Tax deductions for private school scholarships (HB 1133) (Smyrna, Mableton: credit, house)

[plessthanpointohfive]

This is outrageous!

hb1133.html

House Bill 1133 (COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE)
By: Representatives Casas of the 103rd, Ehrhart of the 36th, Lindsey of the 54th, Lewis of the 15th, Stephens of the 164th, and others

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT

To amend Titles 20 and 48 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating, respectively, to education and revenue and taxation, so as to provide for a program of educational improvement; to provide for definitions; to provide for student scholarship organizations; to provide for procedures; to provide for an income tax credit with respect to qualified education expenses; to provide for an income tax exclusion with respect to certain scholarship amounts; to provide for conditions and limitations; to provide for powers, duties, and authority of the state revenue commissioner with respect to the foregoing; to provide for related matters; to provide an effective date; to provide for applicability; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes.


This sounds okay, right, but if you continue to read....


(2) 'Qualified school or program' means a nonpublic primary school or secondary school that:
(A) Is accredited or in the process of becoming accredited by one or more entities

You can read a more lay description here:

Georgia PTA

And local school systems were hit yet again when the voucher bill got out of committee, SB 458, vouchers were added to the IE2 bill, HB 1209, and tax credits for private school tuition received a DO PASS from Senate Finance, HB 1133. Vouchers take students from schools to pay for tuition at private schools and tax credits limit revenue collections by the state, in this case a $50 million limitation.

[Doctor_T]

Long time lurker - first time poster. Great forum!

Why is school choice a bad thing? My family and I currently reside in Duluth (Forsyth County) and the schools are great - top ranked in the state. For a variety of reasons, though, we are moving to Smyrna. Our number one concern is the quality of the schools. Our three children will attend Nickajack, Campbell MS, Campbell HS. Nickajack and Campbell HS seem marginally ok, but I haven't heard good things about Campbell MS. Another alternative is IIA-Smyrna (I've been keeping track of them for the last year). I think they have the potential to be good, but they're still working out the kinks - including a permanent location.

Bottom line - we will probably end up sending our 11yo and 4yo to a local Christian School. We went to their open house and were very impressed - much more so than when we visited IIA-Smyrna.

I am ALL FOR public schools if they perform, but I doubt if that's the case with many of the schools in Smyrna/Mableton. I resent the fact that I'll be forced to pay $5000/yr in school taxes for sub-par schools, and then pay another $13,000 for private schools. I, for one, am all for school vouchers! I think if public schools have to compete for students, and are subject to "pay for performance", that everyone will win in the end!

[lastminutemom]

Much of this legislation is targetted at very low performing schools or to rescue the students in Clayton County.

As a big proponent of public schools, I believe that some schools/systems aren't getting the job done. (I could give you examples. Ok, here is one. One local system, promoted to middle school principal at the lowest performing middle school in the state a woman who had never worked at a middle school. She had been a marginally successful elementary school principal. Two years later and the middle school is no better.) At some point, something needs to be done to shake up the status quo. The students whose parents have the least resources to make choices (Doc T why move somewhere you weren't confident in the schools?) are often stuck in really horrible places.

There are definitely public schools out there, that if they went away, the world would be a better place.

When a school hasn't made any progress in many years, it is time for some kind of change.

[lastminutemom]

Originally Posted by Doctor_T

I am ALL FOR public schools if they perform, but I doubt if that's the case with many of the schools in Smyrna/Mableton. I resent the fact that I'll be forced to pay $5000/yr in school taxes for sub-par schools, and then pay another $13,000 for private schools. I, for one, am all for school vouchers! I think if public schools have to compete for students, and are subject to "pay for performance", that everyone will win in the end!

Actually, there is no research to support this and there are areas (Washington DC and Minneapolis MN) where vouchers are quite prevalent. What generally happens is creaming, the most involved families, committed to education, pull their kids out and utilize the vouchers. (Better for those families, but really doesn't result in much improvement in the local school.)

The challenges facing public schools are societal in nature and unfortunately, not much can fix them, unless society recognizes them and changes it ways.

[JoeP]

Perhaps if money were dispersed evenly across the state, then there could be an argument for vouchers, but given the already disadvantage
that "underachieving" schools face, vouchers would only make it worse.

[gt6974a]

I don't see a problem.

You pay property tax until you're 62. Most of the tax is for schools. If you choose not to use the school why not get a tax credit?

Are you also against 529 plans?

Seems fair to me.

I also read this: 'All the versions of this bill contain an assessment freeze for property taxes.'

That's probably a good thing considering many areas would actually go down in value, so less tax. But we all know that would never happen.

Bet the teacher's union is up in arms.

Oh and I have two sister's who teach in Cobb Public Schools.

I'm sure the public school system will survive.

[plessthanpointohfive]

Sorry, you don't want to use the public schools then that's your choice. Don't complain about your situation. I don't have any sympathy for people who can both pay high property taxes and still can afford to send their child to private school. And if you're paying high property taxes then what's up with your local public school being bad? You, as a taxpayer, get to say how that money gets spent on your school.

Don't think I don't understand property taxes. I paid almost 7K in property taxes last year. And I could afford to send my child to Paideia if I wanted. But I invest in public school.

Vouchers take away money from the public schools. And thus, your poorer student and even your well off students in public schools get impacted.

I am against elimination of property tax and vouchers. This would be detrimental to all children.

I might be a liberal but I put my money where my mouth is.

[gt6974a]

Originally Posted by plessthanpointohfive

Don't think I don't understand property taxes. I paid almost 7K in property taxes last year.

I am against elimination of property tax and vouchers

I might be a liberal but I put my money where my mouth is.

$7K, OMG!!

Glad taxes make someone happy.

[lastminutemom]

Here is the problem. Pless, if tomorrow you became dissatisfied with your public school, you could afford Paideia. The problem is that many families stuck in the worse schools can't. They are literally stuck.

I have been passionately pro-public schools forever and anti-voucher for as long as I can remember. I don't believe that a school is better simply because it is private.

Over time, after being so involved, I see that there are things inherently wrong with the system. For us, it is ok, we can afford to live in a strong school district, put our kids in private school if needed and to supplement their education. But each and every day, I encounter parents whose children are being failed by public schools.

In part, this can continue because there are no consequences for incompetency, neglect and outright abuse. On top of that, the challenges facing so many children are so much harder then they were 30 years ago, so that all that is wrong with public school just is magnified.

We can't allow the Clayton students to stay where they are in an unaccredited, clearly broken system. To do so, would be criminal. We also need to take a long hard look at schools that are clearly not getting it done and decide why that is and what should be done.

[kagmypts]

I have a question for all of you public school proponents. You choose to send your child(ren) to public school. Why as a parent of children in private school do I have to pay for education of your children? In effect, this is the opposite statement/argument of what all of you are saying... you choose public school, so why do you have to pay (aka "suffer") because other parents choose private school (if the school voucher were pass)?

As an FYI, I do not think that private or public schools as a whole are better. I think that each family needs to decide what is best for them - the whole point of vouchers. What is wrong with choice?