A Bill That Should Be Considered

At the NC General Assembly yesterday, the House Committee on Education was scheduled to discuss House Bill 687, which would provide a $6,000 per year tax credit for families of children with special needs. Unfortunately, the committee did not have enough time to discuss HB 687 before the meeting came to an end.

There have been numerous misconceptions regarding this bill. The NC Association of Educators claims that HB 687 is a "voucher" bill that would allow all families with a child who has an Individual Education Plan (IEP) to benefit.

In actuality, HB 687 is a true tax credit bill. No private school will ever know which families are taking advantage of the tax credit. Furthermore, the bill stipulates that in order for a child to be eligible for the tax credit, the child must have an IEP and require at least daily special educational and related services outside of the regular classroom. Finally, eligible children must have spent the previous year in public school. Therefore, this bill would help only those parents of special needs children who chose to transfer from a public school to a nonpublic or home school setting to better meet their children's educational needs.

According to a 2008 state-wide poll conducted by Public Policy Polling, 80% of North Carolinians support expanded options for families of children with special needs. The people of North Carolina understand that these families deserve options for how and where to best educate their children. Now it is time for the members of the NC General Assembly to discuss a bill that would give these families more choices.

PEFNC will keep you posted on this important legislation.