Last updated on 2013.07.07
I'm thinking about House Bill 1173, a proposal to give property tax credits to folks educating their kids at home or in private school. The mostly Republican bill currently awaits a hearing in House Taxation.
Public Education: A Civic Investment
Mr. Ehrisman has noted the main reason to oppose HB 1173: public education is not a fee-for-service business. Public education serves all of us by making available to every child a free education adequate for making that child into a useful worker and responsible citizen. Whether or not we have children in public school, we all in invest in a system that recognizes and supports everyone's right to economic and democratic opportunity.
Compare what HB 1173 proposes to other government services. You don't get a tax credit from your local fire department for not having a fire on your property. You don't get a tax break from the county for buying an AK-47 to scare trespassers off your land instead of calling the sheriff (uh oh... now I'm giving people ideas). You don't get a refund on your contractor's excise tax just because you don't apply for an economic development grant to expand your business. You pay your taxes for government functions to benefit everyone, not just yourself. That communitarian thinking applies to fire departments, police protection, economic development, and public education.
Republicans Throwing Money at Education without Accountability
Folks who find value in community should take issue with HB 1173... but so should Republicans. Regularly when I propose increased funding for public education to raise teacher salaries, hire more teachers, or buy more resources to help us educate kids, my Republican interlocutors say throwing money at education doesn't make education better. They demand we tie any extra education funding to extra work and measurable outcomes.
But what accountability does HB 1173 demand for educational outcomes? None. There's fiscal accountability: property owners applying for the tax credit have to prove to the county and/or school (and/or... more on that in a moment) they spent money on "eligible education expenses." But there's no educational accountability. You could buy a bunch of books and use them for doorstops, or buy a couple iPads and use them for nothing but Angry Birds and porn, and you'd still get your HB 1173 property tax credit. HB 1173 throws money at education without even trying to ensure results.
How Not to Write Legislation: Logistics
Finally killing off HB 1173 are three major flaws in its wording. First, consider Section 3, the application and verification section:
Section 3. To apply for a property tax credit pursuant to this Act, a property owner shall, prior to January first, submit an application to the county director of equalization stating that the person is the owner of the property and stating the name and school enrollment information for any child for whom the property owner has incurred eligible education expenses. The application shall be on a form prescribed by the Department of Education and shall be verified by the school in which each child is enrolled. On the application, the property owner shall list each eligible education expense the owner has incurred and the cost of each. The property owner shall sign the application under penalty of perjury and provide documentation to substantiate each expense listed.
The tax credit application is supposed to be filed with the county but verified "by the school in which each child is enrolled." The applicant must provide "documentation to substantiate each expense listed." So which agency exactly is charged with verifying these expenses, the county or the school? Whichever it is, does that mean homeschoolers and private schools will receive under HB 1173 visits from county or school district inspectors who will riffle through their desks and bookshelves looking for the items on submitted receipts? With this vague wording, HB 1173 appears to open folks seeking government subsidy for alternative instruction to visits from a government that they are trying to keep at arm's length.
How Not to Write Legislation II: Cash Back!
The second textual flaw is the lack of clarity on the limits of the tax credit. Check out Section 2:
Section 2. The amount of the property tax credit received by any property owner in any year may not exceed the total amount of school district taxes owed to that school district by the owner for that year. In addition, the total amount of property tax credits received by an individual property owner or by multiple property owners pursuant to this Act for incurred eligible education expenses for any individual child in any year may not exceed eighty percent of the current year's per student allocation in the general state aid to education formula as defined in subdivision 13-13-10.1(4).
