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David
Blount, Editor
Legislation submitted in the House of Delegates and Senate
in both 1999 and 2000 to provide tuition tax credits for qualifying
education expenses failed to be approved by their respective
committees. Special public hearings were held each year on
the proposed legislation. The House Finance Committee defeated
its bills both years, though by a smaller margin the second
year, while the Senate Finance Committee took no action on
its 1999 bill and carried over its 2000 bill. These bills,
though not identical, would have provided income tax credits
for parents who pay the costs of tuition and qualifying instructional
fees in private, parochial or homeschool settings, phased
in over several years. The legislation also proposed a credit
for individuals or corporations providing donations for tuition
scholarships that assist low-income families.
While public support for student attendance at private or
religious schools has declined slightly from several years
ago (according to the latest Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup Poll of
the Public’s Attitudes Toward the Public Schools), there
has been increased attention to the tuition tax credits/voucher
issue in the General Assembly. Fueled by support from conservative
legislators and from among members of the House Finance Committee,
these bills likely will resurface and receive consideration
in future legislative sessions. No formal study of tuition
tax credits or vouchers has been conducted in Virginia and
is not expected to be recommended.
1995 – HJ 579 (study of tuition tax credits)
1999 – HB 1740, HB 2579, SB 866, HB 2681 (Virginia
Scholarship Program)
2000 – HB 68, HB 1351, SB 336
Voters in both Michigan and California defeated Voucher referenda
in November 2000. Voucher legislation has failed to pass or
has been withdrawn in more than a dozen states the past several
years. Legislation is pending in nearly a dozen more. For
more information, please see http://www.nsba.org/sbn/00-aug/080800-7.htm.
Several voucher provisions were offered as amendments to
federal legislation in 2000. One to authorize a three-year
national voucher pilot program was defeated in the Senate,
while another that would have allowed Title I funds to be
used for private education in certain states, was defeated
in the House of Representatives. A few less sweeping measures
also were unsuccessfully proposed.
32nd Annual Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup Poll of the Public’s
Attitudes Toward the Public Schools, 2000.
Click here for a policy issue briefing on “Tuition
Tax Credits and Vouchers.”
Click cepi@vcu.edu to provide
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