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

Overview: Section 6.5A would direct the North Carolina State Education Assistance Authority (NCSEAA) to distribute additional funds for Opportunity Scholarship and Personal Education Student Account for Children with Disabilities (PESA) awards as soon as practicable. To be eligible for an award, a student would have to meet the following criteria:

• 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.

Section 6.5A would also require nonpublic schools receiving scholarship funds from NCSEAA 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 NCSEAA, within 60 days of receiving the scholarship funds. The nonpublic school would be responsible for arranging the method of reimbursement with the parent or guardian.

Section 6.5A would make the following changes to reporting requirements:

• For the 2024-2025 fiscal year, NCSEAA would 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, the Department of Public Instruction would 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, NCSEAA would 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.

House Bill 10 was ratified by the General Assembly on September 11, 2024, and vetoed by the Governor on September 20, 2024.