Lawmaker Proposing Homeschooling Tax Credit But Critics Say Legislation Would Cost Public Schools Millions

A statewide initiative to give a $500 tax credit to parents of children taught at home or in private school doesn’t go far enough, says a lawmaker who advocates homeschooling.

Fred Tilman, R-Boise, believes the tax credit needs to be greater to stimulate the private school marketplace.

So, Tilman plans to propose his own tax credit bill this legislative session.

“If the Legislature and Governor Batt take care of this job, I’d be happy to have one less project,” said Kelly Walton, director of the Idaho Citizen’s Alliance, which was traveling the state recently to campaign for its four initiatives.

Walton said the easiest signatures to collect are for an initiative to prevent homosexuals from gaining minority status in the state.

The second-most popular one proposes a $500 tax credit for private- or homeschooled children, he said.

“When they find out that this is the pressure relief that crowded schools need, they jump to sign it,” Walton said on a recent swing through North Idaho.

Tilman’s proposal calls for giving parents $750 back on their taxes for each elementary student schooled outside public schools and $1,000 back for each secondary student.

“The idea is to take pressure off the growing pains of the public school system,” Tilman said. “You have to make it viable enough so that people indeed will make that choice.”

Public school officials are not enthused about the idea of tax credits.

“There is a lot of concern across the state that it is a thinly veiled way to use public monies for parochial schools,” said Dave Teater, assistant superintendent for the Coeur d’Alene School District.

The Idaho Association of School Administrators is one of the leading opponents of tax credits, vouchers and other proposals to divert public money to private- or home-schooled students.

A school district’s share of state money is determined by its enrollment. So, not only would public schools lose money from students who leave to go elsewhere, but millions would be spent to reimburse parents of children who already attend private school or are taught at home.

The ICA’s initiative could cost the state as much as $6 million even without students leaving the public schools for private schools, according to State Department of Education estimates.

“If you take money off the top, it’s going to impact the public school,” said Mike Friend, executive director of the association. “The issue is, what’s the state’s responsibility? That’s to establish a uniform, free and thorough system of public schools, not to provide funding for support of private schools and homeschooling.”

He also dismisses the argument that the ICA or Tilman’s proposal would generate competition and improve the public schools. “A school doesn’t operate in a free marketplace the same way business does,” he said.

Minnesota and Iowa are the only two states in the nation that now give tax breaks for private and home-school expenses. But Minnesota, whose legislation Tilman is studying, also gives tax breaks for parents of public school students.

Unlike the two proposals in Idaho, which could reduce parents’ taxes between $500 and $1,000, parents in Minnesota claim their children’s educational expenses as deductions on their tax forms. They don’t get $1,000 back for a high school student, but they can claim up to $1,000 less in income for that child’s educational costs.

“That’s how it survived court scrutiny - it isn’t limited to anyone,” said Bill Marks, a fiscal analyst for the Minnesota legislature.

The impact on the state is between $2.5 million and $3 million a year, he said.

, DataTimes