§18-9A-25. Funding for Hope Scholarship Program.

(a) Notwithstanding any other provision of this article to the contrary, for fiscal year 2023 and each fiscal year thereafter, in addition to all other amounts required by this article, the Department of Education shall include in its budget request, and the Governor shall include in each budget bill submitted to the Legislature, an appropriation to the Department of Education for the greater of an amount not less than two percent of net public school enrollment adjusted for state aid purposes or the total number of eligible Hope Scholarship applications received by the Hope Scholarship Board, if available, multiplied by the prior year’s statewide average net state aid allotted per pupil. The amount appropriated shall be transferred by the Department of Education to the Hope Scholarship Board to be used solely to meet the Hope Scholarship Program obligations set forth in §18-31-1 et seq. of this code except as otherwise provided in this section. The Governor shall also provide in each budget for the reappropriation for expenditure during the ensuing fiscal year the balance to the Department of Education that was not transferred to the Hope Scholarship Board due to an accumulated balance from prior years as provided under subsection (b) of this section.

(b) Each fiscal year, the amount required to be requested and included in the budget bill for appropriation under subsection (a) of this section shall be reduced by the sum of:

(1) Any unused accumulated amounts transferred to the Hope Scholarship Board for these purposes from previous years; and

(2) Any unused appropriations made to the Department of Education for these purposes that were not transferred to the Hope Scholarship Board due to an accumulated balance from prior years.