Tuesday, January 29, 2008

General Assembly: Delegate Chris Saxman's education tax bill - UPDATED

****Update: There was no opposition to HB 1164, but it struggled to get out of committee. The original vote was 2-2. There was a motion to lay the bill on the table (fail it), but the motion was not seconded. It was then moved to carry the bill over to the next meeting. In the end, the bill was reported out of committee to be heard before the full Education committee later this week. ****


The House of Delegates will debate a bill this week that provides a tax credit to businesses and individuals who donate to scholarship programs. HB 1164 passed out of a House committee on Monday by a vote of 13-7.

The bill, patroned by Delegate Chris Saxman (R-20, Staunton), would provide better education opportunities for many Virginia students by allowing for scholarship funds with money donated by businesses and individuals receiving a tax credit for such donations. Many private scholarship programs annually turn kids away simply because there are always far more applicants than can be accommodated. This bill will encourage more donations to these important programs.

Because a majority of the Virginia General Assembly is controlled by the Virginia Education Association, the Virginia School Boards Association, and the Virginia PTA, legislation that provides any financial assistance for families who choose non-public schools has never been successful. Those groups are vehimantly opposed to parental choice in education.

While Delegate Saxman's bill does not provide a direct tax credit to families, it does allow for the creation of scholorship funds and promote donations to those funds through tax credits. Such programs will provide scholarships to students to be able to attend non-public schools. A tuition tax credit bill sponsored by Delegate Bob Marshall (R-13, Manassas) died in a House sub-committee late last week.

Please contact your Delegate and urge them to support HB 1164.

Cross-posted at SixtyFour81.com
Action Alert from the Family Foundation

1 comment:

dougo said...

There is nothing preventing any student from attending any school of his or her choice. Additionally, there is no restrictions relating to individuals or companies funding scholarships.

This is liberalism, and social engineering,
at its finest. You are relying on the goverment to partially fund private educations.

Next time conservatives feel the need to bash big government liberals, think of this scheme.