This bill creates a new state program called the empowerED scholarship program: a Washington education savings account program for foster care students administered by the Student Achievement Council. The council must annually calculate and deposit scholarship amounts into participating students' accounts until program funds are exhausted. The act sets maximum annual scholarship amounts ($12,700 for students without disabilities and a higher amount for students with disabilities tied to a special education cost multiplier plus $12,700), requires those amounts to be adjusted for inflation beginning in fiscal year 2027, establishes a statutory priority order for awards, and adds definitions and qualified expense categories (including tuition at private schools, curricula and materials for home-based instruction, tutoring, assessments, therapies and assistive technology, postsecondary and workforce program costs, certain transportation and technology expenses). The bill creates procedures and conditions for participation: parents must sign a written agreement that obligates them to withdraw or not enroll the student in public school, enroll in private school or follow home-based instruction law, use scholarship funds only for qualified expenses, and keep expense documentation. Agreements may be terminated by the parent or automatically if the student becomes ineligible; remaining funds in terminated accounts revert to the program account. The council must adopt rules, may contract with an account manager (subject to accounting standards and audits), must allow parent access to account funds via a state-managed debit card or other electronic means, and must submit an annual report to the Legislature with specified data. The act creates the empowerED scholarship program account in the custody of the state treasurer, specifies authorized deposits and expenditure controls, and amends treasurer trust fund investment income distribution language to include this account. The bill also creates a new tax credit mechanism to incentivize contributions to the program: beginning January 1, 2027, a tax credit equal to 100 percent of approved cash contributions to the empowerED scholarship program/account is allowed against certain taxes, subject to an annual calendar-year cap of $300 million, application and payment deadlines, approval procedures, carryforward rules, and forfeiture/reauthorization of unused approvals. The act adds the council’s administration duty to chapter 28B.77 RCW, places sections of the act into new chapters in Title 28A and Title 82 RCW, includes provisions on best interest determinations and educational continuity for students in dependency proceedings, requires shared or apportioned transportation costs with DCYF reimbursing half of excess transportation costs for students in DCYF care, and sets some expiration and effective dates (Section 12 expires July 1, 2030; Section 13 takes effect July 1, 2030). Certain details are incomplete or not provided in the extracted text, including the identity of the department that will administer the tax credit application process, full text of some referenced sections (for example parts of Sec. 5, Sec. 14, and Sec. 22), procedural specifics for the state-managed debit card and oversight, and the numeric value or calculation detail of the special education cost multiplier referenced.

If enacted, the state would create the empowerED scholarship program that deposits substantial annual scholarships into Washington education savings accounts for foster care students whose parent or guardian signs an agreement to withdraw the child from public school and enroll them in private school or follow home-based instruction rules. Parents would be required to use and document the funds only for a long list of qualified education expenses (private tuition and textbooks, tutoring, curricula, tests, technology used primarily for education, transportation to educational activities, therapies, and postsecondary costs). The Student Achievement Council would run the program, deposit awards annually until program funds are exhausted, adopt rules, contract account managers if needed, provide parents access via a debit card or other electronic means, and report and submit accounts to audit; awards are prioritized for prior participants and siblings and must be adjusted for inflation beginning in fiscal year 2027. The people most affected are foster care students and their parents/caregivers, who would gain a large new funding option and more ability to choose private or home-based education and related services; the Student Achievement Council would take on new administrative, reporting, contracting, and oversight responsibilities; public school districts would be relieved of educational obligations for participating students when parents sign the required release and could face student departures while transportation costs are to be apportioned or partially reimbursed by DCYF; taxpayers can contribute and receive a 100% credit against certain state sales and use taxes beginning January 1, 2027 subject to application rules and a $300 million annual cap. Important implementation details remain unclear from the provided text, including full account-creation rules, the procedures for debit card oversight and auditing, which agency administers the tax-credit applications, and the numeric value of the special education cost multiplier used to calculate disability-adjusted awards.