HB 7145

1	A bill to be entitled
2	An act relating to scholarship programs; amending s.
3	220.187, F.S., relating to the Corporate Income Tax Credit
4	Scholarship Program; providing legislative findings;
5	revising program purposes; providing for eligibility of
6	siblings of certain students; revising provisions relating
7	to authorized uses of scholarship funds and expenditure of
8	contributions received during the fiscal year; revising
9	scholarship amounts and payments; providing for
10	preservation of credits under certain circumstances;
11	amending s. 1002.39, F.S., relating to the John M. McKay
12	Scholarships for Students with Disabilities Program;
13	revising scholarship ineligibility and private school
14	eligibility provisions to exempt certain students from
15	regular class attendance requirements under certain
16	circumstances; providing an effective date.
17
18	WHEREAS, the Corporate Income Tax Credit Scholarship
19	Program has produced substantial cost savings by relieving the
20	state of the expense of educating program participants in public
21	schools at a cost in foregone tax revenue that is substantially
22	less than the per-student cost of educating children in public
23	schools, and
24	WHEREAS, the Corporate Income Tax Credit Scholarship
25	Program and the John M. McKay Scholarships for Students with
26	Disabilities Program have relieved public school class size by
27	creating new classroom spaces in the public schools at no cost
28	to the taxpayers, and
29	WHEREAS, empirical evidence is clear, overwhelming, and
30	uncontroverted that expanding educational options produces
31	improved educational outcomes, both for participating children
32	and for public schools that are exposed to healthy competition
33	as a result, and no study has ever documented any harm to public
34	schools as a result of expanding educational options through
35	programs like the Corporate Income Tax Credit Scholarship
36	Program and the John M. McKay Scholarships for Students with
37	Disabilities Program, NOW, THEREFORE,
38
39	Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
40
41	Section 1.  Subsections (1) and (3), paragraphs (d) and (i)
42	of subsection (6), and paragraphs (a) and (c) of subsection (11)
43	of section 220.187, Florida Statutes, are amended, and
44	subsection (14) is added to that section, to read:
45	220.187  Credits for contributions to nonprofit
46	scholarship-funding organizations.--
47	(1)  FINDINGS AND PURPOSE.--
48	(a)  The Legislature finds that:
49	1.  It has the inherent power to determine subjects of
50	taxation for general or particular public purposes.
51	2.  Expanding educational opportunities and improving the
52	quality of educational services within the state are valid
53	public purposes that the Legislature may promote using its
54	sovereign power to determine subjects of taxation and exemptions
55	from taxation.
56	3.  Ensuring that all parents, regardless of means, may
57	exercise and enjoy their basic right to educate their children
58	as they see fit is a valid public purpose that the Legislature
59	may promote using its sovereign power to determine subjects of
60	taxation and exemptions from taxation.
61	4.  The existence of programs that provide expanded
62	educational opportunities in this state has not been shown to
63	reduce funding to or otherwise harm public schools within the
64	state, and, to the contrary, per-student funding in public
65	schools has risen each year since the first inception of those
66	programs in 1999.
67	5.  Expanded educational opportunities and the healthy
68	competition they promote are critical to improving the quality
69	of education in the state and to ensuring that all children
70	receive the high-quality education to which they are entitled.
71	(b)  The purpose of this section is to:
72	1.(a)  Enable taxpayers to make Encourage private,
73	voluntary contributions to nonprofit scholarship-funding
74	organizations in order to promote the general welfare.
75	2.  Provide taxpayers who wish to help parents with limited
76	resources exercise their basic right to educate their children
77	as they see fit with a means to do so.
78	3.(b)  Promote the general welfare by expanding Expand
79	educational opportunities for children of families that have
80	limited financial resources.
81	4.(c)  Enable children in this state to achieve a greater
82	level of excellence in their education.
83	5.  Improve the quality of education in this state, both by
84	expanding educational opportunities for children and by creating
85	incentives for schools to achieve excellence.
86	(3)  PROGRAM; SCHOLARSHIP ELIGIBILITY.--The Corporate
87	Income Tax Credit Scholarship Program is established. A student
88	is eligible for a corporate income tax credit scholarship if the
89	student qualifies for free or reduced-price school lunches under
90	the National School Lunch Act and:
91	(a)  Was counted as a full-time equivalent student during
92	the previous state fiscal year for purposes of state per-student
93	funding;
94	(b)  Received a scholarship from an eligible nonprofit
95	scholarship-funding organization or from the State of Florida
96	during the previous school year; or
97	(c)  Is eligible to enter kindergarten or first grade.
98
99	Contingent upon available funds, a student may continue in the
100	scholarship program as long as the student's family income level
101	does not exceed 200 percent of the federal poverty level. A
102	sibling of a student who is continuing in the program and
103	resides in the same household as the student shall also be
104	eligible as a first-time corporate income tax credit scholarship
105	recipient as long as the student's and sibling's family income
106	level does not exceed 200 percent of the federal poverty level.
107	(6)  OBLIGATIONS OF ELIGIBLE NONPROFIT SCHOLARSHIP-FUNDING
108	ORGANIZATIONS.--An eligible nonprofit scholarship-funding
109	organization:
110	(d)  Must provide scholarships, from eligible
111	contributions, to eligible students for:
112	1.  Tuition, or textbook expenses, or registration fees
113	for, or transportation to, an eligible private school. The
114	amount of the scholarship shall be the maximum allowed by law or
115	the amount of the private school's textbook expenses and
116	published tuition and registration fees, whichever is less At
117	least 75 percent of the scholarship funding must be used to pay
118	tuition expenses; or
119	2.  Transportation expenses to a Florida public school that
120	is located outside the district in which the student resides or
121	to a lab school as defined in s. 1002.32.
