Congressman Bradley Byrne (AL-01) on Tuesday introduced the School Choice Now Act to increase opportunity across America and protect students whose families have been negatively impacted by COVID-19.
This bipartisan legislation is an updated companion version to a bill introduced in the United States Senate by Sens. Tim Scott (R-SC) and Lamar Alexander (R-TN). Byrne introduced the House version with Congressman Dan Lipinski (D-IL) and Mark Walker (R-NC).
The School Choice Now Act would allocate a portion of coronavirus relief funds to help low-income families struggling to pay their students’ private-school tuition or other educational expenses.
Additionally, comparable to the Alabama Accountability Act on the state level, the legislation would provide for a permanent dollar-for-dollar federal tax credit for contributions to scholarship-granting organizations, capped at $5 billion per year.
Byrne said in a statement, “A high quality education has the power to expand opportunities to those who through no fault of their own face extremely difficult circumstances.”
“Unfortunately, the pandemic has created additional roadblocks for countless students, overwhelmingly and disproportionately those with limited education opportunities, and many schools across our nation are even at the point of closure,” he continued. “With so many of our children’s futures at stake, it is absolutely crucial we act now to expand education choices and freedom to ensure children at risk of permanently falling behind can achieve the education necessary to unlock the door to a brighter future.”
The Southwest Alabama congressman hopes that this can be an area of consensus in Congress.
“With so much disagreement and political posturing in Washington lately, surely we can put politics aside to take concrete action to help schoolchildren and give hope to struggling communities,” Byrne concluded.
A reason for optimism in that regard could be found in Lipinski’s involvement.
“We must focus on ensuring that we help all students, including the nearly 6 million who attend private schools,” the Democrat said in a statement. “Many of these schools, especially those run by Catholic institutions in urban areas like Chicago, serve low-income and minority communities particularly hard hit by COVID-19. The School Choice Now Act is the best way to help these students, since funding would be provided to state-certified SGOs (scholarship granting organizations), which already exist in many states…”
“By supporting SGOs, Congress can help families who are now facing the gut-wrenching task of having to take a child out of their school because they can no longer pay tuition,” Lipinski added. “If we don’t act now, not only will these children lose access to their schools, but public schools will face a massive influx of new students resulting in over-crowded schools, an increased burden on taxpayers, and greater hardships for already-struggling communities. By creating the permanent tax credit in this bill, we will also help more Americans provide scholarships that support vulnerable students and their families.”
Byrne has been a champion of expanding educational access throughout his career, including his time in Congress.
Sean Ross is the editor of Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @sean_yhn
