Two Republican lawmakers introduced legislation Tuesday that would provide tax credits to qualified Wisconsin residents with children enrolled in private schools.
The tax-credit proposal is designed to help relieve state families’ tuition expenses and to give parents an alternative to the state’s public school system.
The bill, co-authored by state Sen. Glenn Grothman, R-West Bend, and state Rep. Dean Kaufert, R-Neenah, would be phased in beginning in the 2014 taxable year. It would start with a $1,000 tax credit for each elementary school student and a $1,500 tax credit for each high school student. When completely implemented, the credits would be raised to $1,500 per elementary school student and $2,500 for high school students.
Private schools throughout the state are “continually crowded out of the equation” because they do not usually get considered for state funding, Grothman said in an statement April 1. He added private school attendance has fallen from 147,000 in 2000 to 123,784 in 2012, adding two schools in his district recently closed.
“Private schools throughout the state are struggling,” Grothman said in a statement. “Parents want options for their children and this tuition tax credit is a step forward in providing educational diversity in Wisconsin.”
The bill has collected 28 co-sponsors in the state legislature.
