School Choice Ohio Blog

Maryland governor, Martin O’Malley, is among the growing number of Democratic state leaders who actively support school choice. He recently wrote a letter to the Maryland state legislature appealing for them to create a new scholarship program. Through the proposed program, donations made by businesses to nonprofit scholarship organizations could be counted as income tax credits. Then the donations would be used for private school scholarships and to support innovate public school programs.

“Thank you for the opportunity to express my support for Senate Bill 385, which establishes the Building Opportunities for All Students and Teachers in Maryland Tax Credit. The BOAST tax credit will help preserve Maryland’s rich tradition of highly performing public and private schools.”

The Governor’s appeal seems to have made an impact in the bill’s progress already and advocates are hopeful that the bill will pass in time for next school year.

You can read the full text of the Governor’s letter here.

- Sarah Pechan

While Ohio is a national leader in school choice and our families have three voucher programs in place among other options, our neighbors to the west are just getting started.

This summer, Indiana’s state government created their first state scholarship program: an education scholarship tax credit. This program allows businesses and individuals to receive tax credits for donations they make toward private school scholarships for low-income students in grades K-12.

Indiana is home to the nation’s newest tax credit program, but it isn’t the first.

Our neighbor to the east, Pennsylvania, has an incredibly vibrant tax credit program that started in 2001 and now serves more than 40,000 students. Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, and Rhode Island also have tax credit scholarships of their own. Nationwide, more than 100,000 kids benefit. A great overview on tax credit scholarships is available from the Alliance for School Choice (here).

In discussions of education reform, we hear a lot about wanting the best for low-income kids. These tax credit scholarship programs let people put their money where their mouth is.

Especially during these tighter economic times for families, these programs make a tremendous positive difference.

- Sarah Pechan