Ed Bryant, June 21, 2002

One of the key provisions of the No Child Left Behind Law was the expansion of parental choice -- giving parents the ability to make choices to ensure that their children receive the best education possible. New testing data will soon be available about the quality of their children’s schools and the quality of education their children are receiving. Parents need the ability to do something with that knowledge, especially if their children are trapped in failing schools.

Under No Child Left Behind, parents will be able to use federal Title I funds to obtain supplemental educational services -- including private tutoring, after-school services, and summer school programs -- for their children when a public school is not able to provide students with a quality education on its own. Parents with children in underachieving schools will also be given public school choice, including the right to choose a better-performing charter school, as soon as a school is identified as underachieving.

Just like every child deserves a chance to learn, every under performing school has the chance to improve itself. Parents now have more choices for their children, and schools will too. Public school districts, particularly in high-poverty areas with larges numbers of students from poor families, will now have new funds, new resources, and new flexibility that go far beyond anything they’ve had before because of No Child Left Behind. If schools continue to underachieve, even after extra help, they will be required to change dramatically.

However, school choice alone will not help improve all of our schools. That is why I am cosponsoring legislation that will help stimulate a massive cash infusion into America’s education system, potentially helping millions of children achieve a high quality education. This legislation will permit an individual and corporate tax credit for donations to either "education investment organizations" (EIOs), or public or private schools.

This bill will allow individuals to claim a 50% tax credit, not to exceed $250 ($500 for joint returns), for cash contributions to either an EIO, or any school providing elementary or secondary education, including public and private schools. The business tax credit is capped at $50,000.

An EIO is any non-profit organization which awards grants for qualified expenses to elementary or secondary school students. The grants can be for tuition, books, fees, supplies, special needs services, technology, tutoring, uniforms, transportation, and room and board. Any elementary or secondary school student, regardless of the type of school they attend, would qualify for the grants. Right now, there are thousands of EIOs already in existence across the country, with large waiting lists of children hoping for a grant to help them attend a better public, private or home school that meets their educational needs.

This tax credit system would have no negative impact on the federal education budget, but instead, supplement the current budget with private funds. In addition, this legislation promotes direct citizen contributions to education projects in their local community. Funds are not funneled through Washington or Nashville, eliminating the strings and red tape school officials often complain about.

Encouraging donations on the local level, combined with the school choice provisions in the No Child Left Behind Act, will increase scholarship opportunities for low-income students, allowing them to get out of failing schools now. Schools now have unprecedented flexibility in using federal funds. With the current provisions in law, and the possible addition of new tax credit, parents will now enjoy new flexibility to ensure that their children will receive the best possible education.

Congressman Ed Bryan represents Tennessee's Seventh Congressional District.