#OKLAED: Tell your House Representative to Vote NO on Scholarship Tax Credit Expansion!
The Oklahoma House of Representatives are again under pressure to massively increase Scholarship Tax Credits in the state of Oklahoma. The privatizers want to expand a program that diverts tax revenue away from public services like public schools in order to give those funds that would otherwise be tax revenue to private schools.
The effect is the exact same as a voucher. And even worse they're sold as helping "poor kids" but 46% or MORE go to kids that could afford private school already. The income limit in Kansas' program is $33,475 for a family of four. In Oklahoma? The limit is over $142,000 per year for a family of four!
These encourage less state aid to flow to our poorest schools AND there are no safeguards in place to protect this from simply being a discount coupon for kids that ALREADY attend private school!
That's right - the average "scholarship" awarded is just $2,017. Know any private school a poor child can go on that little?
Please take action TODAY and tell your House Representative to oppose this destructive legislation. Make them aware that we support funding Public Schools FIRST and FULLY before any talk of diverting public dollars to private schools.
You can learn more about Scholarship Tax Credits in the NPE Privatization Toolkit,the Oklahoma Parent Legislative Action Committee (PLAC), Tulsa World, and Pastors for Oklahoma Kids website.