School voucher proposal is filled with hidden costs for students — and Kansas’ budget

Let me be very clear: The state of Kansas is once again trying to pass a school voucher bill under the euphemism of “student empowerment accounts.” As introduced, HB 2550, or the Student Empowerment Act, would set up a system for transferring tax dollars from public school funds to individual accounts for use at “qualifying private schools.” According to the bill, these accounts would be managed by the state treasurer’s office.

As your state treasurer, it is my responsibility to make sure sound policy is made for Kansans. This bill has fiscal implications that need to be considered, but I also believe it is not in the overall best interest of our public school system, nor the students its sponsors claim it would benefit.

It would be very difficult to establish this program by the bill’s projected implementation date, and administrative costs for a program like this are high. The implementation date outlined in the bill is July 1, 2023. In order for this program to function correctly, a bidding process needs to be completed to identify a “wallet” vendor that could process school-related transactions. Wallet vendors process frequent, lower-dollar transactions electronically.

For one example of how time-intensive implementing new software is, our office is currently working on updating its unclaimed property database. It is at the 10-month mark and still in the procurement stage. Setting up a new program correctly takes time, and the voucher program would be no different.

These student empowerment accounts would need to be managed by a vendor selected during a bidding process. One vendor that would likely be considered is ClassWallet, which charges $10 per student per year. Additionally, it charges a 2.5% fee per transaction in each account. Base student aid is set by the Kansas Board of Education and is currently $4,846. If we factor in the 2.5% fee, it would mean an additional $121.15 in fees on top of the $10 annual fee for each student.

This still does not account for staffing costs to administer the program out of the treasurer’s office. Realistically, the staffing needs would be greater. Arizona has an established program and administers approximately 10,000 accounts with a staff of more than 20, costing $1.2 million per year. This is all money that could be saved in the general fund and instead allocated directly to schools for their needs.

I also have auditing concerns with these proposed accounts because of the limited scope of auditing outlined in the bill. The bill would allow only one audit, selected randomly, each year. This would likely not be a sufficient to detect potentially fraud. Public schools, by contrast, are audited annually. Public money carries with it a responsibility to the public.

The difficulty with vouchers is that they began to privatize a system not designed to be privatized. Our school boards provide a process for the public to play a role in the accountability public officials have for using tax dollars. This is why we have established school boards.

Other states have had notable issues with improper use of funds with these types of accounts. In our comparison to Arizona, we found audits showing funds for vouchers were spent on food, clothes, entertainment, gift cards, a haunted house, and even a family planning clinic in one instance. Arizona has recovered less than 10% of these misused funds.

Even when funds are spent on education-related expenses, there have been cases where parents have exchanged items they originally purchased for education purposes for store credit or cash.

There are numerous questions this legislation does not currently address. They must be carefully considered by lawmakers so that we don’t end up creating significant logistical or legal challenges down the road.

Ultimately, public schools are a public good — and one that is clearly outlined as a right in the Kansas Constitution. Your tax dollars aren’t intended to be tuition for your student to go to public school. They’re an investment in the community. Funding public schools helps everyone because it increases property values, brings employers to Kansas, and lowers poverty and crime, among additional benefits. As a Kansan, you benefit from that investment of tax dollars whether or not you make the choice to have a child in public schools — and you do still have the choice to send your child to public school or not. But I don’t believe we should be utilizing tax dollars for that choice.

There are many things I contribute to as a taxpayer that I may never use or hope to never use. These include fire, police and public infrastructure— but they all add to the community benefit. Let us return to making our decisions in this state based on the common good.