Call to Action – Ask Your House Representatives to Vote No on HB447.

This legislation would create a refundable tax credit of $5,000 per child - $7,500 if the student has a disability – for expenses including private school tuition, assessments, tutoring, AP tests, textbooks, curriculum, transportation, and “other educational materials” used for K-12 academic instruction. It’s a $40 million program based on a “first-come, first-served” basis. It also creates a $10 million grant program that would issue a grant for the same amounts. Both programs have a “review trigger” that the legislature will review in 2026 to see if they need to increase the spending amounts.  

ISBA is opposed to this legislation because it takes public, taxpayer dollars and provides a refundable tax credit to parents who are already paying for private school tuition – without any accountability, transparency, or requirement that schools accept all children. In each and every state that has adopted a school choice tax credit or education savings account, these programs grow in government spending by more than 50% in their first few years of enaction – while investments in public schools go down. 

 Call your House Representatives today and ask them to vote NO on HB447.