After years of pandemic disruption in public schools; Tumbling test score and chronic absenteeismthe parent empowerment movement finally broke through the educational dam in 2023. Historic school choice tsunami.
Now, Congress is trying to increase its advantage in 2024 by doubling the tax savings for parents seeking choice for their children and limiting tax breaks for states that discourage school choice.
if invoice If the law becomes law, states will have to make a clear choice. Empower parents or lose federal tax benefits. (Related: Alan Dershowitz: Harvard president's expulsion is just the first step to saving the university)
It seems like an easy decision. But many states have blocked reforms that would make private, accredited, religious, and homeschool alternative education more accessible to families.recently illinois killed the school choice program After 6 years of activities — First state to completely roll back such program.
a lawsuit The plan, created by activists in Wisconsin, called for an end to the nation's longest-running school choice program. In Nebraska, left wing organization It was a trigger Ballot initiative calling for repeal Recent expansion of school choice.
Even though there are 9 Republican-led states There is now universal school choice, and there are currently 22 Republican trifecta – Most notable is Texas — Ready for further expansion. At the other end of the spectrum, Democratic-run states are considering blocking the expansion or rolling back their current choice programs.
of opportunity And threats to school choice across the country create that incentive. Achieving Choice in Education (ACE) Act Critical and timely.
The ACE Act, introduced in the House by Republican Missouri Rep. Eric Burleson and in the Senate by Republican Utah Sen. Mike Lee, would encourage states to remove barriers to additional learning options. Expanded list of K-12 fees Families can fund their 529 savings accounts, which provide significant tax incentives for states to adopt school choice policies.
A 529 savings account allows families to save for K-12 education tax-free at the federal level, as long as the money is used for qualified education expenses. The ACE Act would extend these allowable expenses to home education expenses, raise withdrawal limits, and provide a gift tax deduction for contributions to 529 accounts without double taxation. .
Families with students attending public, private, religious, and home schools can use their hard-earned savings to purchase curriculum materials, books, online resources, tutoring, testing, therapy, and classes for students with disabilities. You can spend it on fees etc.
pandemic extremely confused Education for children and education that doesn't apply to everyone will not solve the problem. The ACE method gives families the control and flexibility they need to empower individual learners.
We also encourage states to do better by encouraging them to adopt more school choice policies and laws. Under the ACE Act, if states refuse to implement school choice programs or laws, municipal bonds will no longer be tax exempt.
These types of bonds are typically used for local projects (include school construction), and the interest earned thereon is currently not taxed at the federal level. But under the ACE Act, these federal tax benefits would disappear if states continued to lock students in failing schools.
In states without school choice policies, the program would disappear completely, and in states with moderate but insufficient school choice laws, the federal government would impose a 50% tax on municipal bond interest income as an incentive to continue taking action. would give tax breaks. In the right direction.
That's no small loss.In total, state and local governments receive interest income from bonds of approximately $380 billion This is an important incentive for representatives to remove barriers to school choice.
We have come a long way to give students the chance to find and finance a quality education. It wasn't until 2017 that Republicans succeeded in launching up to 529 plans that included K-12 costs.
Thanks to their persistence, families can now spend $10,000 a year on elementary and middle school costs in 529 account funds. Under the ACE Act, this would double to $20,000.
As Senator Lee said, it is.fundamental rights” Parents guide their children's education. Passing the ACE Act is the obvious next step to ensuring that all children have access to an education that meets their needs, and that governments that deprive children of that opportunity will pay the price. Become.
Mimi Singleton is federal affairs director at the Government Accountability Foundation.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller News Foundation.
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