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The annual billion-dollar taxpayer-funded voucher scheme is only one of the several faucets flowing funds from the state treasury to private schools. A recently adopted raid on the Ohio treasury is the Tuition Tax Credits deal.
A less conspicuous (to the general public) private school claim on tax dollars is the Tuition Tax Credits (TTC) scheme enabled by Scholarship Granting Organizations (SGO). This SGO middleman is a really clever scheme the legislature has adopted. Taxpayers can reduce their Ohio income tax liability by donating to a scholarship granting organization (SGO) which in turn provides funds to students enrolled in private schools. This is in addition to the EdChoice voucher deal. Ohioans can contribute up to $750 ($1500 per couple) to a SGO for scholarships to private schools. The donator’s income tax liability is then reduced by the amount of the donation. Since fiscal year 2022, the Ohio treasury has lost just over $50 million per year via this scheme.
To be clear, when one donates to an eligible nonprofit organization, one’s taxable income can be reduced by the amount donated. The TTC scheme reduces the taxpayer’s tax liability, dollar for dollar.
Another similar scheme is a tax credit for dependents who attend a non-chartered, nonpublic school. This scheme costs Ohio’s treasury just over $4 million per year. The non-chartered, nonpublic schools had previously rejected all public funds in exchange for being a completely deregulated operation. Technically speaking, these schools are not funded directly but they end up with the funds. The entire voucher industry is polluted by subterfuge.
Other perks from Ohio taxpayers to private schools are:
- Auxiliary Services: $166,853,000 this year
- Nonpublic administrative cost reimbursement: $75,381,000 this year
- Pupil transportation: hundreds of millions (actual cost not known)
- Private school facility funding. The education privatizers slipped in a foot-in-the-door amount of over $4 million for private school facilities in the most recent capital improvements bill.
The goal of the education privatizers is to transfer all tax dollars slated for education to private operations.
In October 2017, the current Speaker of the House told the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC): “my overarching goal of providing true school choice for every student in Ohio, including smooth transferability of funds and a robust set of options regardless of geography and family situation.”
Ohioans, especially public school advocates, as they watch the state budget process should remember the Speaker of the House’s ongoing goal of transferring the public purse for education from the public common school system to private schools.
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