State Actions Update: A Dozen States Advance Education Legislation, Budgets in June 2024

While the majority of states have wrapped their legislative sessions, about a dozen states are still making progress on student-centered policies and education budgets. 

ExcelinEd in Action engages and reports on state education bill action each month on our blog. Below are the key legislative highlights we observed in June 2024, followed by a detailed, state-by-state recap of education bills that advanced last month.  

Here’s what you might have missed. 

Three governors signed education bills into law.  

• Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry created a phased-in universal education scholarship program, provided for K-3 math screeners and banned cell phone use in schools during instructional hours. 
• New York Gov. Kathy Hochul protected children from harmful social media algorithms. 
• Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt established screeners and interventions for struggling readers, banned the harmful teaching practice of three-cueing in instructional materials and required that curriculum align to the science of reading. 

Three states moved their state budgets along in the legislative process. If adopted: 

• Arizona‘s budget addresses budget shortfalls, provides charter school assistance and modifies how the state’s universal Empowerment Scholarship Account (ESA) program is administered, including allowable expenses, auditing procedures and verifying student eligibility. 
• North Carolina would fully fund the state’s education choice programs. The House version would improve teacher pay and advanced teaching roles policies. 
• South Carolina would provide for high-quality instructional materials and tutoring in math, fund the state’s ESA program, improve teacher pay and eliminate classroom distractions by banning cell phones during the school day. 

Learn more about the other education bills still advancing in Delaware, Louisiana, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Ohio and Pennsylvania below. 

State-by-State Education Bill Breakdown – June 2024 

 Arizona 

• Arizona concluded its legislative session with the passage of a $16.1 billion budget after negotiations to address a $1.4 billion shortfall. Gov. Hobbs signed the budget, which increases funding levels for K-12 education, state support and charter assistance. It modifies the Arizona Empowerment Scholarship Account (ESA) program by updating permissible expenses, ensuring tutors are not under disciplinary action and introducing risk-based auditing procedures for annual ESA audits. It also mandates that the Arizona Department of Education verify student eligibility for ESA renewal, maintain an online database of allowable expenses and restrict ESA funds from being used by students enrolled in public or charter schools. Additionally, the bill repeals certain higher education programs and funds and sets new administrative provisions for teacher contracts and failing schools’ tutoring funds. 

 Delaware 

• Sen. Laura Sturgeon’s SS1 for SB252 passed the House floor and heads to Gov. John Carney’s desk for consideration. The bill requires an audit of educator preparation programs to ensure they comply with the science of reading legislation that passed during the 2021 legislative session.   

Louisiana 

• Gov. Jeff Landry signed four bills into law:  
  • Sen. Rick Edmond’s SB 313 creates the LA GATOR Scholarship program, a phased-in universal Education Savings Account program. Louisiana becomes the eighth state in the nation to adopt a universal ESA program.  
  • Rep. Kim Carver’s HB 267 requires math screeners to be administered three times a year for students in grades K-3. 
  • Sen. Beth Mizell’s SB 207 prohibits K-12 students from possessing cell phones during instructional hours starting in the 2024-25 school year. 
  • Rep. Dennis Bamburg’s HB 762 lowers expectations for students by allowing them to pursue the state’s career diploma by taking the ACT WorkKeys or the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery test in lieu of taking the ACT exam. 

• The Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education approved a new school accountability framework. The new framework will provide a simpler, more rigorous evaluation of student achievement by grading schools based on the percentage of students who are growing academically, demonstrating proficiency and are college and career ready.   

 Michigan 

• Rep. Carol Glanville’s HB 5649, which would require schools to offer a course in computer science, passed the House and heads to its first Senate committee stop. 

 New Hampshire 

• After policy differences between chambers were resolved by a conference committee, a bill to expand the state’s Education Freedom Accounts program failed in the House. HB 1665 would have increased the education choice program’s income cap from 350% to 425% of federal poverty level (from $109,200 to $132,600 for a family of four) and extended eligibility to 54% of New Hampshire families.   
• Rep. Cordelli’s teacher pipeline bill, HB 1298, was sent to a committee of conference where it failed to advance. The bill would have established conditions for local school districts to hire adjunct teachers. 

New Jersey 

• Sen. M. Teresa Ruiz’s S 2644  passed the legislature and heads to Gov. Phil Murphy’s desk. The comprehensive early literacy bill, which combines S 2645 and S2646, would establish a working group on student literacy, mandate universal K-3 literacy screenings, require parent notification, create a resource center to aid schools in adopting high-quality instructional materials and require professional development in evidence-based literacy instruction for K-6 educators. 

