See bottom of page for links to contact Representatives
All three of these bills will repeal the homeschool tax credit, and HSOK is STRONGLY in favor of any of the three of these passing.
One of these bills, HB-1519, surgically removes homeschoolers from the “Parental Choice Tax Credit,” but leaves the private school part of the voucher program (refundable tax credit) in-place. This bill probably has a better chance of passing than the other two, and was written by a supporter of the homeschooling community.
The other two bills (HB-2953 and HB-3684) completely remove the voucher program, both for homeschool students and for private school students. These two are identical bills, probably to increase the chance of them passing.
Homeschool Oklahoma does not agree with taking state money to fund homeschooling. As we have stated and defended on many occasions, even the option of having “free money” is a danger to homeschooling families in the state, whether they take the money or not. Any of these bills will remove this danger for homeschooling families. We encourage you to support any or all of them to your legislators.
Homeschool Oklahoma has no official position regarding private school voucher programs, either for or against them. Our concern as an organization is solely on protecting the freedoms of homeschooling families. We are in support of any or all of these bills. If legislators will not listen to our requests to have the homeschool tax credit repealed as a line item, we will have no other choice than to support the larger bills which include the changes which are important for our community.
Another more subtle issue with the homeschool tax credit is that the language in the homeschool tax credit is already being used as a pattern for “giving free stuff to homeschoolers.” Prior to this legislative session, Homeschool Oklahoma identified several bills that were using the language of the homeschool tax credit as a foundational pattern to give special perks to homeschool students. Getting rid of the homeschool tax credit will help not only prevent our community from being corrupted by government funding, but will remove this language from our law so that other legislators will not have it as a pattern for future bills.
We are also aware that the authors of HB-2953 and HB-3684 are probably not themselves personally aligned with the homeschooling c#linkstocontactsommunity and our values. However, we believe that the importance of this legislation requires us to support these bills.
Link to HB-1519
(the main bill is a shell bill, with the important text being in the House Committee Amendment). Contact Chair and Vice Chair of House Appropriations and Budget Finance Subcommittee Members and Chair and Vice Chair of House Appropriations and Budget Standing Committee Members. Scroll to the bottom of those pages to find representative contact information.
Link to HB-2953
Contact Chair and Vice Chair of House Appropriations and Budget Education Subcommittee. Scroll to the bottom of that page to find contact information.
Link to HB-3684
Contact Chair and Vice Chair of House Appropriations and Budget Education Subcommittee. Scroll to the bottom of that page to find contact information.
