Posted on 12/03/2017 8:14:22 AM PST by 11th_VA
12:20 a.m.
The Senate has adopted an amendment that would allow parents to use 529 college funds to pay private school tuition for students in kindergarten through high school.
Parents could also use the tax-exempt funds on home-schooling expenses.
Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas offered the amendment to Senate Republicans' sweeping tax package. The vote was a 50-50 tie with Vice President Mike Pence casting the tie-breaker.
All Senate Democrats opposed the measure. Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska were the only Republicans who voted against it.
It is a good step.
I would like for there to be a refundable tax credit per-student per-year in an amount sufficient to cover tuition for all those enrolled in private schools.
That would spur the development of new schools and revive education in America.
Will this also exempt $10 k per year for Sharia schools????
Yes, the deduction for private K-12 school tuition is right. The parents are already paying property and state taxes for “public” schools they don’t send their kids to.
I’d be glad to offer an alternative to those that don’t like that idea.
How about we make 100% of all per-student federal, state and local money for K-12 education given as two vouchers a year to the parents, given three months before the start of each semester, and allowing the parents to hand over those vouchers to ANY school of their choice - public, private, secular or religious-based.
I’d be willing to claw back the tax deduction for private tuition if that was what we did with the public money.
My position is the public commitment to K-12 education must be for EDUCATION and not a commitment to protecting any education institution. To the “public” schools I say, “it’s not about helping you in particular, it’s about supporting the kids, wherever the parents think best”.
The problem is that it green-lights private and parachiol schools to raise tuition by an amount equivalent to the tax-break. Like tariffs on imported goods. Let’s say we place a tariff of $2,000 on every imported car. Domestic manufacturers can charge an additional $1999 and still beat the foreign competition.
I would like for there to be a refundable tax credit per-student per-year in an amount sufficient to cover tuition for all those enrolled in private schools.
That would spur the development of new schools and revive education in America.
Get government do gooders OUT of education. All the handouts HURT the struggling population, making them morally bankrupt and dependent.
Why wouldn't it?
Will this also exempt $10 k per year for Sharia schools????
more stupid things that sound good til you look at the whole picture of what could happen.
because schools only need money, pay for upgrades and such and buy things 3 months before the start of year. /s
schools should be supported locally and if people don’t like what’s going on move or work/vote, get involved to improve schools.
My Dad was the only income and not only did they pay tax toward public schools but they put 5 kids thru private school k-12. yes we went without more than 1 tv, lots of extras but he made it work.
Stop expecting govt to help you provide what you think you should. Do what you can to teach your own kids.
Good provision. As a concerned parent when my kids were growing up, I had to decide between public and private schools. I chose to educate my kids in private schools during their early years and later switched to public schools when I felt the kids had attained the fundamental education they needed to succeed. To have been able to write off or apply a voucher would have lessened the economic impact that a young family experiences when deciding their priorities.
Yes, I invested a lot of money and learned from the process that not all kids educational needs are alike. Some are more applicable to a 4-year college and others to a trade or apprenticeship. I got the hint when my son had to retake a Texas History course in Junior college three times to get a C.
This is especially important if they are using the student loan program. Unfortunately, number one son was using his student loan for housing and tuition which abruptly ended when he flunked leaving him heavily in debt. I thought he was paying his way through his day job so I was never asked to co-sign. But beware of co-signing and it’s impact on you if the kid defaults.
BTW, I’m keeping a watchful eye on Ted Cruz before making any future decisions.
Not necessarily as the decision rests with the parents and there is competition among the private schools for students.
Say a small Christian school charges $N per student per year and is only at 50% capacity.
If a per-student per-year refundable tax credit is established for parents who send their daughters and sons to private schools in the amount of $N and the school raises tuition to $2N, they won’t get new students, and many of the students they already had to that point would leave in protest of the raise in tuition, resulting in a net loss for the school.
However, if the school leaves tuition at $N, the students they have had to that point will stay, and new ones whose parents couldn’t previously afford it will sign up, resulting in the school being at 100% capacity and being more prosperous.
Most Christian schools will follow the second model, as will many other private schools who need to go from less-than-full capacity to full capacity.
Only the most elite private schools that already have extremely high rates will jack them up, and in view of the massively increased competition, even they would be smart not to.
You are likely correct, especially if you look at the behavior of private colleges whenever there is an increase in federal student aid.
Education, like health insurance, should be as individualized as possible. Religion-based schools, music academies, vocational-technical schools, math and hard science schools, the sky’s the limit. The government is running an “off-the-rack” education system in a “tailor-made” world.
This tax break would have really helped out.
Too bad it could not be retroactive.
Shame on Collins and Murkowski. They should hand in their Republican credentials.
ping
Yes, three months ahead of time is enough for schools budget planning. That’s keeping in mind that there will not always be room immediately in some chosen school. But as a good school organization keeps getting more money and more applications it must turn down it will be able to budget expansion.
And NO. No particular K-12 schools “should be” supported, locally or otherwise. The support should be understood as supporting the K-12 students, NOT any particular institutions.
Schools will ONLY get improved the same way parents get kids into “improved” schools - when they can choose. And no, they should not have to move or be limited in what schools their kid’s share of the public commitment “must” go to.
Again; it’s not about protecting any school institution that presumes the public commitment “belongs” to it. It doesn’t. If it belongs to anyone, it belongs only to the kids, and parents should able to choose how that will be done.
Barring all I have said, then get rid of any taxes taken from anyone for K-12 schools. Let “charity” schools and charity support to students take care of those who need tuition help. The present dual system of massive commitment to lousy public schools as if they are the schools for everyone, while hardworking people pay taxes for them and then struggle - under those taxes - to pay 100% private tuition anyway.
So, if you are not going eliminate the “public commitment” (which it seems you would not), then give it 100% to the parents and let them chose.
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