Friday, February 11, 2011
The Foundation for Educational Choice Legislative Round-Up is designed to give you a quick rundown of major school choice legislation around the country. Check back often to see how school choice legislation is progressing during the legislative session or sign up for email updates to stay up to date on major developments as they happen.
Georgia:
HB62: Rep. Mike Jacobs (R)
A bill to modify/improve the current special needs voucher (SB10-2007)
Requires notifying parents of special needs children that they are eligible for the scholarship, including notifying families at all public school IEP meetings. Allows eligible students to transfer to another school under the program at three different times throughout the year. Currently, struggling students often have to wait until the following school year to access a scholarship. HB 62 would allow families to enroll by August 1, October 1 and March 1. Also, establishes a quarterly deadline for disbursement of scholarship funds.
Clarifies that, for a student to be eligible, they must have been enrolled in public school for the prior year and have received an IEP at some point during that year. This was the intent of the law as originally written. However, a rule change in 2010 by the Department of Education requires that students not only be enrolled in public school for a full year, but have received special education services for that full year.
Indiana:
HB1003: Speaker Brian Bosma (R) and Rep. Bob Behning (R)
Amends the current scholarship tax-credit program as follows:
1. Increases the amount of the tax-credit according to the following schedule:
a. Fifty percent (50%) for a taxpayer’s taxable year beginning in 2010 or 2011.
b. Sixty percent (60%) for a taxpayer’s taxable year beginning in 2012.
c. Seventy percent (70%) for a taxpayer’s taxable year beginning in 2013.
d. Eighty percent (80%) for a taxpayer’s taxable year beginning in 2014 or a subsequent year.
2. Increases the eligibility pool to households whose income is not greater than 250% of FRL (up from 200% of FRL).
3. Increases the total program cap to $10 Million in any fiscal year that the total amount of credits awarded equals at least 90% of the total current program cap. The cap is not lowered if fewer credits are awarded in any fiscal year.
Creates the School Choice Scholarship Program (Voucher)
1. Program begins operation on July 1, 2012
2. Provides a scholarship amount equal to the lesser of
a. The total sum of tuition, transfer tuition, and fees associated with attending an eligible school, or
b. An amount equal to:
i. 90% of the state tuition support for households earning not more than 100% of FRL
*100% of FRL= $40,793 (family of four)
ii. 50% of the state tuition support for households earning not more than 200% of FRL
*200% of FRL= $81,586 (family of four)
iii. 25% of the state tuition support for households earning not more than 250% of FRL
*250% of FRL= $101,983 (family of four)
Eligibility Details
250% FRL
Grades 1 - 12
Prior year Public School
ELIGIBLE STUDENTS = 787,000 (high estimate)
Maryland:
SB 315: Building Opportunities for All Students and Teachers (BOAST), Sen. James DeGrange (D)
A bill authorizing a new scholarship tax-credit program
The BOAST Maryland Tax Credit will increase incentives for investment in education and will boost financial support for students and teachers in both public schools and nonpublic schools. BOAST will grant businesses a state income tax credit for their donations to education scholarship organizations for nonpublic school students (ESOs) or to organizations that provide innovative enrichment programs (IEOs) for public school students and school teachers who take professional development courses relating to state or national teacher certification. This proposal requires 60% of the funds be directed towards private school scholarships while 40% will be directed toward public school programming and/or teacher certification.
This modest proposal loosely resembles the popular EITC program in Pennsylvania.
Program Cap:
None. While support for this program is provided from non-governmental contributions, the general assembly will make an “appropriation” authorizing that the forgone tax revenue may be directed to a fund for use by ESOs and EIOs.
Amount of Credit: 75% of a business’s state income tax liability up to a maximum of $200,000.
Eligibility:
ESOs-Priority is given to students eligible for the federal FRL program.
IEOs-Support is provided on a first come, first served basis.
Montana:
SB282: Sen. Dave Lewis (R)
A bill authorizing a new scholarship tax-credit program
Program Cap: $3.5 Million for tax year 2011; if 80% of the total program cap is met then the cap is automatically increased by 30%.
Amount of Credit: up to 90% of the corporation’s total tax liability
Eligibility: Universal (with 10% of scholarship funds designated for Native-American Indian students)
Nebraska:
LB 50: Elementary and Secondary Educational Opportunity Act, Sen. Bob Krist (R)
A bill authorizing a new scholarship tax-credit program
Program Cap: $10 Million in 2011
$12 Million in 2012
$14 Million in 2013
$16 Million in 2014
$18 Million in 2015
$20 Million in 2016
Beginning in 2017, the program cap will be based on the $20 Million cap and adjusted upwards annually in accordance with the Consumer Price Index.
Amount of Credit: 65% for individuals, corporations, S-corps, LLCs, estates and trusts.
Eligibility:
+ Students who transfer from a public school to a non-public school;
+ Students entering kindergarten;
+ Students entering the 9th grade;
+ Additionally, the above students’ household incomes must not exceed:
*300% of FRL for grades K-8; or
*400% of FRL for grades 9-12.
New Jersey:
S1872/A2810: Opportunity Scholarship Act, Sen. Ray Lesniak (D) and Rep. Angel Fuentes (D)
A bill authorizing a new scholarship tax-credit pilot-program
The Opportunity Scholarship Act (OSA) is a pilot corporate scholarship tax-credit bill that would provide scholarships for low-income students attending the state’s lowest performing, chronically failing public schools. The scholarships would enable students to attend out-of-district public schools, or non-public schools anywhere in the state, that choose to participate in the program.
Program Cap:
Amount of Credit: 100% of CBT tax
Eligibility:
Who is eligible to receive a scholarship?
A low-income student attending a chronically failing public school in one of the pilot districts as defined by The Act. There are 130 such schools in the bill’s 13 pilot districts.
* A chronically failing school is one where 40% or more of students failed both the state’s math and language arts assessments for the last two years, or 65% or more of students failed either of these same tests for the last two years.
*Low-income is defined as no more than 250% of FRL, based on family size.
*No more than 25% of the total scholarship dollars can be used for low-income students who live in the pilot districts and attend participating non-public schools.
*The remaining 75% will provide scholarships for students currently attending chronically failing public schools in the pilot districts.
*If there are still scholarship funds remaining after public school students in chronically failing schools have applied, any low-income student residing in a district with a failing school may apply for a scholarship.
ELIGIBLE STUDENTS = 134,000 (high estimate)
South Carolina:
HB 3407/S 414: South Carolina Educational Opportunity Act
Includes provisions for personal and corporate tax credits, special needs, failing schools, homeschoolers and public school transfer fees.
Program Cap:
Amount of Credit:
Eligibility:
Public-to-Private Transfers – Current public school students are immediately eligible for the full credit or scholarship. Those transferring from a public school into a recognized homeschooling program would also enjoy immediate eligibility for the homeschooling credit or scholarship.
Entering Kindergartners- Kindergarten (K5) students enrolling in private schools will be eligible for a tax credit or scholarship their first year. As these students advance a grade level per year, the program expands to cover all K-12 students through a thirteen-year phase-in. The same thirteen-year phase-in would apply to Kindergarten (K5) students entering homeschooling programs.
Existing Private School Students – Students already enrolled in private schools become eligible for tax credits as the state realizes savings from the program. These credits draw from the pool of state savings until they grow to the size of the credits offered to all other students (50% of state spending per student in their local public school). Incumbent homeschool students would similarly enjoy access to credits as savings to the state is demonstrated, gradually growing to the maximum credit size offered to those type of students.
ELIGIBLE STUDENTS = 775,000 (estimate)
