Another bill seeking to use public dollars to fund private and alternative education has advanced from committee in Pierre.
This time it comes in the form of tax credits to fund alternative education.
SB 190 would allow residents a property tax credit relating to education expenses, up to 80 percent of what would otherwise be going towards their local school district.
Piedmont Republican Sen. John Carley is the bill’s sponsor. He acknowledged this plan would directly take dollars from local school districts for use in nonpublic schooling.
“The primary goal of SB 190 is to give school options to families by offering financial coverage for their nonpublic, or alternative education via property owner contributing a partial property tax toward educational expenses," Carley said. "That reduces the available taxes seen in our fiscal note by somewhere between $14-$21 million, So the question, where does that come from? Well, that ultimately comes from a percentage of overall school property tax reduction.”
However, many advocates for public schooling weren’t convinced. Sam Nelson, lobbying for the Sioux Falls School District, questioned a carte blanche tax policy.
“If we’re going to allow people to opt out of supporting the bedrock of their communities, when can I opt out of paying for roads and bridges I don’t use or don’t service me every day," Nelson asks. I’d really like to pour a new driveway for my house, can I opt out and pay for that? We have a system that works, please keep it that way.”
Further, committee members like Sioux Falls Democrat Jamie Smith, were left with questions relating to accountability.
“When you make a choice, you’re choosing one over another," Smith said. "One of them is provided with public funds, and another you’re going a different direction. I have a big concern, and I think you can tell from my questioning, we don’t have any way to follow up on students being educated in the alternative format. We don’t know the outcomes there. We don’t know if they’re receiving any education. Whether or not you say you did that with it or show a receipt doesn’t mean it was used.”
Ultimately, the bill passed to the Senate floor 4-3.