Tuition Tax Credits Gain Bi-partisan Support in NJ

Though I enjoyed last year’s Innovations in Government Conference, other commitments kept me away from today’s event. Hopefully Delegate Saxman and Geoff Segal will be able to give us some updates from the conference—based on the Agenda posted below, it appeared that they had a very good line up of presenters.

Just a quick Friday afternoon post on education from the NY Times this week. This article is definitely worth a read. Tuition tax credits—similar to HB1294 introduced by Delegate Saxman this year—are gaining bi-partisan support in NJ.

Bills sponsored by two Democrats, Senator Joseph V. Doria Jr. of Jersey City and Assemblywoman Nilsa Cruz-Perez of Camden, would use tax credits, rather than the transfer of public money away from public schools, to provide low-income families with the chance to send their children to a Good Counsel instead of a Barringer.

Using an existing program in Pennsylvania as the model, the bills would establish a dollar-for-dollar tax credit for private companies that donated money for scholarships, or for tuition to out-of-district public schools.

Opponents of school choice continue to argue that this is simply a plan to take money from public schools. Hopefully they will read stories such as this and remember that it is really about giving all students the opportunity to receive a quality education and have the chance for success.

The legislation and sponsors can be viewed here and here.

~whitney