{"id":16664,"date":"2013-02-13T08:15:10","date_gmt":"2013-02-13T13:15:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/?p=16664"},"modified":"2013-02-13T07:38:03","modified_gmt":"2013-02-13T12:38:03","slug":"rubio-proposes-federal-private-school-scholarship-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/2013\/02\/13\/rubio-proposes-federal-private-school-scholarship-program\/","title":{"rendered":"Rubio Proposes Federal Private School Scholarship Program"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Saul Loeb \/ AFP<\/p>

Florida U.S. Senator Marco Rubio delivered the Republican response to the State of the Union last night. He also proposed a federal tax credit scholarship similar to a program in Florida.<\/p><\/div>\n

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio is proposing a federal tax credit to provide private school scholarships to students in low-income families.<\/p>\n

The program is similar to a Florida tax credit scholarship program approved in 2001. More than 50,000 students are enrolled in the Florida program, claiming $229 million in benefits.<\/p>\n

Individuals could claim a dollar-for-dollar tax credit for up to $4,500 in annual donations to groups awarding private school scholarships under Rubio’s plan, according to The Miami Herald<\/em><\/a>. Businesses could claim tax credits for up to $100,000 in donations.<\/p>\n

Students in families earning up to 250 percent of the federal poverty level would be eligible for the program. For a family of four that totals $58,875.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Rubio told The Miami Herald<\/em> the bill is intended to give poor children the same school opportunities as wealthier families<\/a>:<\/p>\n

If Florida\u2019s experience is any measure, though, Democrats, teacher unions and some church-and-state separatists will oppose the scholarship-voucher program, saying it indirectly uses tax money to fund private, and often religious education.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not about unions. It\u2019s not about school administrators,\u201d Rubio said in an interview. \u201cThis is about parents. The only parents in America who don\u2019t have a choice where their kids go to school are poor parents.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though Rubio\u2019s rhetoric adopts longstanding Democratic talking points about the disadvantaged, the legislation will have a tough time in the Democratic-controlled U.S. Senate.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Rubio told the paper he sought advice from former Gov. Jeb Bush on the proposal. Bush was the driving force behind Florida’s program and is a Rubio mentor.<\/p>\n

Rubio is considered a leading 2016 Republican presidential possibility<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Florida is one of 11 states<\/a> with a private school scholarship program, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Most states provide less than a dollar-for-dollar tax credit match for donations.<\/p>\n

A state analysis found Florida saved $1.50 for every $1 donated<\/a> to the tax credit scholarship program. But those savings would be less if donations to the program exceed the scholarship amount sought by students.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio is proposing a federal tax credit to provide private school scholarships to students in low-income families. The program is similar to a Florida tax credit scholarship program approved in 2001. More than 50,000 students are enrolled in the Florida program, claiming $229 million in benefits. Individuals could claim a dollar-for-dollar tax […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":31,"featured_media":16667,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18],"tags":[1026,1137,1008,675],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16664"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/31"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16664"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16664\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16671,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16664\/revisions\/16671"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16667"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16664"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16664"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16664"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}