| Vote Recommendation | Economic Freedom | Property Rights | Personal Responsibility | Limited Government | Individual Liberty |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No | Neutral | Neutral | Negative | Negative | Neutral |
Summary: Under current law, public funding for child-care services is not provided to public school students who have children. HB 580 changes this law and uses the compensatory education allotment as a revenue stream to fund child-care services and transportation for child-care reasons for students who have children. The purpose of using this fund is based on the reason "...that the compensatory education allotment is a special weighted allotment in the Foundation School Program used to support educationally disadvantaged students, including pregnant students, and such allotment funding covers certain permissible costs that are supplementary to the regular education program and that currently do not include child-care services" (Bill Analysis).
Analysis: The state has the legitimate role to provide a system of public education but is not tasked constitutionally with the requirement to ensure that all obstacles to education are eliminated. HB 580 enlarges the scope and cost of government by using public funds to pay child-care services for students who have children. The state should not socialize the cost of child care for public school students who have children. We oppose HB 580.