Fordham has written about tax credit scholarships before ? do they increase competition and improve traditional public schools? In what instances are they/aren't they constitutional? ? and much of that has been about Florida's tax credit program. (Florida has some other interesting things going on, by the way.)
According to recent news, Ohio may be joining the ranks of Florida, Arizona, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island for a tax credit scholarship program that in many ways would be more comprehensive than its siblings.
Last week Rep. Kris Jordan (R-Delaware) introduced House Bill 610, a piece of legislation that would create a $20 million tax credit scholarship available to all students across Ohio regardless of zip code or school assignment. (Ohio's voucher program typically draws students from urban areas, as eligibility is contingent on whether home schools are persistently failing.) The tax credit scholarship is not just liberal geographically, but would be available to students attending public or private schools (so families having a hard time keeping up with private school tuition could get a boost).? Other things to know about the program:
- It would be funded through both corporate and personal tax credits (eligible donors include financial institutions, dealers in intangibles/insurance companies, pass-through entity owners, public utility companies, and single or married individuals); the tax credit is dollar-for-dollar with maximum donation amounts of $1,000 per person, $2,500 for married couple, $300,000 for a corporation.
- It would award $4,250 annually to elementary students to use for private school (same amount as the EdChoice Scholarship) and $7,000 for high school (way more than Ohio's voucher). An educational scholarship organization (ESO) would manage the awards.
- Eligibility is relatively broad ? a student must be a resident of Ohio and have a family income of 300 percent or below of free and reduced-price lunch eligibility (that's just over $122,000 for a family of four ? so middle-income families won't be priced out), and can't be receiving another type of publicly funded scholarship.
The bill also lays the groundwork for equitable funding as it stipulates that the scholarship amounts would go up by the same percentage as increases in foundation formula funding for public schools.
Stay tuned for more on the proposal. In the meantime, kudos to School Choice Ohio for all its efforts on this front. They have instructions for voicing support for the measure, so if you are Ohio-based and have a few moments please consider the following message from SCO:
Call or e-mail your personal legislator to ask them to support House Bill 610 to create tax credit scholarships and even sign on as a cosponsor (if they're not already listed). Go to www.schoolchoiceadvocates.org and find the contact information for your personal legislators. It is so important for these representatives to hear from you. They are in office to represent you but they can't know what you support unless you tell them!
- Jamie Davies O'Leary
