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The Coalition for Kids invites you to contact your legislator and encourage them to support for the Equity and Opportuntiy in Education Scholarship Tax Credit (Senate File 2951 and House File 3586).

MISF and MN CAPE form coalition for tax credits: Equity and Opportunity in Education

The Minnesota Independent School Forum and Minnesota Council for American Private Education (MN CAPE) have united distinguished organizations across the state that believes in the importance of equity and opportunity in education. The Coalition for Kids strives to improve the educational opportunities for private and public school children.  

This educational reform is a growing partnership in support of a corporate tax credit. Its goal is to provide all parents the opportunity to send their children to the school that best meets their child’s needs regardless of their family’s income. By accomplishing this goal, the coalition hopes to empower parents and expand the number of families that can afford to send their children to the school of their choice. 

The Coalition for Kids created a bill called the Equity and Opportunity in Education Tax Credit, which was successfully introduced at the Minnesota State Legislature. With the primary focus being a child’s education, the coalition views this initiative as a bipartisan effort. This bill would give a corporate tax credit for contributions to Scholarship Granting Organizations (SGOs) and generate millions of new dollars for scholarships for K–12 students at public and private schools.

Currently, the state of Minnesota allows individuals to take a deduction for contributions to charitable organizations. If approved, thisproposal would allow corporations, small businesses, and individuals to take a tax credit (a direct subtraction) for contributions made to an SGO.An SGO’s sole purpose is togive scholarships and supportlow-income students who attend public and private schools. The new investment tax credit would significantly spur corporate and individual donations to SGOs, supporting students at public and private schools, and boosting achievement. An estimated cost for this program is $10 million.

Similar legislation in other states, including Iowa, Pennsylvania, Arizona, and Florida, have generated up to $75 million annually in new K–12 scholarship funds for low- and moderate-income students. In Minnesota, students eligible to receive scholarships would include those from households with annual incomes less than two times the federal standard definition of poverty which would equal approximately $42,000 annually for a family of four.

The Coalition for Kids invites you to contact your legislator and encourage them to support for the Equity and Opportuntiy in Education Scholarship Tax Credit (Senate File 2951 and House File 3586).   To help you identify your policy maker and track the progress of this bill, please use the Coalition for Kids Public Policy Tool Kit.  Please feel free to share this toolkit with others!    

If you are interested in providing financial support, click here to download a brochure and a giving form or contact Brenda Kappel (bkappel at misf.org) at 651-297-6716.

To download Equity and Opportunity in Education Scholarship Tax Credit and Program Examples in .pdf format click here.

For more information or to get involved with the Coalition for Kids grassroots efforts, contact Gladys Chuy (gchuy at misf.org) or Jim Field (jfield at misf.org) at 651-297-6716.