Tax Credit Reimbursement For Education Expenses Faces Opposition

Parents, guardians and teachers could have been reimbursed for education expenses through a new income tax credit that died in committee last week.

Senate Bill 549 would have reimbursed up to $1,250 for tuition, materials, exam fees, transportation and other services like tutoring and therapies, among others.

The fiscal note on the bill estimated a yearly $45 million in state funds being used for these credits starting in 2027, when estimated payouts would have started. Sen. Jeremy Trebas, R-Great Falls, who is carrying the bill, said that dollar amount can be seen as what homeschoolers, teachers and private school families are paying on their own.

“That’s just a portion of education that the state isn’t paying for, that’s being paid for out of pocket by people right now,” Trebas said. “So it’s a subsidy in a sense.”

Trebas said the credit would apply to about 17,000 people across the state.

Steve White with the Montana Coalition of Home Educators was one of seven opponents to the bill’s single supporter. White said that funding homeschoolers could jeopardize constitutional protections against mandated public school enrollment. White said the law assumes homeschoolers are not taking any state money.

“We don’t take tax credits, we don’t have any government assistance,” White said. “We do our homeschooling out of sacrifice. And so that strict accountability part of the Montana Constitution doesn’t apply to us.”

Others said the bill disproportionately benefits families enrolled in private schools and further increases Montana’s tax burden.

The Senate Finance and Claims Committee voted 22-0 to table the bill.