Rep. Trent Franks, 47, works out of his office in the Longworth Building just south of the Capitol, where a bust of Lincoln and a small statuette titled "Jesus With Children" are on display. From that small office is coming legislation that could free thousands and then millions of children from bondage to public schools harmful to their educational health.
Franks, a second-term congressman from Arizona, pushed through his state legislature in 1997 the Arizona Scholarship Tax Credit Bill. That law allows Arizona taxpayers to receive up to a $500 dollar-for-dollar state income tax credit when they make private, voluntary contributions to charities that use at least 90 percent of the money to provide scholarships that allow children to attend the school of their parents' choice.
Since 1997, Arizona taxpayers have made 120,000 donations, and this year the program is likely to raise $30 million for scholarships. Through the program, over 24,000 scholarship-receiving students in Arizona are attending a private school this year. Franks says: "Even the poorest child now becomes royalty in the system. In the past, only wealthy parents could afford their children such an opportunity."
As Arizona goes, so goes the nation? That's the congressman's goal, but only two other states now have scholarship tax credits. In Florida, corporations can transfer up to 75 percent of their corporate income tax liability to non-profit Scholarship Funding Organizations; currently, over 30,000 parents have applied for scholarships for their children. Pennsylvania also has a scholarship tax credit for businesses. Franks wants to give 47 other states incentives to follow these leaders.
The Children's Hope Act, to which Franks has attracted nearly 70 co-sponsors, tells state legislators that if they enact a scholarship tax credit of $250 or more, all residents of their state will be eligible to take part in an additional federal tax credit. The additional federal tax credit is only $100 ($200 for joint returns) and only for those individuals contributing to organizations that distribute at least half of their scholarships to low-income children, but that's what Franks believe will get some state legislatures moving.