Thursday, March 8, 2007
VOUCHERS/TAX CREDITS
On March 8, the House rejected a bill to provide tuition vouchers to allow certain students in the St. Louis and Kansas City school districts to attend private schools. The bill, HB 808, failed on a 62-96 vote. Under the bill, individuals and companies would have received a 65-percent tax credit for donating to scholarship funds. Eligibility for the scholarships was to be limited to children whose family’s income was less than 135 percent of the income threshold necessary to qualify for the free school lunch program and whose grade-point average in public school was 2.5 or lower.
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I would like to add that it is a rarity that a bill of this magnitude reaches the house floor and does not pass. I would like to think that the 4 hour debate changed some minds and that it was a true example of the Democratic process. The other possibility is that the majority leadership knew they didn't have the votes but needed to take it up anyway due to the influence of All Children Matter. They may have wanted to put some legislators on the record before contributing any more funds. Mo provote has a pretty good article which lays out their influence: cut and paste the following link: http://www.missouriprovote.org/Docs/Voucher_Who_Supports_Urban_Kids.pdf
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