H219 makes various changes to laws affecting charter schools by removing restrictions on enrollment growth for low performance, permitting admission of out-of-state students and foreign exchange students, and allowing counties to appropriate property taxes to fund capital needs.
The Senate passed H219 on August 16, 2023, by a vote of 27 to 18, following the Governor’s veto. We have assigned pluses to the noes because charter schools are government-funded schools by another name, and education is not the role of government. A child’s education is the responsibility of—and a fundamental right of choice retained by—his or her parents. Educational freedom cannot be achieved by forcing other citizens to furnish their tax dollars for a compulsory, failing, and government-controlled K-12 school system.