George Tryfiates, Director for Government Affairs of the Association of Christian Schools International (ACSI), shares his comments in regards to the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM), Docket ID IRS-2018-0025, Contributions in Exchange for State or Local Tax Credits (REG-112176-18).

He urges the Treasury to address its valid concerns outlined in NPRM and to preserve federal charitable tax deductions to state tax credit scholarship programs as they are. He urges those involved to leave the programs unhindered.

George's full hearing presentation is attached below.

The CAPE Outlook newsletter is the concise, informative, and timely resource for news relating to private school education. From state legislation and court rulings, to research reports and federal programs, we cover it all.

Visit the CAPE website to view all issues.

In order to keep you informed of PA's Health changes, we have provided this resource.

1) The Department of Health’s website has changed:

The website may be reached at the following link https://www.health.pa.gov/topics/school/Pages/School%20Health.aspx

The Division of School Health no longer has the capability to make entries/changes to the website but may ask the person with that capability to make entries.

How often do you hear the argument that school choice is a bad idea because it drains funds from already underfunded public schools? We hear it just about every day. Those conversations can be frustrating, but the good news is that we have data on our side.

On April 30, 2016, the Pennsylvania Department of Insurance (DOI) issued a “Notice Regarding Nondiscrimination” directed at health insurance companies doing business in the Commonwealth. The DOI Notice forbids health insurance companies from selling policies that “discriminate” on the basis of gender identity. Insurers may not sell policies that exclude “gender transition,” including the administration of hormones and “sex reassignment” surgery.

The Association of Christian Schools International (ACSI) has sent a Reservation of Rights letter to the Pennsylvania Department of Education for the free and reduced lunch program to help support ACSI Christian Schools' rights for those participating in the Hot Lunch and food programs. The renewals for these programs should not be hindered by a nondiscrimination statement that is contrary to a schools beliefs or tenants of faith. ACSI recognizes the importance of observing the proper church-state boundaries between the Pennsylvania Department of Education and our member schools.

The administration and DCED have removed the nondiscrimination statement that included gender, gender identity and sexual expression language from the EITC and OSTC guidelines and applications. This is a significant blessing from God. If you are a scholarship organization, the forms are updated on the website and we can participate once again in these incredibly important programs to our families in good faith.

Consider and pray about several things that the DCED very pointed example makes clear:

The Free / Reduced Lunch program is adding a sexual orientation, gender identity non-discrimination clause that must be consented to in order to participate in the program. Schools who plan to participate in the lunch program are suggested to include a reservation of rights letter with their applications.

You can use money contributed to a child's 529 Plan to pay for their K-12 education expenses. Pennsylvania will follow the Federal tax legislation signed into law on December 22, 2017, which includes several new provisions related specifically to 529 plan accounts, beginning with the 2018 tax year:
• Account owners can use assets to pay for qualified K-12 expenses up to $10,000 per year, per student.
• Account owners can treat K-12 withdrawals as qualified education expenses with respect to federal tax and PA PIT purposes.

School choice requires an active engagement in politics. This does not mean dipping a toe in the proverbial pond of politics, but actively engaging in local and state politics and calling its school community to involvement as well.