Rep. Burgess Owens champions bill offering tax credits in exchange for school-choice scholarships

SALT LAKE CITY — Utah Rep. Burgess Owens asserts America's kids should be the smartest, most productive, most articulate and most visionary children in the world.

But he's quick to add that the country's public education system is falling alarmingly short of that aspiration.

"Education has been turned on its head," he said. "We have 25% to 30% of our kids not proficient in math and reading. We have kids having no idea what our history is about, so they have no pride in our past. And we have this idea that we can now judge each other based on skin color — that's what we got away from 60 years ago."

An institutional reset is needed to lift the country's primary and secondary education system, the congressman told the Deseret News,

"And (school) choice" he added, "is the only way to go."

As part of his efforts to expand school choice opportunities, Owens joined other Republican lawmakers in reintroducing the Educational Choice for Children Act this week. The proposed legislation offers tax incentives for individuals and businesses who contribute to nonprofits that provide education scholarships for students.

If passed, the legislation would provide up to $10 billion annually for K-12 students to be used to cover public, private or homeschool education expenses such as tuition, fees, book supplies.

If ratified, the ECCA, added Owens "is one small step toward making sure that every child — no matter what zip code, what race, what background — has a choice."

ECCA highlights:

• The Education Choice of Children Act co-sponsored by Owens would provide $10 billion in annual tax credits to be made available to individuals and corporations. Allotment of these credits to individuals would be administered by the Treasury Department.
• A base amount will be set for each state and then the credits are distributed on a first-come, first-serve basis.
• The act includes provisions that govern Scholarship Granting Organizations. SGOs are given the ability to determine the individual amount of scholarship awards.
• Eligible students must come from households with an income not exceeding 300% of the area median gross income.
• Qualified contributions are cash or marketable securities donations to eligible SGOs.
• SGOs must operate as a charitable organization and meet specific criteria to manage and allocate scholarships without favoring specific students.

Education: Gateway to success, respect

Owens' school choice advocacy is well-established.

Growing up in America's Deep South, he learned at a young age in the Black community that education "was the gateway to success and respect."

His parents and several relatives were educators.

"They felt that if they can raise a generation of kids that could think, compete, be articulate and be patriotic, then they will command respect," he said. "That's the environment I grew up in."

Much has changed for the worst, he added, over the past 60 years — particularly in primary and secondary education.

America's businesses function best when they compete for their customers, he said. Meritocracy is rewarded. "The only industry that has not applied to has been the educational industry," he said.

Merit and choice in education are not prioritized. "Therefore, we have an industry that's failing in every fashion."

School choice-friendly initiatives such as the ECCA, said Owens, allow people to make an investment in children — and in their country's future. "We have to look at the education of other people's children as an investment, not a cost."

School choice offers parents opportunities to determine the right educational paths for their children, he said. For some, the right choice might be the local public school. For others, it's a parochial school or maybe homeschooling.

The scholarships made available via ECCA will help empower parents with the financial resources to make school choices, he said. Meanwhile, the proposed legislation would allow individuals and corporations to invest in America's children.

In return, they receive a tax credit.

No surprise, Owen's legislation has prompted criticism from some public policy observers who worry that the ECCA-provided tax credits would result in federal and state losses of capital gains taxes — losses that would further defund public education at a critical post-pandemic moment.

But Owens counters there is no zero-sum at play with his proposed legislation.

"The companies win because they not only get a tax credit for their business, but they're also investing into our kids' future," he said. "And obviously, it benefits moms and dads who are desperately trying to find a way to afford to give their kids the best education possible.

School choice, he added, strengthens the nation.

"Having a choice for our children to find their potential is a benefit for our country," said Owens. "I look at it as a national security issue."

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