Glenda Ritz seeks $1,000 tax break for public school families

Indiana Superintendent of Public Instruction Glenda Ritz wants lawmakers to approve a $1,000 tax deduction in the new state budget to help families cover textbook costs and other education-related expenses.

Ritz announced her spending priorities Tuesday, months before lawmakers begin negotiating the two-year state budget that the General Assembly will pass in 2017. She renewed her call for the state to provide textbook assistance for public school families — an idea the Republican-controlled legislature has declined to support.

The tax deduction is estimated to cost $30 million per year. Ritz has pushed for the assistance, saying Indiana is one of a handful of states where parents cover the cost of textbook rentals and instructional materials.

“The parents of children in private schools have received this tax deduction for years. It is time for middle-class Hoosiers to get a tax break as well,” Ritz said in a statement.

In 2014, Ritz, a Democrat, outlined a plan to provide free textbooks to schoolchildren, dubbing current rental fees a “textbook tax.” Rather than a tax deduction, Ritz initiallyrequested a $70 million per year increase in state funding.

Ritz’s overall budget plan requests a 2 percent per year increase in funding for schools. Her agency estimates that bump would provide $455 million in new funding. The proposed increases also would cover $17 million per year in funding dedicated to helping small schools, according to Ritz spokesman Daniel Altman.

In her travels, Ritz said she has witnessed schools in rural communities struggle to maintain educational programming.

“Indiana is a state of communities, and our schools are the heart of many of our smaller communities,” Ritz said.

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Her budget also would provide funding for universal prekindergarten, a program expected to cost $147 million in its first year. The proposal contrasts with one unveiled last week by Indiana community leaders that would target assistance to low-income children and likely cost less.

Ritz’s plan goes to Indiana lawmakers and fiscal leaders where it will likely undergo changes.

State Rep. Tim Brown, a Crawfordsville Republican, said it’s too early to say whether GOP leaders will include textbook assistance in their budget plans.

Over the years, Republicans and Democrats alike have floated proposals to help cover the cost, said Brown, the House fiscal leader. The question has become whether the state should provide the help through a tax deduction or by allocating money to pay for the expense, he said.

“This is not a partisan issue to look at this,” Brown said.

During the past legislative session, lawmakers killed a similar proposal offered by Sen. Karen Tallian, a Portage Democrat. Tallian’s plan provided an income tax deduction amounting to $1,000 per child for educational expenses.

Ritz is seeking re-election as state schools chief in November, when she’ll face Republican Jennifer McCormick, a school superintendent from Yorktown.

Call IndyStar reporter Chelsea Schneider at (317) 444-6077. Follow her on Twitter: @IndyStarChelsea.

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