Tuition credits bill dies

The tuition tax credits bill, a subject of extensive public debate and political wrangling within the Republican party, has been laid to rest by its sponsor.

"It's history," Rep. Jim Ferrin, R-Orem, said Monday afternoon, just a few hours before the House debated its last House bill. Through Wednesday, it will devote most of its time to Senate-sponsored measures.

"I would have loved to have (had) a meaningful discussion (on the House floor) about public education finance, which is really what tuition tax credits are all about," Ferrin said. "I am very disappointed over that."

The sting is echoed by Parents for Choice in Education, which had HB271 among its top three priorities.

"The families of Utah want and deserve parental choice, and it's unfortunate the education establishment is so willing to oppose what so many Utahns want," said Royce Van Tassell of Parents for Choice in Education.

Utah Education Association President Pat Rusk wants to wait until the bill is officially buried before celebrating.

"We hope that that's true, but we will be watching to the final moments," said Rusk, adding she's seen supposedly dead bills resurrected in the final hours of past legislative sessions.

HB271 would have offered a tax credit worth half a child's private school tuition, with a maximum credit of $1,500 for kindergartners and $2,000 for older students. Students already in private schools, dual enrolled in public schools and next fall's kindergartners would have been ineligible.

The bill was expected to save the state $3.5 million in the first year, according to the legislative fiscal analyst's office. And just to be sure, it would have set up a $5.5 million bail-out fund in case school districts are financially harmed by the measure.

All state income taxes go to schools and colleges.

Ferrin claimed the bill would have enticed families to choose private school, easing the coming growth boom — estimated at some 140,000 new students in 10 years — on the public school system.

But public school leaders and teacher unions never bought it.

They thought the bill's fiscal impact was overly optimistic, basically estimating a 30 percent growth in private school enrollment in a single year. Some also noted studies showing such tax credit programs overwhelmingly benefit those who would have gone off to private schools anyway.

The bill's cause of death has become evident in the Legislature's waning days.