Note: an hour after this blog was posted we got word that Senate Finance scheduled an additional meeting Wednesday July 17 at 1 PM and has put H269 on the calendar! We are looking forward to the committee discussion and a favorable vote. Feel free to let your own Senator know your support for the bill and how it will help your child, but we have removed the previous call to action from the post below.
With a deal struck this week at the General Assembly between the NC House and the NC Senate over tax reform, starting in the 2014 tax year North Carolina will no longer have a children with disabilities education tax credit. The NC House introduced and passed bill H 269 this legislative session that would create a scholarship program to replace the tax credit. The NC House also included funding for the scholarships in its budget.
There is no opposition to the bill. The NC Senate Education committee gave a favorable report (thumbs up!) to the bill several weeks ago, but the bill also has a serial referral to Senate Finance in order to repeal the tax. With a deal on tax reform struck, and the tax credit repealed as part of tax reform, the Senate must either hear the bill in Finance or have it re-referred to the Senate floor for a vote. H 269 must pass the Senate as a bill separate from the budget bill because it is not included in the budget special provision language.
[As of 5:10 pm on July 16, 2013 Senate Finance has scheduled a hearing on H 269 for July 17th at 1 PM. We are looking forward to a favorable vote! Stay tuned.]
Ask your own Senator to support H 269. If you are currently using the tax credit, or plan to claim it for this tax year – let your own NC General Assembly Senator know what losing the credit would mean for your child. If you planned to apply for the scholarship this fall, let them know how this will help your child and family!
As always, please be courteous in your communications.
Background: Currently, 619 families are making use of the children with disabilities education tax credit, and that number has been on the rise. The Autism Society of NC worked to pass the tax credit three years ago in response to the many families who have found that the public school system, while able to meet the needs of many children with disabilities, was not able to meet the needs of their child. In that case, the family would be able to get some financial assistance to move the child to a private or home school. H269, the new scholarship program, would also remedy a major flaw in the tax credit: the current tax credit is not fully refundable and only applies to people who have taxable income, so many middle and lower income families get no help from utilizing the credit. The scholarship program has no such restrictions.
If you have any questions about this bill or other public policy issues, please contact Jennifer Mahan, Director of Advocacy and Public Policy at the Autism Society of North Carolina, jmahan@autismsociety-nc.org or 919-865-5068.
Tags: autism advocacy, autism legislation, education scholarship, education tax credits, H 269, H 344, North Carolina General Assembly, public policy
[…] worried about a tax credit for educating children with disabilities that has been repealed, while a partner law creating a scholarship program to replace the credit has not yet […]