The New Hampshire legislature recently passed a tuition tax credit option that would provide low- and middle-income students with increased educational choice.
The School Choice Scholarship Act would provide tax credits to businesses that donate to nonprofit organizations that provide vouchers to low- and middle-income children. The participating businesses can receive a credit of up to 85 percent of their donations. Students would receive up to $2,500 per scholarship to move to another school or up to $625 to cover the expenses of homeschooling.
The School Choice Scholarship Act also has the benefit of being revenue neutral. The cost of the credits going toward participating businesses will be offset by lowering the number of students going to public schools and receiving per-student contributions to their public school district. As Julianne Cooper, local president and dean of Liberty Harbor Academy in Manchester, noted: “I see an enormous amount of flexibility within the system and basically it costs no one anything.”
Robert Enlow, president and CEO of the Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice, observed that “New Hampshire is part of a national movement that recognizes the value in offering kids high-quality educational options. New Hampshire joins a host of other states that are moving school choice forward in 2012.”
Kyle Bonnell is currently a member of the Young Leaders Program at the Heritage Foundation. For more information on interning at Heritage, please visit: http://www.heritage.org/about/internships-young-leaders/the-heritage-foundation-internship-program
