CHAPTER 183 HB 1817-FN - VERSIONFINAL ADOPTEDVERSION BY BOTH BODIES 11Mar2026...

CHAPTER 183 HB 1817-FN - VERSIONFINAL ADOPTEDVERSION BY BOTH BODIES 11Mar2026...

1183:1 Education;

2183:2 Effective Date.

LBAApproved: 26-2861 03/20/2026 HB 1817-FN- FISCAL NOTE AS AMENDED BY THE HOUSE (AMENDMENT #2026-0911h) AN ACT relative to access to curricular courses and cocurricular programs within school districts.

FISCALJune IMPACT:19, 2026 Effective Date:

EstimatedAugust State18, Impact FY 2026 FY 2027 FY 2028 FY 2029 Revenue $0 $0 $0 $0 Revenue Fund(s) None Expenditures* $0 Indeterminable Funding Source(s) Education Trust Fund Appropriations* $0 $0 $0 $0 Funding Source(s) None *Expenditure = Cost of bill *Appropriation = Authorized funding to cover cost of bill Estimated Political Subdivision Impact FY 2026 FY 2027 FY 2028 FY 2029 Local Revenue $0 Indeterminable Local Expenditures $0 Indeterminable METHODOLOGY:

This bill expands access to curricular courses and cocurricular programs within school districts for education freedom account students.

The Department of Education states this bill will likely result in a significant cost at either the local level, state level, or both, depending upon interpretation .The Department does not have a methodology that could be employed to determine the potential costs.It is not possible to know how many students would take advantage of what opportunities and how those costs would ultimately be born (by the local district or by the state).

*Under current law, the Department of Education through its data systems and implementation of funding formulas, holds to two policy principles:

#1.

Districts Are Provided State Funding When Required To Educate A Student The Department will provide state funding to districts when they are required to educate a student via the adequacy formula.

This typically occurs by a student enrolling in their district school full-time.

For home education students that have access to courses at their resident district, the Department compensates the district through the adequacy formula for each course the home education students enrolls in.

The district formula doesn’t apply to charter schools, as charter school students are already enrolled full-time in an educational pathway.

Districts are not required to educate Education Freedom Account (EFA) students who have not been disenrolled from the EFA program.

Therefore, they are not compensated with State funding.

#2.

The State Does Not Double Pay State Funding For A Primary Pathway The Department ensures at the SASid-level a student enrolled in a State funded district, charter school, or EFA pathway does not have the student counted twice for the purpose of State primary funding (i.e., adequacy funding).

The only exception to this is part-time courses at the Virtual Learning Academy Charter School (VLACS), where District, Charter School, or EFA students are allowed to access a State funded VLACS course while having their primary pathway State funded.

The Department states this bill would violate policy principle #1 stated above.

The policy could be to pay districts for educating EFA students similar to home educated students, however, this would violate principle #2.

Lastly, once an EFA student is enrolled more than 50 percent of the time in a district, they would have to disenroll from the EFA program.

A potential unintended consequence of this could be more students being forced to disenroll from the EFA program unintentionally, because they accessed too many courses at their resident district.

AGENCIES CONTACTED:

Department of Education