The intent appears to be to cap the credits at 80% of what we spend on an individual child, suggesting that HB 1173's sponsors want everyone to keep some skin in public education. But read Section 2 closely. The credit is capped at 80% of the state's per-student allocation. Currently, that's $4,389.95. 80% of that is $3,511.96. The Madison Central School District currently receives $1,226.72 from me each year, over two-thirds of my property tax. Pass HB 1173, and if I homeschool my daughter, I could get a tax credit that would erase not just this year's investment in Madison but my tax bill for almost three years. If homeschool my little one for the rest of her pre-university learning, HB 1173 could help me rack up enough tax credits to erase my school tax on my Lake Herman headquarters until after I retire.
Nothing in Section 2 clearly limits the total tax credit, only the limit granted for "any individual child." That tells me that if I have more kids, I can claim a tax credit for each child for whom I buy private-school tuition or textbooks. So my future fecundity becomes a fiscal fright for my friends at Madison Central.
How Not to Write Legislation III: This Madrassa Brought to You by the State of South Dakota
The third foul-up (or maybe this is a deliberate trick) in the wording of HB 1173 lies in the definition of who can qualify for these credits. You'd think the tax credit is for parents, right? Wrong. The bill doesn't say the word parent. HB 1173 consistently refers to "any" property owner who incurs eligible education expenses for "any child." So if I get a wild hair and decide to pay the tuition for all the kids at the Spearfish Classical Christian School, even though none of those kids are mine, I get the tax credit. If I buy iPads this year for all the seniors at O'Gorman to read the South Dakota blogosphere as core curriculum for a social media and government class, I write off my school property tax until I die.
I'm not even sure HB 1173 limits the tax credits to expenses for South Dakota kids. Check out Section 1:
Section 1. Any owner of property that is subject to taxation pursuant to chapter 10-4 may receive a property tax credit to be applied toward any property tax levied on the property for the school district in which the property is located. The reduction is based on education expenses the owner has incurred for any child who meets the following qualifications:
- The child is at least five years old, but not older than eighteen years; and
- The child is a kindergarten through twelfth grade student enrolled in a nonpublic school or the child is receiving alternative instruction pursuant to § 13-27-3.
Incurred, eligible education expenses for which a property tax credit may be received pursuant to this Act include tuition and school fees for any child enrolled in a nonpublic school, and the purchase of curriculum and other necessary educational materials and resources.
The child has to be between 5 and 18 and enrolled in a non-public school. The property owner just has to own property subject to tax in South Dakota. A well-landed South Dakota donor could write checks to cover some of the tuition for every child at Sidwell Friends School in Washington, D.C., and shift that cost to South Dakota's taxpayers. I could pour my money into an oppressive Indian madrassa and, under a strict reading of the text prime sponsor Rep. Don Kopp (R-35/Rapid City) wants to write into South Dakota law, get thousands of dollars in tax credits. Holy cow—HB 1173 out-Jindal's Bobby Jindal! (Don Kopp never has paid much attention to detail when writing legislation.)
HB1173 is bad legislation philosophically and textually. Pick community spirit over selfishness, shared responsibility over sloppy (or sneaky) policy. House Taxation, when you get around to this bill, please give it the 41st-day treatment fast.
And how are schools to make up for the loss of this money?
These people are baseically selfish. What else can be said?
Cory, does this mean that I could get cash back for dual credit classes that my daughter could take online at DSU?
Could I write off trips that could be considered "educational"?
This is a bill designed to kill off public education, or it will require a state income tax and a state takeover of public education should it pass.
Michael, interesting questions. You might be able to claim a 1173 tax credit for that DSU tuition if your daughter takes it as part of a home-school curriculum. I would totally back arguing that trips are an educational expense; when I've considered home school for Katarzyna, I've imagined months upon months of travel-based education (Gettysburg, Washington DC, New York City, Paris, Moscow...).
Neither HB 1173 nor the alternative-scholing statute to which it refers nor any other statute appears to define "eligible education expenses" or authorize any agency to set criteria therefor... and that's a grave problem with this bill. HB 1173 opens the floodgates to drain all of our K-12 funding into private school and home school claims of "educational expense," making quite possible the "kill off public education" scenario of which Donald warns us.
