Proposals would make more students eligible for better educational opportunities

Andy Churray and his wife, Meg, are just one of hundreds of families that have had the opportunity to send their children to a private school because of Kansas’ only school choice program. The Low Income Student Tax Credit Scholarship program was originally passed in 2014 and helps families around the state find a better educational opportunity for their children.

Proposals currently before the Legislature in Topeka do nothing to the tax side of this program but make more students eligible in two ways. First, it raises the income threshold from those families who qualify for free lunch to those who also qualify for reduced-price lunch. Current law says that to be eligible a family of four cannot exceed an annual income of $34,060; the proposed change increases that threshold to $48,470. This change would move the program from the desperately poor to include blue collar families certainly struggling through the pandemic.

The second change would increase the choice for families who qualify for the free/reduced-price lunch program to not be limited to those living in a public school attendance area that is one of the lowest performing 100 schools, but would give all families that choice. Since every child’s needs are unique, choices in education can be healthy.

Andy Churray highlights the importance of the program by saying, “This is important for Meg and me to be able to discern what is best for each of our children individually and make that decision for them. We place great value on the opportunities our kids will obtain both in formation and education in a Catholic School. Our oldest child qualified for the scholarship award upon entering Kindergarten. But when our second child was ready to enter Kindergarten, our income had increased (still within the federal reduced level) but we were not able to have our school receive the scholarship award for her.”

The beneficiaries of this program are families like the Churrays. Yes, the program is funded by tax credits but donors of any level who have a Kansas tax liability can make a gift and receive a 70% Kansas Tax Credit. Suggesting otherwise is a patently incomplete view of the program.

Support for Catholic Schools, the Scholarship Granting Organization that sponsors 44 Catholic schools in the Diocese of Dodge City and Wichita, receives gifts from many income level of donors, “wealthy” or not. Of course, wealthy patrons of the program contribute but so do middle-income families with a heart for those who need a hand up in life.

This tax credit proposal in no way uses state money that has been constitutionally guaranteed to support public school education. Stating that it does impact state money for public education is simply untrue. The bottom line here is all about a parents’ ability to choose to send their children to the school of their choice, irrespective of choices within the public school system they reside in. Using tax credits to inspire donors to support programs like this is no different from the 35 other tax credit programs offered by the State of Kansas. If in the wisdom of Kansas elected officials, these tax credit programs are important to stimulate the economy of the State, then they should be available to all in the state, irrespective of income and of public school attendance area.