Rep. Jim Ferrin has scaled back his bill after a fiscal analysis showed there would be "unintended consequences" for offering the credits to such families.
On Tuesday, the Orem Republican filed a substitute bill - House Bill 39 - that offers income-tax credits only to low-income, private-school families and families who switch their children from public to private schools.
The fiscal analysis is not publicly available, but Ferrin said it prompted the changes.
"Through that process, I came to understand that I should tweak and change and modify provisions of the bill so we could carefully achieve the objectives without creating unintended consequences," he said, choosing his words carefully.
Ferrin refused to characterize those unintended consequences as costing the state millions of dollars, as has been speculated.
Even so, Sen. Chris Buttars wasn't surprised at the revision. When the West Jordan Republican sponsored tuition tax-credits legislation two years ago, it became clear that offering the tax break to existing private school families would cost the state too much money - possibly $38 million.
He had no choice but to limit the credits only to families that transfer from public to private schools.
"It isn't fair to do that, but you need to get the ship into the water," Buttars said. "You've got to overcome the big [fiscal] note or it's dead."
His 2003 bill passed in the Senate but died in the House.
He has guaranteed this year's HB39 will pass in the Senate, but it has to get there first. The measure won't get a House committee hearing until the legislative fiscal analyst has calculated his predictions of the revised measure's financial impact. Ferrin said he expects a new fiscal note by the end of the week.
Bill opponents believe it will drain money from public schools, while supporters say it will save public schools money.
The revised HB39 also loosens the definition of "private school" by eliminating a provision that would have required students to spend 90 percent of their school days face to face with teachers at the school. That opens the benefit up to students who take online classes at cyber schools, Ferrin said.
In addition, the bill deletes the line: '' 'Private school' does not include a school that operates in a residence.''
HB39 would create a sliding scale that gives the largest tax credit - $3,750 - to the lowest-income families and the smallest credit - $500 - to moderately high-income families.
Tax credits would be indexed to federal guidelines for reduced-price lunches in public schools. Those guidelines are based on household income and family size.
A family with a household income at or below the federal guidelines would qualify for the full $3,750 credit. At the upper end, a family with a household income of up to 300 percent of the guidelines would qualify for the $500 credit. Incomes beyond 300 percent would be ineligible.
rlynn@sltrib.com
