DeVos to pitch federal tax credit for ‘educational freedom’
Advertisement
Read this article for free:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Digital Subscription
One year of digital access for only $205*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*First annual payment billed as $205.00 + GST for one year. This annual subscription will automatically renew at $233.00 + GST every 52 weeks (10% off the regular annual price of $259.35). Offer available to new and qualified returning subscribers only. Cancel any time.
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Add Free Press access to your Brandon Sun subscription for only an additional
$1 for the first 4 weeks*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*Your next Brandon Sun subscription payment will increase by $1.00 and you will be charged $17.95 plus GST for four weeks. After four weeks, your payment will increase to $24.95 plus GST every four weeks.
Read unlimited articles for free today:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 28/02/2019 (2726 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
The Trump administration on Thursday proposed federal tax credits of up to $5 billion a year for donations to groups offering scholarships that would help students attend private schools, apprenticeships and other educational programs.
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos is pushing the plan in a renewed bid to expand school choice after earlier initiatives failed. Her support for tuition vouchers and charter schools has been central to her education policy but has yet to take hold in Congress.
In the tax credits, however, education officials see a more politically appealing path to school choice.
Anticipating the criticism, DeVos argued that the proposal isn’t an attack on public education. She said it wouldn’t steer “a single cent” away from local public schools. Instead, it would open new money for scholarships and let states decide many of the details.
“The key element of the proposal is freedom for all involved,” DeVos wrote in a Thursday opinion piece in USA Today. “Eligible students, families, teachers and schools, as determined by their states, all can participate at will and any can elect not to participate if that’s the better choice for them.”
Her plan, called the Education Freedom Scholarships and Opportunity Act, would allot each state a certain limit in federal tax credits for scholarships. States could decide which scholarship groups are covered, along with the size of scholarships and which students are eligible.
Eighteen states have already adopted similar programs on their own, often aimed at students from low-income families. A federal tax credit was discussed as part of last year’s tax overhaul but never made it into the bill.
The new plan is being proposed in Congress through bills introduced by Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and Rep. Bradley Byrne of Alabama, both Republicans. It will face a difficult time in the House after Democrats gained a majority in the November mid-term elections.
DeVos’ plan would give individuals and businesses a dollar-for-dollar tax credit for donations to scholarship groups that receive a seal of approval from their states. For every dollar given, it would take a dollar off the donor’s tax bill.
Individuals would be capped at giving up to 10 per cent of their gross income, while businesses would be capped at 5 per cent of their taxable income.
Supporters of similar state programs have said it gives students better choices, especially those who would otherwise be funneled to low-performing local schools. But critics have called it a “backdoor voucher program” that still aims to privatize public education.
___
Follow Collin Binkley on Twitter at https://twitter.com/cbinkley
