee met today to hear testimony on several early bills. Some highlights:

The committee heard two bills that would change the way special education is funded, rebalancing the burden between the state and local districts. Currently, the state covers roughly 10% of costs, the federal government covers 5% of special education costs, and the remaining 85% is borne by the district. HB 1557 (Rep. Wallner) would lower the threshold for when state aid kicks in; HB 1563 (Rep. Ladd) also lowers that threshold (though not as far), but then adds an upper limit at which point the state’s contribution decreases significantly. In the testimony and q&a on both bills, representatives seemed frustrated that they can’t access data that would allow them to better estimate the financial impact of some of these changes. There was some discussion of phasing in any changes, to allow time to understand the fiscal consequences. Representatives seemed to agree that something needs to be done to decrease the burden on districts, but also agreed that neither of these bills is the perfect solution.

Two bills that seemed unlikely to move forward, at least in their current form, were HB 1586 and HB 1803.

  1. HB 1586 (Rep. Noble) creates strict penalties for school districts who are not meeting their special education obligations to charter school students. A student’s resident district is responsible for the provision of special education services when a student with an Individualized Education Program (IEP) attends a charter school, and 1586 would direct the commissioner to withhold all funding from a school that was not in compliance. Lawmakers questioned whether withholding funding would help a district meet its obligations, and also seemed to balk at the idea of the state withholding municipal funds. Chairman Ladd pointed out that the commissioner already has the right to consider withholding special education funding from a district in such an instance, and he questioned whether this is really a pervasive problem. “When you see someone misbehaving on the play yard, you don’t line the whole play yard up on the wall, you line up the kid who’s misbehaving,” Ladd said.
  2. HB 1803 (Rep. Fellows) would make it impossible for students to receive both an Education Tax Credit scholarship and an Education Freedom Account voucher. The bill would also end state payments for ETC or EFA students accessing courses through the Virtual Learning Academy Charter School (VLACS). The Education Tax Credit scholarship program is funded through private donations and in 2024-25 offered 824 students an average scholarship of $3,221 (less than the minimum amount offered through the voucher program). The ETC is exclusively for families with income below 300% of the federal poverty level. Restricting families to one program would likely dramatically decrease participation in the ETC program – given that the voucher is more valuable – which would take money away from some low-income families and generate no savings to the state.

You can watch the full hearing on YouTube. 

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