First accepting applications in December, the new Parental Choice Tax Credit Program allows parents to claim up to $7,500 in tax credits to pay for their children's private schooling.
Now, one bill making its way through the state house wants all private and home school students who receive the public money to take standardized tests.
House Bill 3585's author, state Representative Judd Strom (R-Bartlesville), told 2 News Oklahoma he wants to hold the program accountable.
"Keep in mind that the Choice Act will have a $300-million impact on the budget of the State of Oklahoma," said the chair of the House Appropriations and Budget General Government Subcommittee.
"And as the discussion ramps up to increase or remove the cap on resources devoted to this government program," he continued, "I believe that we — the legislature — have to have access to a more concrete metric with which to measure the success of the program, besides the current metric, which is simply, 'We spent the money, so it must be successful.'"
A leading voice against the bill is former state Rep. Tom Newell, also a Republican. He's now vice president of the national nonprofit "Yes, Every Kid," advocating for taxpayer-funded charter schools and voucher programs across the country.
“It'll force conformity," Newell told 2 News Oklahoma about the bill. "For instance, what the representative wants to do is, he says he wants transparency. But you don't really get transparency. What you get is conformity, because the test that he wants everyone to take is not so much about ‘what do you know,’ but it's ‘have you learned things in a certain sequence?’”
While Strom told us he's not opposed to the tax credit program or to private education or home-schooling in general, he said there are things to consider and change before potentially expanding the program.
"Every small town that I represent has a public school, and that school becomes their identity," he said. "You know you're a Copan Hornet, or a Nowata Ironmen, or a Bartlesville Bruin. And we really want to work to protect those, because the half of our budget does go to education. And so, there's no way to look at the impact of this tax credit program without understanding or realizing there will be an impact to public education."
However, Newell fears that requiring standardized tests for such students would stifle competition and restrict parent's options.
“We understand that for education freedom, parents need options to do what's best for their children, and that option might very well be the public school," he said. "In fact, a parent might have three kids, and two of them are thriving and flourishing in that school, but one of them needs something different. They need an option. So, that's what the tax credit does — something different, an alternative.”
“When it comes to this bill, people have said, there's going to be some sort of negative impact to the parents," Strom mentioned. "But rather, another way to look at this is, this provides for parents and the legislature an opportunity to get a real-time assessment of their students’ proficiency in really, very fundamental subjects: reading, math, and science.”
Discussing accountability, Newell said he believes parents determine what's right for their children and trusts them with spending the money they get.
"Remember that this is a tax credit," Newell countered. "We're giving people their money back. This is not an appropriation."
"What people might not know is, about one-third of the people that get the child tax credit actually use it for education expenses," he also said. "But the point is, no one on this federal child tax credit runs around saying, 'Oh, we have to keep everyone accountable for exactly every penny that they're spending.'"
Should a student decline the testing, House Bill 3585 would make the taxpayer (the student's parent or guardian) pay back the tax credit.
If the bill becomes a law, as it's written currently, this change would come into effect at the beginning of the 2024-2025 school year.
The bill is making its way through committee right now. However, as Strom pointed out to us, it's still early in the legislative session.
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