“Lawmakers added a school-choice provision to their tax plan Friday to allow direct payment of tax credit-supported scholarships to religious schools where parents tithe as payment for their children’s tuition.
“A House-Senate tax conference committee added that to the latest tax bill, scheduled for a midnight vote on the Senate floor.
“Sen. Les Donovan, R-Wichita, said the provision is important to implementing a school-choice program passed last year that offers 70 percent tax credits to corporations donating to scholarships for at-risk students to leave public schools and go to private ones…
“Rep. John Bradford, R-Lansing, asked in a Republican caucus meeting Thursday that that original content be put back in. He was assured by House tax chairman Marvin Kleeb, R-Overland Park, that they would be.
“Rep. Melissa Rooker, R-Fairway, said she was surprised that the school-choice provision came back to life in the caucus meeting.
“’In the current fiscal climate, why are we looking for expansion of tax credits when we can’t afford the ones we have?’ she said.
“And although it’s called a scholarship program, the tax credit for donors means ‘it’s still state money getting laundered into the private (school) system that way,’ she said.”
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