BATON ROUGE -- A second private school tuition voucher proposal is on the way to
Gov. Bobby Jindal's desk, with both legislative chambers on Tuesday approving a final version of
a plan that would allow corporations and individuals to recoup state general fund rebates for contributions they make to private organizations that dole out tuition grants.
Rep. Kirk Talbot, R-River Ridge, modeled the contribution rebate program after a decade-old income tax credit in Florida, where the program covers tuition vouchers for about 38,000 students. Talbot said the measure ultimately will save the state money, because the voucher amounts will be less than what state and local government now spends on a child in public schools. The handful of legislative opponents decried Talbot's pitch and said the design amounts to an irresponsible giveaway.
The final version does not include the $300 million annual cap on the program that
the Senate had added on a 20-19 vote last week. That omission came as no surprise given opposition from Talbot and the Jindal administration, to say nothing of the lineup of administration-friendly senators and representatives who made up the conference committee tasked with crafting a final version for both chambers. The House approved the uncapped plan, 65-36. The Senate approved it 32-7.
House Bill 969 is part of Jindal's education agenda, though it has not been featured as prominently as a new law -- signed last week -- that will use the state's public-school financing formula to pay for private school tuition for low-income students in certain public schools.
The Talbot model would allow corporations and individuals to give unlimited amounts of money to independent, nonprofit groups that would, in turn, grant private-school tuition scholarships to students who live in households at or below 250 percent of the federal poverty level. That's about $55,000 for a family of four. The bill also would give priority to students from public schools rated a D or an F on the state's accountability assessment in cases where voucher recipients outnumber available spots in private schools. Both the income requirements and the priority tied to a student's existing school mirror Jindal's MFP vouchers.
Once the state certifies that a grant was issued, the contributor would receive a rebate, paid from the state general fund, equivalent to the amount paid in tuition. The scholarship-granting entity would be able to keep up to 5 percent for administrative costs. The contribution could reduce a filer's taxable income in the year the donation is made, but the rebate would be counted as taxable income whenever it is remitted.
Under Talbot's model, aid for kindergarten through the eighth grade would be capped at 80 percent of the state portion of the Minimum Foundation Program per-pupil financing formula. The cap would 90 percent of the state MFP portion for high school. The MFP-based voucher plan that Jindal signed last week allows grants up to the total state and local financing amount dictated by the MFP. On the Senate floor, Sen. Robert Adley, the Benton Republican who carried the measure for Talbot, noted that rebates would cost less than educating the students in public schools. Nonetheless, a legislative fiscal analysis said the Florida program has found that between 5 percent and 10 percent of the grant recipients never would have attended public schools in the first place.
As with Jindal's MFP vouchers, the students receiving the aid would have to take the same standardized tests they would take in public schools. But a student's promotion would not hinge on the results, and the participating private school would have no consequences attached to the outcome. For both tuition voucher programs, private schools will choose whether to participate. The administration has estimated that about 2,000 slots will be available in the fall, a fraction of the 380,000 eligible under the new Jindal law.
Talbot introduced his proposal last year as an income tax credit to allow contributors to reduce their state tax liability by the amount of money they give to the tuition-granting organization. The state constitution does not allow lawmakers to consider certain tax matters in even-year general sessions. Talbot has not said whether he plans to amend the plan into a tax credit when lawmakers convene in 2013 for a fiscal session.
Separately, the House Ways and Means Committee approved without objection a plan from Rep. Katrina Jackson, D-Monroe, to allow general fund rebates for direct contributions to certain public schools. Jackson put a $10 million annual cap on the bill, with reimbursements issued on a first-come, first-served basis. House Bill 1106 now moves to the House floor. Democrats had previously criticized Talbot's bill for not rewarding support for public schools, and senators rejected amendments that would have added public schools to the bill.
Jackson proposes a 75 percent reimbursement for gifts to schools assigned an F on the state accountability assessment; 50 percent for gifts to D schools; and 25 percent for gifts to B or C schools.
Jindal spokesman Kyle Plotkin said, "We're open to the intent of the bill." But Plotkin indicated the expense would have to be included in the state operating budget bill that lawmakers must adopt by their June 4 adjournment.
Bill Barrow can be reached at bbarrow@timespicayune.com.
