Small: It’s not unusual for school programs to benefit all

It’s not unusual for school programs to benefit all

By Jonathan Small

In one important aspect, the Oklahoma Parental Choice Tax Credit program, which helps families send children to private school, operates just like the public school system: The program is open to all.

Opponents act as though this is a major flaw yet never say a peep about the much larger taxpayer benefit provided to the “rich” who use public schools.

Oklahoma public schools reported $9,600,703,488 in revenue in the 2023-2024 school year when enrollment was 698,923 – an average of $13,736 per pupil.

The Oklahoma Parental Choice Tax Credit program provides refundable tax credits of $5,000 to $7,500 per child with the largest credits going to those with the lowest income.

If Jeff Bezos, billionaire founder of Amazon, lived in Oklahoma and sent school-age children to a public school, he would face no extra charge and would receive the full taxpayer benefit of $13,736 per child.

Or he could access the Oklahoma Parental Choice Tax Credit program to send his children to private schools – but in that case, he would only get $5,000 per child.

Somehow the $5,000 tax credit is proclaimed a giveaway for “the rich” while a taxpayer subsidy of $13,736 per child to the same individual is not.

Notably, school-choice opponents don’t complain that the “rich” are not charged extra for police protection, firefighter services, or public roads, all of which are taxpayer funded and available to all.

Thus, the class-warfare argument used by school-choice opponents makes no sense. Perhaps that’s why polling shows voters overwhelming prefer a school-choice system open to everyone rather than limited to specific income levels.

Furthermore, the Oklahoma Parental Choice Tax Credit program is benefiting lower-income and middle-class families in far greater numbers than those at the top of the income scale.

A report by the Oklahoma Tax Commission showed the number of children served from families with incomes below $75,000 was 35 percent greater than the number from families earning more than $250,000.

Overall, 60 percent of children came from families with incomes below $150,000 and nearly 80 percent were below the top bracket of more than $250,000.

Yet some critics now act as though anything above $75,000 makes one “rich,” even though a household where the father is a police officer and the mother a schoolteacher will have income above that level.

A recent parent rally highlighted the real-world reality of program. Attendees included all groups that critics claimed would never benefit from school choice: Low-income students, racial minorities and rural students were all present.

The Oklahoma Parental Choice Tax Credit program is providing all Oklahoma families new educational opportunities, particularly working-class families who previously could only dream of private school for their children. Opponents aren’t upset that the Oklahoma Parental Choice Tax Credit is unfair; they are upset that it is succeeding.

Jonathan Small serves as president of the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs.