By a vote of 64-35, the House of Delegates has approved Del. Jimmie Massie’s education tax credit bill, which would allow for the creation of “education improvement scholarships to students who would have been eligible for the free and reduced lunch program under federal law, in order for them to attend nonpublic elementary or secondary schools.”
The ceiling on Massie’s bill was lowered to $10 million, from $25 million, because the bill’s backers wanted as many votes as they could get for the (weaker) measure. That’s exactly the result they got.
Over in the Senate, Mark Obenshain’s education tax credit bill was rolled into Sen. Bill Stanley’s , SB 131. The measure passed the Senate Finance committee today by a vote of 8-7. This bill has a $25 million cap on the amount of credits available.
The House bill, then, is not as robust, but gained more votes. The Senate bill goes further, but has Republican opposition — in the form of Sen. John Watkins.
Watkins, if you recall, was against the property rights amendment before he was for it.
Now he’s against a school choice measure. What’s going on here?
Traditionally, Watkins has been against tax credit measures, regardless of subject matter. But he also tends to dislike bills that seem to take resources away from public schools. While this tax credit bill wouldn’t do that, it’s close enough for Watkins.
This leaves the Senate’s school choice supporters in a box. Because this is a revenue measure, it needs 21 votes to pass — Bill Bolling wouldn’t be able to vote in case of a tie. That means, assuming the rest of the GOP caucus sticks together, that two Democrats would need to cross the aisle to vote for the bill.
So here’s to you, Sen. Watkins. You’ve come out swinging against property rights. Now you’re against school choice.
Your transformation into Russ Potts is well underway…
