Florida Senate - 2007 COMMITTEE AMENDMENT
Bill No. SB 1212
Barcode 925622
CHAMBER ACTION
Senate House
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03/14/2007 01:26 PM .
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11 The Committee on Education Pre-K - 12 (Wise) recommended the
12 following amendment:
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14 Senate Amendment (with title amendment)
15 Delete everything after the enacting clause
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17 and insert:
18 Section 1. Subsections (1), (2), and (3) of section
19 220.187, Florida Statutes, are amended to read:
20 220.187 Credits for contributions to nonprofit
21 scholarship-funding organizations.--
22 (1) FINDINGS AND PURPOSE.--
23 (a) The Legislature finds that:
24 1. It has the inherent power to determine subjects of
25 taxation for general or particular public purposes.
26 2. Expanding educational opportunities and improving
27 the quality of educational services within the state are valid
28 public purposes that the Legislature may promote using its
29 sovereign power to determine subjects of taxation and
30 exemptions from taxation.
31 3. Ensuring that all parents, regardless of means, may
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Florida Senate - 2007 COMMITTEE AMENDMENT
Bill No. SB 1212
Barcode 925622
1 exercise and enjoy their basic right to educate their children
2 as they see fit is a valid public purpose that the Legislature
3 may promote using its sovereign power to determine subjects of
4 taxation and exemptions from taxation.
5 4. The existence of programs that provide expanded
6 educational opportunities in this state has not been shown to
7 reduce funding to or otherwise harm public schools within the
8 state, and, to the contrary, per-pupil funding in public
9 schools has risen each year since the first inception of those
10 programs in 1999.
11 5. It is the Legislature's judgment that expanded
12 educational opportunities and the healthy competition they
13 promote are critical to improving the quality of education in
14 the state and to ensuring that all children receive the
15 high-quality education to which they are entitled.
16 (b) The purpose of this section is to:
17 1.(a) Enable taxpayers to make Encourage private,
18 voluntary contributions to nonprofit scholarship-funding
19 organizations in order to promote the general welfare.
20 2. Provide taxpayers who wish to help parents having
21 limited resources exercise their basic right to educate their
22 children as they see fit with a means to do so.
23 3.(b) Promote the general welfare by expanding Expand
24 educational opportunities for children of families that have
25 limited financial resources.
26 4.(c) Enable children in this state to achieve a
27 greater level of excellence in their education.
28 5. Improve the quality of education in this state,
29 both by expanding educational opportunities for children and
30 by creating incentives for schools to achieve excellence.
31 (2) DEFINITIONS.--As used in this section, the term:
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Florida Senate - 2007 COMMITTEE AMENDMENT
Bill No. SB 1212
Barcode 925622
1 (a) "Department" means the Department of Revenue.
2 (b) "Eligible contribution" means a monetary
3 contribution from a taxpayer, subject to the restrictions
4 provided in this section, to an eligible nonprofit
5 scholarship-funding organization. The taxpayer making the
6 contribution may not designate a specific child as the
7 beneficiary of the contribution.
8 (c) "Eligible nonprofit scholarship-funding
9 organization" means a charitable organization that:
10 1. Is exempt from federal income tax pursuant to s.
11 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code;
12 2. Is a Florida entity formed under chapter 607,
13 chapter 608, or chapter 617 and whose principal office is
14 located in the state; and
15 3. Complies with the provisions of subsection (6).
16 (d) "Eligible private school" means a private school,
17 as defined in s. 1002.01(2), located in Florida which offers
18 an education to students in any grades K-12 and that meets the
19 requirements in subsection (8).
20 (e) "Owner or operator" includes:
21 1. An owner, president, officer, or director of an
22 eligible nonprofit scholarship-funding organization or a
23 person with equivalent decisionmaking authority over an
24 eligible nonprofit scholarship-funding organization.
25 2. An owner, operator, superintendent, or principal of
26 an eligible private school or a person with equivalent
27 decisionmaking authority over an eligible private school.
28 (f) "Parent" has the same meaning as in s. 1000.21.
29 (3) PROGRAM; SCHOLARSHIP ELIGIBILITY.--The Corporate
30 Income Tax Credit Scholarship Program is established. A
31 student is eligible for a corporate income tax credit
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Florida Senate - 2007 COMMITTEE AMENDMENT
Bill No. SB 1212
Barcode 925622
1 scholarship if the student qualifies for free or reduced-price
2 school lunches under the National School Lunch Act and:
3 (a) Was counted as a full-time equivalent student
4 during the previous state fiscal year for purposes of state
5 per-student funding;
6 (b) Was counted as a full-time equivalent student at
7 any time during the previous state fiscal year in a Department
8 of Juvenile Justice educational program under s. 1003.52 for
9 purposes of state per-student funding;
10 (c)(b) Received a scholarship from an eligible
11 nonprofit scholarship-funding organization or from the State
12 of Florida during the previous school year; or
13 (d)(c) Is eligible to enter kindergarten or first
14 grade; or.
15 (e) Has been placed in foster care as defined in s.
16 39.01.
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18 Contingent upon available funds, a student may continue in the
19 scholarship program as long as the student's family income
20 level does not exceed 200 percent of the federal poverty
21 level. Family income for purposes of a student described in
22 paragraph (e) shall consist only of the income that may be
23 considered in determining whether he or she qualifies for free
24 or reduced-price school lunches under the National School
25 Lunch Act.
26 Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2007.
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28
29 ================ T I T L E A M E N D M E N T ===============
30 And the title is amended as follows:
31 Delete everything before the enacting clause
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Florida Senate - 2007 COMMITTEE AMENDMENT
Bill No. SB 1212
Barcode 925622
1 and insert:
2 A bill to be entitled
3 An act relating to the Corporate Income Tax
4 Credit Scholarship Program; amending s.
5 220.187, F.S.; providing legislative findings;
6 revising program purposes; providing a
7 definition; providing that specified students
8 who have been in Department of Juvenile Justice
9 education programs or who are placed in foster
10 care are eligible for participation in the
11 scholarship program; revising income criteria
12 for continuation of a scholarship for students
13 placed in foster care; providing an effective
14 date.
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16 WHEREAS, the Corporate Income Tax Credit Scholarship
17 Program has produced substantial cost savings by relieving the
18 state of the expense of educating program participants in
19 public schools at a cost in foregone tax revenue that is
20 substantially less than the per-pupil cost of educating
21 children in public schools, and
22 WHEREAS, the Corporate Income Tax Credit Scholarship
23 Program has relieved public school class size by creating new
24 classroom spaces in the public schools at no cost to the
25 taxpayers, and
26 WHEREAS, empirical evidence is clear, overwhelming, and
27 uncontroverted that expanding educational options produces
28 improved educational outcomes, both for participating children
29 and for public schools that are exposed to healthy competition
30 as a result, and no study has ever documented any harm to
31 public schools as a result of expanding educational options
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Florida Senate - 2007 COMMITTEE AMENDMENT
Bill No. SB 1212
Barcode 925622
1 through programs like Corporate Tax Credit Scholarships, NOW,
2 THEREFORE,
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