New York 

• Gov. Kathy Hochul signed A8148/S7694, companion bills by Assemblywoman Nily Rozic and Sen. Andrew Gounardes, to create the New York SAFE For Kids Act. The act allows parents to prevent their children from receiving social media posts suggested by a platform’s algorithm and blocks platforms from sending notifications to minors between midnight and 6 a.m. 

North Carolina 

The House version of North Carolina’s budget, HB 263, passed the House and awaits consideration in the Senate. The House budget bill would: 

• Provide $248 million for the state’s Opportunity Scholarship Program in the upcoming school year and $215.5 million for the 2025-26 school year to help clear the current school choice waitlist (nearly 55,000 students) and avoid future waitlists. 
• Provide $24.6 million for the Personal Education Student Accounts (ESA) for Children with Disabilities Program to help clear the estimated waitlist (more than 2,000 students). 
• Require data collection and reporting at schools with Advanced Teaching Roles (ATR). 
• Provide class size flexibility for ATR schools in grades K-3 until June 30, 2026.  
• Increase teacher starting salaries to $44,000 per year.  

The Senate version of North Carolina’s budget, HB 317, passed the Senate and awaits consideration by the House. The Senate budget bill:

• Provides the same funding for the Opportunity Scholarship Program 
• $24.7 million for the ESA for Children with Disabilities Program. 
• Codifies current practices of the Advanced Teaching Roles program.  
• Enacts the Teacher Salary Schedule for 2024-2025, which would provide an average 3% teacher pay raise. 

The North Carolina General Assembly temporarily adjourned as they continue to work through a compromise on the state’s budget adjustments. They are anticipated to convene throughout the summer and fall to pass a finalized budget adjustment bill.  

Ohio 

• Sen. Kristina Roegner’s SB 208 passed the Senate but stalled before the legislature adjourned for summer break. This education choice bill would provide an enrollment exception for children of active-duty military parents in otherwise closed or restricted districts. 
• Rep. Gayle Manning’s SB 407 stalled in its first House committee before the legislature adjourned for summer break. The bill would place burdensome reporting requirements on private schools that accept education choice vouchers. 

Oklahoma 

• Gov. Kevin Stitt signed Sen. Adam Pugh’s early literacy bill, SB 362, which would require screening and interventions for students with reading deficiencies, ban the harmful teaching practice of three-cueing from instructional materials and require the state’s K-3 reading curriculum to be based in the science of reading. 

 Pennsylvania 

• The Pennsylvania Senate passed three bills that now head to their first House committee stop: 
  • Sen. Ryan Aument’s and Sen. Anthony Williams’ early literacy bill, SB 801, would require evidence-based reading instruction, development of a high-quality instructional materials list, teacher professional development grounded in the science of reading, screeners to identify struggling readers and individual reading plans to provide interventions. The bill also explicitly bans the harmful teaching practice of three-cueing in instruction and curriculum. 
  • Sen. Aument’s SB 1154 would establish the Performance-based Funding Council to create a new system for distributing funds to Pennsylvania’s state-related universities based on performance metrics. 
  • Sen. David Argall’s SB 1155 would create the Higher Education Task Force within the Department of Education to recommend strategies for repurposing underutilized facilities, increasing community college transfers and expanding educational opportunities. 

• Sen. Aument’s SB 1207 passed its first committee and heads to the Senate floor. The bill would establish the voluntary Cell Phone Lockable Bag Pilot Program and fund the purchase of lockable bags for student cell phones to improve school safety and track the impact on student mental health, bullying, violence and academic performance. 
• Rep. Aerion Abney’s HR 481 was adopted by the full House. The House Resolution directs the Legislative Budget and Finance Committee to conduct a study and make recommendations on non-academic barriers students face getting accepted into career and technical education programs and identifying the barriers. 
• Rep. Emily Kinkead’s HB 897 passed its first Senate committee and heads to the Senate floor. This college pathways bill would improve the transfer of credits between public institutions of higher education in Pennsylvania. The bill mandates guaranteed admission for community college students with associate’s degrees into parallel baccalaureate programs 

South Carolina 

The South Carolina legislature passed the state budget, H 5100, which now awaits Gov. Henry McMaster’s final action. The budget would: 

• Provide $11.5 million for the Palmetto Math Project to provide high-quality instructional materials and high dosage tutoring in math. 
• Provide $30 million for the Education Scholarship Trust Fund program to fund 5,000 students with education scholarship accounts.  
• Prohibit cell phones during the school day.  
• Provide $200 million to increase the starting teacher salary in the state from $42,500 to $47,000 per year, while also giving veteran teachers more opportunities for pay increases.  
• $5 million for an educator strategic compensation pilot program, allowing districts to apply for funds to reward effective teachers, particularly those in critical-need geographic areas.