122	(i)  Must expend for annual or partial-year scholarships an
123	amount equal to or greater than 75 percent of the eligible
124	contributions received during the fiscal year in which such
125	contributions are collected. No more than 25 percent of such
126	eligible contributions may be carried forward to the succeeding
127	fiscal year. Any amounts carried forward shall be expended for
128	obligate, in the same fiscal year in which the contribution was
129	received, 100 percent of the eligible contribution to provide
130	annual or partial-year scholarships; however, up to 25 percent
131	of the total contribution may be carried forward for expenditure
132	in the following state fiscal year. A scholarship-funding
133	organization must, before granting a scholarship for an academic
134	year, document each scholarship student's eligibility for that
135	academic year. A scholarship-funding organization may not grant
136	multiyear scholarships in one approval process. No portion of
137	eligible contributions may be used for administrative expenses.
138	All interest accrued from contributions must be used for
139	scholarships.
140
141	Any and all information and documentation provided to the
142	Department of Education and the Auditor General relating to the
143	identity of a taxpayer that provides an eligible contribution
144	under this section shall remain confidential at all times in
145	accordance with s. 213.053.
146	(11)  SCHOLARSHIP AMOUNT AND PAYMENT.--
147	(a)  The amount of a scholarship provided to any student
148	for any single school year by an eligible nonprofit scholarship-
149	funding organization from eligible contributions shall not
150	exceed the following annual limits:
151	1.  Three thousand seven hundred fifty dollars for a
152	scholarship awarded to a student enrolled in kindergarten
153	through grade 5 in an eligible private school.
154	2.  Four thousand dollars for a scholarship awarded to a
155	student enrolled in grades 6 through 8 in an eligible private
156	school.
157	3.  Four thousand two hundred fifty dollars for a
158	scholarship awarded to a student enrolled in grades 9 through 12
159	in an eligible private school.
160	4.2.  Five hundred dollars for a scholarship awarded to a
161	student enrolled in a Florida public school that is located
162	outside the district in which the student resides or in a lab
163	school as defined in s. 1002.32.
164	(c)  An eligible nonprofit scholarship-funding organization
165	shall obtain verification from the private school of a student's
166	continued attendance at the school for prior to each period
167	covered by a scholarship payment.
168	(14)  PRESERVATION OF CREDIT.--If any provision or portion
169	of subsection (5) or the application thereof to any person or
170	circumstance is held unconstitutional by any court or is
171	otherwise invalid, the unconstitutionality or invalidity shall
172	not affect any credit earned under subsection (5) by any
173	taxpayer with respect to any contribution paid to an eligible
174	nonprofit scholarship-funding organization before the date of a
175	determination of unconstitutionality or invalidity. Such credit
176	shall be allowed at such time and in such a manner as if a
177	determination of unconstitutionality or invalidity had not been
178	made, provided that nothing in this subsection by itself or in
179	combination with any other provision of law shall result in the
180	allowance of any credit to any taxpayer in excess of one dollar
181	of credit for each dollar paid to an eligible nonprofit
182	scholarship-funding organization.
183	Section 2.  Paragraph (h) of subsection (3) and paragraph
184	(d) of subsection (8) of section 1002.39, Florida Statutes, are
185	amended to read:
186	1002.39  The John M. McKay Scholarships for Students with
187	Disabilities Program.--There is established a program that is
188	separate and distinct from the Opportunity Scholarship Program
189	and is named the John M. McKay Scholarships for Students with
190	Disabilities Program.
191	(3)  JOHN M. MCKAY SCHOLARSHIP PROHIBITIONS.--A student is
192	not eligible for a John M. McKay Scholarship while he or she is:
193	(h)  Not having regular and direct contact with his or her
194	private school teachers at the school's physical location unless
195	the following criteria are met:
196	1.  The student's primary care physician, a medical doctor
197	treating the student's disability, or a clinical psychologist
198	treating the student's disability provides a notarized, sworn
199	statement to the department certifying that the student's
200	welfare or the welfare of other students in the classroom will
201	be jeopardized if the student is required to regularly attend
202	class at the school's physical location.
203	2.  The student's primary care physician, a medical doctor
204	treating the student's disability, or a clinical psychologist
205	treating the student's disability annually reviews the student's
206	case and recertifies to the department by May 1 that the
207	student's welfare or the welfare of the other students in the
208	classroom will be jeopardized if the student is required to
209	regularly attend class at the school's physical location.
210
211	A student who received a scholarship in the 2005-2006 or 2006-
212	2007 school year and who demonstrates that he or she met the
213	criteria of subparagraph 1. shall be eligible to receive a
214	scholarship beginning in the 2007-2008 school year.
215	(8)  PRIVATE SCHOOL ELIGIBILITY AND OBLIGATIONS.--To be
216	eligible to participate in the John M. McKay Scholarships for
217	Students with Disabilities Program, a private school may be
218	sectarian or nonsectarian and must:
219	(d)  Maintain in this state a physical location where a
220	scholarship student regularly attends classes, except as
221	provided in subparagraphs (3)(h)1. and 2.
222
223	The inability of a private school to meet the requirements of
224	this subsection shall constitute a basis for the ineligibility
225	of the private school to participate in the scholarship program
226	as determined by the department.
227	Section 3.  This act shall take effect July 1, 2007.

CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.