If the legislative blockheads want to do something for education on the tax front, they can remove the sales tax from books, magazines, and newspapers. With text books costing $200, $6 or $8 off may not seem like much, but it would help. I'm surprised they haven't already made an exception for Bibles.
Something else that would help education would be to ban any textbooks already approved by the Texas Board of Education. It is time non-freak states should send a message to the wacko Texas Board of Education and the gutless publishers who pander to their mythology distortions of science and history textbooks.
I'm totally against this. I'd have been more vocal on this earlier but I had a huge breakfast this morning and napped quite a while and yesterday along with my friend Bill I was somewhere else instead.
The Democrats want a state income tax and the Republicans want to take over education. This would accomplish both goals. It's a conspiracy man!
I see this as a potential boom for religious schools...not so much for homeschoolers.
You could be right on the latter point, Michael. It's harder for big donors to target donations to kids spread out across individual homes; easier to score a big write-off with a donation to O'Gorman.
Donald Pay hits the nail on the head. This is an attempt to privatize schools...just like it's laid out in the ALEC playbook.
The bill is very much like other ALEC bills introduced in other states that strips funding from public education to funnel it to private education.
http://alecexposed.org/wiki/Privatizing_Public_Education,_Higher_Ed_Policy,_and_Teachers
Not only does this bill threaten the communal civic investment, but it will further increase social inequality. Those who can afford private education or home-school expenses, AND private property stand to benefit. Those who cannot afford either, will not only be ineligible for the credit, but the quality of education for their children will be diminished with decreased resources. Proponents will argue this proposal is about fairness, but the reality is this bill is classist.
I did do some homeschooling of my youngest child, not because I wanted to, but out of need. I worked with the school for resources, plus some I found on my own to make it happen. The school was my partner in the venture. I would not ask for a credit simply because when I got in over my head, the school was there to help.
I can appreciate the intent of this bill, however, I too have an issues with it. I have heard that home school parents would like their student/child to be able to take part in extra-curricular activities at the public school, at no extra charge. Granted most extra-curricular activities normally take up a relative small part of the budget, however the facilities that the activities take place at don't. Second, In smaller towns the school is the center of the community. If enough students are home schooled or enrolled in other schools, the town's public school will close, the town will follow suit shortly. I am not a great fan of letting our towns dry up and blow away.
Spot on, MC. Home school and public school should work as partners. A sixth-grade teacher here says she worked in a small rural school district in Alaska, north of Denali. Folks living in the outback there can't practically get their kids to public school every day. But Alaska has laws guaranteeing homeschoolers' assistance from the public school district. The district and parents cooperate closely—the schools provide textbooks and other materials in exchange for strong accountability. My colleague said the partnership worked great. It's harder for folks to get together and maintain community there than it is here in Harding County or any of our sparse South Dakota districts, but instead of hunkering down and fending for themselves, rural Alaskans pull together to maintain a school system that benefits everyone.
Also on point, Karl and Donald. ALEC will pull any trick it can to allow more concentration of wealth and power in its corporate members' hands.
Since South Dakota relies on the federal government to operate how is financing private schools with public handouts not a perverse incentive rife with opportunities for fraud?
I don't know how I can say this without sounding like a jerk. I have written checks to pay property taxes on this ranch for over forty years. I don't have any kids in school now, never had any kids in school in the past, and will never have any kids in school in the future. But I'm still paying 80% of my tax obligation for education. Whats fair about that?
Lets say you are a parent that lives in a rental. You have three kids. According to the state it cost $4,389.95 to educate one child for a year. Three times that much would be $13,170. There is no way that someone paying rent which in turn is paying property taxes is paying for the education of their kids. What is fair about that?
Now I don't mind paying a little but lets be realistic here I have paid for a lot of kids to go to school that I didn't bring into this world while the real reproducers are getting the deal of the century. What is fair about that?
