Tomorrow, the House Education Committee will discuss HB687 – Tax Credit for Children with Special Needs. This bipartisan bill would be a major victory for parents and special needs students.
Here are some considerations:
1) This bill saves the government money, while providing $10-18 million in credits for parents. Moreover, all of the state savings are redirected back to DPI for special needs children in the public schools, realizing additional savings for school systems.
2) This is not a voucher. The school does not even know if parents receive the credit, unless they happen to tell the school. If public school advocacy groups are truly opposed to vouchers then they should oppose Smart Start and legislative tuition grants for private colleges, which are actual voucher programs. In fact, last year 110 members of the House voted against the amendment to reduce ?vouchers? to the private colleges.
3) Opposition to bill by NCASA (NC Association of School Administrators), the NCSBA (NC School Boards Association) and the NCAE (NC Association of Educators) has nothing to do with what is best for special needs children. They simply want to perpetuate the public school monopoly because they benefit handsomely from it.
4) Others oppose the bill because they think that parents are too stupid to make an informed decision about their child’s education.
