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Piccola's Education Improvement Tax Credit Bill
Approved by Committee
HARRISBURG -- Questioning
a state agency’s request and statutory authority to demand information
pertaining to data from scholarship and education improvement organizations,
Senate Majority Whip Jeff Piccola (R-15) praised the Senate Education Committee
today for approving his legislation that sets forth specific reporting
requirements for these organizations to be eligible to participate in the
Educational Improvement Tax Credit Program (EITC).
Earlier this year, the
Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED) requested
scholarship organizations formed under the EITC program to submit a new
end-of-the-year report of their activities. Recognizing that some of the
information required is not presently collected by the organizations and the
relevance of the items required to be reported is questionable, Piccola unveiled
Senate Bill 507, which allows DCED to collect information and prepare an annual
report in conjunction with the State Department of Education. Under Senate Bill
507, organizations would be required to report information on the number and
amount of scholarships awarded.
“My legislation contains a
reasonable level of reporting for organizations under the state’s tax credit
program – a program that has successfully been in place in Pennsylvania for four
years. The Department’s onerous reporting requirements will only jeopardize the
future of the program. To hamper and over burden this program is
unconscionable,” said Piccola. “A state agency has no authority to request
additional information such as a child’s previous school enrollment -- its role
is to enforce the law,” he added.
Seeking to obtain assurances
in an effort to protect previously enacted education reforms such as the EITC
program, Piccola questioned representatives from the departments during a recent
Senate Education Committee hearing. “My confusion lies with the agencies’
request for additional information and how this will help them comply with law.
Senate Bill 507 will help to provide the necessary accountability without being
too intrusive to the participating scholarship organizations and the families,”
he said.
Touting the success and
impact of area scholarship organizations, local educators also testified at the
hearing including Carol Cheney, Head Teacher at the Nativity School of
Harrisburg, a school dedicated to serving boys from low income families from the
City. “We are a sanctuary where our children can develop and grow, and we offer
students an opportunity to access education that would not otherwise be
available to them. With the help of the EITC program, we can go on helping
them. Without it, there may be no future for them,” she said.
“We cannot afford to micromanage this program -- a program that has been
recognized as a national model and benefits thousands and thousands of
Pennsylvania families each year. In addition to all of the requirements already
in effect, we cannot continue to ask for more burdens to be implemented on top
of our schools in addition to the bureaucracies already in place,” Piccola said.
Senate Bill 507 will go before the full Senate for consideration.
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