Now this bill comes along taking more money from the education system to give to who knows who and again I'm going to be picking up the bill for something I'm not going to use. What is fair about that?
I can tell you "not a damn thing is fair about that."
The Blindman
When Bill Janklow closed the last whore houses in Deadwood a new nanny state emerged and a state religion institutionalized, it's called video loottery: blessed by god to force the least who can afford to fund education to bear the burden.
Blessed be to Pass Creek.
"Blessed be to Pass Creek."Larry how am I supposed to interpret that"
1. Allah Forgive Low We Were Wrongdoers.
2. Christianity, "Give unto Caesar that which is Caesar's, and give unto God that which belongs to God
3. Buddha, live for the present to take care of the future and don't worry be happy.
4. Hinduism, cows are people to.
5. Native America spiritualism, life goes on and then goes on some more.
I'm starting to think that THE CHURCH OF BILL should start a school for wrongdoing, beef eating, lovers of peace who are spiritual but not quite that spiritual.
Full moon is over. Free at last, free at last, thank all the above or none of the above, I'm free at last.
Confusion reins here on Pass Creek
The Blindman
"blessed by god to force the least who can afford to fund education to bear the burden."
:Begin Sarcasm:
larry,
You just don't get it. Those poor people need to pay for education so that they can feel as if they have skin in the game. Besides they're the ones that need education most, so they should pay for it. I once saw one poor person buy hamburgers for his 6 kids at McDonalds. That meal must have set him back at least $15. You know how many cans of generic pork and beans he could have bought for that? If they can buy off the dollar menu, they can pay for education.
What's wrong with preying on folks with a little hollow hope like video lottery provides? If we keep them too depressed, they might stop working and go on welfare. Then where would this country be?
:End Sarcasm:
Bill, until the day you die, you benefit from a community filled with citizens who were given skills and knowledge by a public school system. You benefited from all sorts of folks who came before you who built ans went through that system. You pay the your debt to past present and future with those taxes. Keep 'em coming.
The people who pay next to nothing and have 6 or 7 kids in school also have benefited in the same way.
City school districts sucking money out of rural land are very wasteful. They view the agricultural tax dollars as manna from heaven. City people vote for stupid, wasteful projects because they only pay for 20% of them while agriculture picks up 80% of the real estate taxes for them. Since agriculture also pays a truckload of sales taxes, they further subsidize the schools.
There is free lunch for towns in rural areas.
When the citizens of a community are better educated it becomes richer place to live. Even those without children in the public school system benefit from the local public school.
There are several reason why a family might decide to home-school rather send their kids to public school. Cory, better than anyone that frequents this blog, knows that each child is different and learns differently. If a family doesn't like the way the school is teaching, I would the parents would work with teachers, the administration, and school board, maybe even serve on the board to address those concerns. Educating our children should be a partnership between the school, parents and the child. If for some reason the best option is home schooling, the school should be there to support that family with materials. (text books, equipment, etc.) I can say that Tri-Valley school bent over backwards for our family. The fourth grade teacher would come over to our house, after football practice, and tutor our youngest. He didn't get home until about 9:00 PM.
The cost for the materials for one student for one year is about $2,500.00 It really doesn't matter if they are home-schooled or taught at the school house. The largest cost comes to the family when one parent must stay home to teach. Before we start talking about tax credits, I believe it wise to rethink how we teach our children. Schools should consider helping parents who are home schooling rather than shun them. Parents and other adults should consider helping out in the school, by serving on the school board, or volunteering to help out in a classroom or even give a lecture or two on a subject they are well versed on.
Sorry about the typos, I was busy getting my kids out the door to the bus.
"When the citizens of a community are better educated it becomes richer place to live. Even those without children in the public school system benefit from the local public school"
me, I'm just going to come right out and say it. How?
If those of us that don't have kids are getting something, what would that something be, a good feeling? Better what? No we aren't getting anything that those that have kids in school are getting except the ticket at the end of the meal for food we didn't order or eat.
