CARE-Concerned Arizona Residents for Education

Contact Legislators and the Governor

Oppose Two New Bills

HB 2288 Corporate Tax Credits for Private School Tuition

The House Majority issued a statement of their intended actions over the next 45 days. One of those actions is to repeal the sunset clause on Corporate Tax Credits, a tax credit wherein companies are allowed to give money directly to private schools for tuition. This corporate tax money would otherwise go into the state coffers. The leadership is forging ahead with great speed on this one, and HB 2288 will be scheduled for a vote by the full House very soon. This bill would put into law the ability of corporations to give millions of dollars to private schools to underwrite tuition, with no end date and with a built-in increase of 20% per annum. No such mechanism exists for public schools.

Please take a moment of your time RIGHT NOW to let your representatives know that in a time of financial crisis, subsidizing private schools will not help the 82% of Arizona children educated in public schools, and that the millions of dollars this bill will re-route to private schools is essentially being taken away from the general fund and thus public school children.


HB 2073 Permanently Repeal Education Equalization Property Tax

Rich Crandall, head of the House Education Committee, sponsored legislation to permanently repeal the state Education Equalization Property Tax. Vic Williams is co-sponsoring this bill. This revenue source contributed $250 million a year towards education until it was suspended in 2006 by the Legislature. This tax, which costs the average homeowner $8 a month, is supposed to be restored this year and would go a long way toward mitigating the $1 BILLION cut to education proposed in the FY2009-2010 budget.

Please contact these legislators and the governor. Urge them to oppose HB 2288 and HB 2073.

Contact Information On CARE Website