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2001 SESSION

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HB 1351 Tuition assist. grants for students in nonsectarian private schools.

Introduced by: Thelma Drake | all patrons    ...    notes | add to my profiles

SUMMARY AS INTRODUCED:

Tuition assistance grants for students in nonsectarian private schools. Establishes a program of tuition assistance grants, to be administered by the Board of Education, for full-time, Virginia-resident students in grades six through 12 attending nonsectarian, private, accredited, nonprofit schools in the Commonwealth whose primary purpose is to provide elementary or secondary education and not to provide religious training or theological education. Board regulations will govern the administration of the program. The amount of any tuition assistance grant cannot exceed the annual state average per-pupil cost for public elementary and secondary education in Virginia for the previous year. Tuition grants can be used only for grades six through 12 in educational programs other than those providing religious training or theological education of an indoctrinating nature. The grants cannot be reduced by the student's receipt of other financial aid; however, no student can receive a grant which, when added to any other financial aid, would enable the student to receive total assistance in excess of the estimated cost of attending the qualified private school. Determinations of residency, defined by cross-reference to the Code provision defining residency for higher education purposes, are to be made by the enrolling qualified private school. To ensure consistency and fairness, the Board is to (i) require all participating qualified private schools to file student specific data; (ii) monitor the domiciliary status decisions of these schools; and (iii) make final decisions on any disputes between the schools and the grant recipients. Article VIII, § 10 of the Virginia Constitution generally prohibits appropriations of public funds to any school or institution "not owned or exclusively controlled by the State or some political subdivision thereof"; however, the section also authorizes the General Assembly to "appropriate funds for educational purposes which may be expended in furtherance of elementary, secondary, collegiate, or graduate education of Virginia students in public and nonsectarian private schools…."

The Supreme Court of Virginia, in Harrison v. Day (200 Va. 439 at 450, 106 S.E.2d 636 (1959)), has also construed this section to provide the General Assembly permissive authority to appropriate state funds for the education of Virginia students in nonsectarian private schools. In addition, a 1994 opinion of the Attorney General of Virginia echoes this interpretation of § 10 (1994 Op. Va. Att. Gen. 1).


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