Rep. Bradford has filed a bill to expand the tax credit scholarship program. Among other things, the bill takes away the requirement that students qualify as “at-risk” or attending a Title I focus or priority school, takes away the requirement that students have attended public school the prior year, expands the tax credit from 70% of the corporation’s income tax liability to 100% of ANY TAXPAYER’S income tax liability, and raises the cap of the program from $10 million to $12.5 million. We oppose this expansion for all the same reasons we opposed the original bill and last year’s expansion. These amendments further clarify this bill is not about “saving” children from “failing schools”, nor is it about philanthropy. (A 100% tax credit is tax avoidance, not philanthropy.) It is about diverting additional tax dollars (which we don’t seem to have an overabundance of) away from public schools and into private hands without any corresponding accountability.

Here’s a link to the bill: http://www.kslegislature.org/li/b2015_16/measures/documents/hb2457_00_0000.pdf

Here’s a link to the ALEC model bill (look familiar?): http://www.alec.org/model-policy/the-great-schools-tax-credit-program-act-scholarship-tax-credits/