Whatever happend to AB 816?
Information from the Heritage Institute:
In 1999, the Illinois state House and Senate approved the Educational Expenses Tax Credit plan (Senate Bill 1075). Signed into law on June 3, 1999, this law provides an annual tax credit of up to 25 percent of education-related expenses (including tuition, book fees, and lab fees) that exceed $250, up to a maximum of $500 per family.
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In July 1999, the local chapter of the American Federation of Teachers filed a lawsuit in the Circuit Court of Franklin County, alleging that the tax credit law violated the state prohibition against the establishment of religion. On December 7, 1999, Judge Loren P. Lewis dismissed the suit. Opponents of choice appealed the decision to the Appellate Court of the Fifth Judicial District, which upheld the Circuit Court's decision. On April 4, 2001, the Appellate Court of Illinois for the Fifth Judicial District unanimously upheld the constitutionality of the Illinois educational expenses tax credit law.
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A second lawsuit was filed in Sangamon County Circuit Court by a coalition of groups led by the Illinois Education Association, also challenging the program on state constitutional grounds. In April 2000, the circuit court judge dismissed the suit, emphasizing that the tax credit allows Illinois parents to keep more of their own money to spend on their children's education and does not involve the expenditure of public money. Opponents appealed this decision to the Appellate Court of the Fourth Judicial District.
On April 21, 2001, the Appellate Court for the Fourth Judicial District also unanimously upheld the constitutionality of the state's 1999 tax credit law. "By creating the credit," Justice Rita Garman wrote for the three-judge panel, "the legislature has recognized that parents who send their children to private schools often do so at considerable expense to themselves and that they provide a benefit to the State treasury by relieving the State and local taxpayers of the expense of educating their children." In two separate decisions in June 2001, the Illinois Supreme Court refused to reconsider the two district appeals court rulings. Since the plaintiffs did not raise First Amendment claims in either case, no appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court was possible.
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In 2004 Assembly Bill 816 was prepared in committee down in Madison - for some unknown reason it never saw the light of day.. Inquiring minds would like to know more about this one. Why did it not make it out of committee? Where do Kitty Rhoades and Sheila Harsdorf stand on this sort of step in the direction of fiscal sanity???
bildanielson @ On the Borderline
In 1999, the Illinois state House and Senate approved the Educational Expenses Tax Credit plan (Senate Bill 1075). Signed into law on June 3, 1999, this law provides an annual tax credit of up to 25 percent of education-related expenses (including tuition, book fees, and lab fees) that exceed $250, up to a maximum of $500 per family.
.
In July 1999, the local chapter of the American Federation of Teachers filed a lawsuit in the Circuit Court of Franklin County, alleging that the tax credit law violated the state prohibition against the establishment of religion. On December 7, 1999, Judge Loren P. Lewis dismissed the suit. Opponents of choice appealed the decision to the Appellate Court of the Fifth Judicial District, which upheld the Circuit Court's decision. On April 4, 2001, the Appellate Court of Illinois for the Fifth Judicial District unanimously upheld the constitutionality of the Illinois educational expenses tax credit law.
.
A second lawsuit was filed in Sangamon County Circuit Court by a coalition of groups led by the Illinois Education Association, also challenging the program on state constitutional grounds. In April 2000, the circuit court judge dismissed the suit, emphasizing that the tax credit allows Illinois parents to keep more of their own money to spend on their children's education and does not involve the expenditure of public money. Opponents appealed this decision to the Appellate Court of the Fourth Judicial District.
On April 21, 2001, the Appellate Court for the Fourth Judicial District also unanimously upheld the constitutionality of the state's 1999 tax credit law. "By creating the credit," Justice Rita Garman wrote for the three-judge panel, "the legislature has recognized that parents who send their children to private schools often do so at considerable expense to themselves and that they provide a benefit to the State treasury by relieving the State and local taxpayers of the expense of educating their children." In two separate decisions in June 2001, the Illinois Supreme Court refused to reconsider the two district appeals court rulings. Since the plaintiffs did not raise First Amendment claims in either case, no appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court was possible.
.
In 2004 Assembly Bill 816 was prepared in committee down in Madison - for some unknown reason it never saw the light of day.. Inquiring minds would like to know more about this one. Why did it not make it out of committee? Where do Kitty Rhoades and Sheila Harsdorf stand on this sort of step in the direction of fiscal sanity???
bildanielson @ On the Borderline
posted by Anonymous @ 10:10 PM
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