I'm glad your child was helped but don't you think there should be some kind of division between the school and home schooling? After all you didn't like how the school was doing it or you would have sent your child to school in the first place.
Home schooling is good for some, not so good for others. I don't want my money going to home schoolers that want the best of both worlds. It should be either one or the other. Definitely no extra curricular activities for home schoolers, never. If you want interaction send them to public school.
Again if I'm getting something more for the money that I am spending to educate my counties children then those children's parents are getting tell me what it is. A good feeling deep inside aint cutting it.
The Blindman
Bill, in his own inimitable way, has hit on the crux of the problem. There no longer seems to be a consensus about what public schools should do.
When I first started teaching, I believed public education's purpose was to create good citizens. I naively defined that as being able to read well, process information to develop reasoned conclusions, ask a lot of cogent questions, and understand that some societal norms may be necessary. On the last point, let me quote Professor Terry Eagleton: "It is normative in our kind of society that people do not throw themselves with a hoarse cry on total strangers and amputate their legs. It is conventional that child murderers are punished, . . . and that ambulances speeding to a traffic accident should not be impeded just for the hell of it."
Now, I am apparently supposed to help develop good test takers who can mark an E for “none of the above” on a bubble sheet or an on-line form.
I believe Bill got his money's worth when schools sought to develop good citizens. I'm not sure he's getting his money's worth since the test taking regime created by NCLB and perfected by Arne Duncan took over.
In my mind your post would be perfect if you had said, " he's not getting his money's worth since since nclb" LK. Our schools have or are failing and most of us do Not believe teachers are to blame.
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I will soundly get behind you as a teacher with your attitude and if more money is found to be needed, support that issue. However for some educators just crying wolf, "we need money," drives me away.
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Change is being demanded and status quo will soon no longer be tolerated in most facets including education. Educators, become proactive, or you'll/we'll be fed another version or worse of nclb.
What does a community get when everyone is well educated? First the you get kids who can pronounce ethyl pentanoate and explain what it is used for. That cop who gave you that ticket, actually knows the law he is enforcing, the insurance agent can direct the right products for you, That kid in the lumber yard knows exactly what you need for your project. Those trusted advisers in your community, know their stuff. That's only a beginning. Just think what your town would like if everyone were drones.
Les is correct, our world is changing, and our education system needs to change with it. Gone are the days of kids sitting at desks in the same khaki pants and blue polo shirts, dutifully reciting directions to their home in French. About a year ago, I visited a call center, that teachers were teaching, over skype to about ten students. Some home schoolers are doing a great job, on a shoe string budget, school boards should take a closer look at what they are doing.
Before we start offering tax credits, to parents who are home schooling, I would like to them try a better partnership between the parents, and the school. If home schooling is the only option, with no interaction with local, then of course offer a tax credit for the resources they have to purchase.
MC, LK, and Les all have their finger on the right button. We definitely need changes to the testing culture. We need to get clear again on what a good education is. And we need to respond to new tech, new possibilities, and new needs. We won't do that if we pass crap bills like this that fight the culture war and wreck the biggest, best education system we have. We can find better education policies and practices to serve everyone if we work together.
And MC, that's pretty cogent thinking for trying to get the kids up and out the door.
MC and Cory: Good point about the tech. I will offer the caveat that tech is a tool that should never be considered a talisman able to solve every problem.
LK, I agree, tech should be used as a tool, however, it doesn't solve every problem. In some cases it causes more problems.
Cory, Yesterday schooling doesn't address tomorrow problems. We don't need people who can just read, write, add and subtract, they need to be able to think and solve complex problems. We can either scap today education system and start over, or work together to address the needs of our future by changing, the current system. I prefer the latter.
My Smart Board is currently on the fritz. French conversation and grammar proceed apace.
Just curious: did we really need critical thinking and problem-solving less a generation or two ago than we do today?