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West Virginia House of Delegates passes retooled education savings account bill

By Steven Allen Adams, The Intelligencer

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The West Virginia House of Delegates voted Thursday to approve, for a second time, a bill creating an education savings account program after the House Finance Committee fixed issues with the legislation.

House Bill 2013 creating the Hope Scholarship passed 57-42 Thursday after it previously passed 60-39 on Feb. 18. Delegates George Miller, R-Morgan, Jeffrey Pack, R-Raleigh, and Steve Westfall, R-Jackson, voted for the bill on Feb. 18, but against the bill Thursday.

The Hope Scholarship would give parents the option to use a portion of their per-pupil expenditure from the state School Aid Formula for educational expenses, such as private school tuition, home tutoring, learning aids and other acceptable expenses. If passed, West Virginia would become the seventh state with an ESA program.

“There’s more than one way to educate our students,” said House Education Committee Chairman Joe Ellington, R-Mercer. “This is just one small part to take that population of kids out that need a different environment to learn and excel. Isn’t that the goal that we’re trying to achieve?”

To read more: https://www.theintelligencer.net/news/top-headlines/2021/03/west-virginia-house-of-delegates-passes-retooled-education-savings-account-bill/

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