Friday News Roundup: Week of April 18-22

South Carolina Senate committee defeats private school tax credit plan

Oklahoma House approves bill intended to generate savings for teachers’ pension plan

Kentucky State agency to consider tuition increases

Indiana State Senate approves school voucher program

South Carolina Senate committee defeats private school tax credit plan
This week the South Carolina Senate Education Committee defeated a bill that would provide tax credits to parents that send their kids to private school. The bill would have also provided scholarships to low-income students to attend private schools. Businesses or individuals that donated money to the scholarship fund would have also received tax credits. The average tax credit would have been $2,417 in the state, varying by school district depending on how much the state spends per public school student. Ultimately, the bill did not gain enough votes to pass because of the large cost to the state – annual revenue loss due to the tax credits would have reached $133 million by 2023-24, a cumulative $800 million over the next 13 years. More here…

Oklahoma House approves bill intended to generate savings for teachers’ pension plan
This week the Oklahoma House passed a bill that would require school districts to contribute 16.5 percent of salaries for part-time retired teachers into the state’s Teachers Retirement System. Currently, districts pay 9.5 percent for part-time retired teachers and 16.5 percent for full-time teachers. The increased contribution for part-time retired teachers would raise an additional $5 million in revenue for the pension fund. Currently the fund is only 47.9 percent funded, creating a $10.4 billion unfunded liability. School districts will have until July 1, 2012 to rework their budgets to accommodate for the change. Proponents of the bill suggest that districts hire more part-time teachers to generate savings. More here…

Kentucky State agency to consider tuition increases
Next week the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education will vote on a series of tuition increases for public institutions. These include a 6 percent tuition increase at The University of Louisville and the University of Kentucky, and up to a 5 percent increase at regional universities. Additionally, community colleges would be able to increase the amount they charge per credit hour by $5 to $135. These tuition increases would help the institutions cover a shortfall created by state spending cuts as well as merit raises for faculty and staff. Kentucky institutions have frozen salaries for the past three years. Opponents of the increases are upset that the tuition hikes would be almost three times the rate of inflation. More here…

Indiana State Senate approves school voucher program
The Indiana State Senate approved a school voucher program that would provide tuition vouchers for students attending private schools. Under the plan, families earning less than $41,000 per year would receive vouchers up to $4,500 for elementary grades and $4,964 for high school. Families that earn between $41,000 and $61,000 would receive vouchers up to $2,758 for all grades. The program would phase in slowly awarding 7,500 vouchers in 2011-12 and 15,000 for 2012-13. The bill will now be considered in conference committee to reconcile differences between the House and Senate versions of the bill. More here…