HB 1078 Summary

• Removes requirement that parents certify eligible students have been accepted into schools qualified to provide special education services before receiving Education Scholarship Account (ESA) funds.

• Eliminates the waitlist for ESA program enrollment and changes funding eligibility from a capped 500 students annually to all eligible students, with each student's ESA funded at the state student base amount as determined under the Mississippi Student Funding Formula.

• Changes reimbursement payment frequency from quarterly to monthly for service providers and parents.

• Authorizes the State Department of Education to contract with third-party vendors to administer the ESA program.

• Creates the "Mississippi Foster Child Education Scholarship Account Program Act" (FESA) to establish education scholarships for foster children in state custody who have been in temporary placement exceeding six months, with similar funding and program structure as ESA, administered by the Department of Child Protection Services.