Another warning about tax-credit scholarships and other neo-vouchers, this one from Florida. Stories like this are part of why we believe bills attempting to establish or expand these programs need to have standards and accountability provisions. “I recently received a call from a community partner in the south end of Miami-Dade County about a Mom in need of support. Impressed by glossy ads for a small, local private school, she had enrolled her two children a few years ago in a small private school using one of Florida’s many “scholarships.” These vouchers were specifically for low-income parents to...
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Kansas…Let’s Not Learn the Tax-Cut Lesson All Over Again
We are carefully watching SB22. Tax policy is directly related to our ability to fund our schools. Kansas school supporters should remember what happened the last time our state tried big tax cuts and Kansas legislators should remember what happened to the legislators who were eventually held responsible for the damage. “You don’t have to be an economist to understand that giving even more tax breaks to multinational companies like Seaboard, Cargill and Spirit AeroSystems, which the Legislature has been trying to do for years now and is trying again with a pile of smelly favors that would...
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Leave a Comment Tax Credit Scholarship Expansion Passes Out of House and Senate Committees
HB 2068 and SB 61, the identical House and Senate versions of the tax credit scholarship expansion have passed out of the House K-12 Education Budget and Senate Education Committees. We oppose these bills because they move further from the original premise of the tax credit scholarship scheme by expanding student eligibility from those who qualify for free lunch (the Kansas proxy for at-risk) to those who also qualify for reduced-price lunch, and eliminates the requirement that students come from one of the 100 lowest-performing elementary schools. The expansion does not increase accountability of schools receiving the scholarships...
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Leave a Comment KASB’s Facebook Post on HB 2068, Tax Credit Scholarship Expansion
The COVID pandemic is unprecedented and temporary, but bills being pushed by anti-public education legislators would do long-term harm to our public schools and the children they serve. Our friends at KASB posted some good information about voucher programs and their reasons for opposing HB 2068. Make sure your legislators know where you stand. From KASB’s Facebook Post on January 25th: The Kansas Legislature will debate HB2068 which expands school voucher requirements in Kansas. We oppose HB2068 and here’s why. Vouchers Undermine the State’s Commitment to Public Education. Kansas public schools are a unifying factor in our state....
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