A Taylor County Republican in the Kentucky House has filed a bill creating scholarship tax credits designed to help low-income families afford non-public school education for their children.
Such proposals have been criticized in the past as unfair state support for private schools.
House Bill 205, filed by Campbellsville Representative Bam Carney, creates a mechanism to increase private donations for scholarships to be used at private schools.
The new program would allow private citizens and businesses to support Scholarship Granting Organizations, or SGOs, and in return receive a nonrefundable state tax credit. The money given to the SGO would then be used to create scholarships for low-income families wanting to send their children to private schools.
It’s an idea that critics say is an effort to weaken public schools and provide a back-door method of subsidizing private education.