131st MAINE LEGISLATURE
		LD 1798		LR 572(02)
	An Act to Support School Choice by Establishing Empowerment Scholarship Accounts
	Fiscal Note for Bill as Amended by Committee Amendment " "
	Committee: Education and Cultural Affairs
	Fiscal Note Required: Yes
Fiscal Note
Reduction in state subsidy - local school administrative units
			FY 2023-24	FY 2024-25	Projections  FY 2025-26	Projections  FY 2026-27
Net Cost (Savings)
	General Fund		$75,524	$107,191	$110,731	$114,398
Appropriations/Allocations
	General Fund		$75,524	$107,191	$110,731	$114,398
Fiscal Detail and Notes
	This bill establishes individual empowerment scholarship accounts that may be used by parents to pay for the education of their children outside of the public school system.  The bill includes ongoing General Fund appropriations of $75,524 in fiscal 2023-24 and $107,191 in fiscal year 2024-25 to a newly established Empowerment Scholarship Account Fund program within the Department of Education for one Management Analyst II position and related All Other costs associated with administering the program.
	The bill requires the Department of Education to deposit 90% of the state subsidy for each child approved for an empowerment scholarship account that would otherwise be paid to the child's local school administrative unit (SAU) into an account established for that child.  It also requires the SAU to deposit 90% of its local contribution attributable to that child into the child's empowerment scholarship account.  The impact to individual SAUs will depend on the number of students in each SAU that participate in the program each year.
	Additional costs to the Office of the State Treasurer associated with establishing and overseeing individual empowerment scholarship accounts can be absorbed within existing budgeted resources. Additional costs to the Office of the State Controller associated with required transfers of funds in connection with the closure of accounts can be absorbed within existing budgeted resources.