Californians for School Choice has submitted a California constitutional ballot initiative for the November, 2022 election.
(See the full text of the Act and answers to Frequently Asked Questions.)
Since October, 2021 we have been collecting the required 1 million signatures (preferably over 1.5 million raw signatures) over 180 days to qualify the ballot initiative.
Under the Educational Freedom Act:
- Any K-12 child in California can have an Education Savings Account (ESA) established at the request of the parent or guardian (parents must Opt-In to the ESA program).
- Each ESA account will receive an equal share of Prop 98 state educational dollars – currently $14,000 per pupil per year.
- Parents can use those ESA funds to enroll and pay tuition at any accredited. This is not taxable to the parent. Parents who chose private education would pay any additional private educational expenses above the amount funded.
- Students in the public school or charter schools cannot receive funding for an ESA account.
- Homeschool students can also have an ESA to pay for K-12 qualified educational expense if they educate through an accredited private school independent study program.
- Homeschool students receiving education through a private school affidavit can establish an ESA and accrue funds there, but cannot access those funds until their child enrolls in an accredited school.
- Unspent ESA funds accrue in a low-risk portfolio. The student may use those funds up to age 30 for any accredited college or vocational training program (in-state, out-of-state, private or public). If the student moves out of state, the ESA no longer receives funding but the balance is preserved and is available for college or vocational training to age 30….=
The above came to California Catholic Daily in a January 14 email.
(Editor’s note: Consistent with their hostility to pro-life lay initiatives, the well-paid bureaucrats at the California Catholic Conference in Sacramento have issued a “confidential” statement attacking the initiative by Californians for School Choice.)
If the bishops don’t put out a public statement, then, they are not opposing this opportunity for educational choice for even middle and low-income families. And, if silence implies consent, they may be de facto endorsing it.
If they were to oppose it, they’d need to explain why.