As the 2018 legislative session enters its second month legislators have introduced a bill that would create education savings grants.

The grants would allow parents to use state taxpayer money to pay for private or home schooling. According to the bill, starting in the 2019-2020 school year students entering kindergarten or students who attended public school in 2018 would receive approximately $5,000 to $6,000 in state money to pay for private education.

Senator Amy Sinclair tells KNIA/KRLS News the state has many individuals receiving public assistance to feed their children and to provide medical care which the state does not dictate where they must go to receive care. Sinclair says educating the public is not “a system of public schools, the public are the individuals being educated.”

Sinclair says when the state directs individuals to go to a particular system they are doing something different with education than they do with every other direct public benefit. Senate File 2091 is meant for public school families and would not be available to parents of students who already attend a nonpublic school or who are currently home-schooled. Critics say the bill would be devastating for the public schools, and would be like providing public money to pay for private pools or golf courses that not all members of the public could afford to access.