Tuition credits derailed

A controversial tuition tax credits bill got knocked out in its first House match in five years Friday, but some wondered if they detected a faint heartbeat.

Second Substitute HB39, sponsored by Rep. Jim Ferrin, R-Orem, went down 34-40 in a vote that shocked key supporters, who thought they had 40 votes — two above the minimum needed — going in.

"Unfortunately, some representatives gave in to the pressure of the establishment. Now the children of Utah are going to suffer," said Elisa Clements Peterson of Parents for Choice in Education. "We need to keep fighting for children to have opportunities to get the best possible education."

The Utah Education Association called the morning vote a victory for 500,000 Utah public school children. Still, executive director Susan Kuziak was not ready to relax.

"It will be back, you know. We're not done," she said. "I hope people will not vote for reconsideration."

Ferrin said he had no plans to revive the bill this session. "I believed we had enough votes to pass it; but obviously, we couldn't put together 38 (votes)."

But lobbyists Friday afternoon were seeking representatives willing to administer CPR. The concept of seeking another hearing also was something "the governor and staff will contemplate," Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr.'s spokeswoman Tammy Kikuchi said.

"This issue was important to the governor," Kikuchi said. "We're disappointed, but we respect the process."

No bill is dead until the legislative gavel falls at midnight Wednesday.

Second Substitute HB39 was amended several times on the floor.

It now would offer parents of private school children a scaled tax credit between $500 and $3,000, based on family income. Low-income children currently in private schools and all public school children would be eligible.

The former bill had a $3,750 ceiling.

Amendments, supported by Ferrin, also created a $10 million fund (not of schools' money) to bail out districts hurt by the credits; the original amount was $1.5 million. New language also requires an audit in four years, prevents fraud and adds penalties similar to those for tax evasion.

A proposed amendment giving public school parents a $500 tax credit for school fees or donating to civic or character education programs — intended to keep the bill on solid constitutional ground — failed.

The "school choice" bill, which passed committee by one vote, aims to entice parents to choose a private school, where the state could supposedly educate children more cheaply and help divert a public school enrollment boom.

But public school advocates fear tuition tax credits would drain money from what they call an underfunded school system.