By MICHELLE MILLHOLLON
Advocate Capitol News Bureau
Published: Mar 14, 2008 - Page: 1A - UPDATED: 12:15 a.m.

A legislator warned a House panel Thursday that including public school students in tax relief for private and university lab school tuition could “tank the whole bill.”

Rep. Hunter Greene said lawmakers are legally hemmed in because the governor sets the agenda for what can emerge from a special session.

Gov. Bobby Jindal’s session agenda only mentions private and parochial school tuition and the expenses of parents who teach their children at home.

Greene, R-Baton Rouge, asked the House Committee on Ways and Means to remove public school students from Senate Bill 5. He promised to push legislation next year to give the parents of public schoolchildren some relief on uniforms, supplies and textbooks.

Legislators rejected his offer, approved the Senate-passed bill and sent it to the full House.

Greene said he will try to amend the bill on the House floor.

One of his concerns is that the bill — as written — only gives the parents of home-schooled and public school students the deduction per child, Greene said. The “per child” language was omitted for private school parents.

Rep. Jane Smith, R-Bossier City, said she is tired of the House having to undo the Senate’s mistakes.

“This came flying out of the Senate and I’m sure they’re over there laughing, saying ‘Let the House be the bad guys,’” she said.

Rep. Cedric Richmond, D-New Orleans, suggested defining “tuition” to include public school expenses.

Greene, an attorney whose children attend parochial schools, advised against it.

“We can call it whatever we want to call it, but we all know what tuition is,” Greene said.

Rep. Harold Ritchie, D-Bogalusa, said the Legislature needs to be fair to all parents.

Greene said lawmakers do a lot for public schools, such as, raising teacher pay and providing basic state aid.

“This is the only relief for moms and pops,” he said of the governor’s legislative package. “Everything else is a business (tax break).”

SB5 would allow parents to deduct 50 percent of the up to $5,000 they pay a year in private school tuition and fees or home-schooling expenses. For parents in the state’s highest tax bracket, the net savings would be $300.

The Senate debated the issue for more than an hour Wednesday before deciding to give the parents of public school students the same deduction.

The deduction would apply to uniforms, textbooks and instructional materials.

The amended bill would reduce state government revenue by about $23 million a year.

At the committee meeting Thursday, Rep. Rick Nowlin, R-Natchitoches, tried to further amend the bill to allow the parents of private school students to also deduct uniforms and supplies.

The panel’s members resisted the change, saying they did not want to add a provision that could kick the bill into a conference committee because the Senate failed to go along.

The Legislature forms a conference committee to work out differences when one chamber makes changes to another chamber’s bill.

Keeping the bill intact is the best way to ensure that public school students remain in it, Richmond said.

Steve Monaghan, president of the Louisiana Federation of Teachers, noted that the state has a number of needs.

For example, he said, there is a $14 billion backlog in repairs on roads and bridges.

The Legislature should not reduce state government revenue until those needs are met, Monaghan said.

Rep. Damon Baldone, D-Houma, said the bill is “a good happy medium.”

Private schools remove the burden of public schools having to educate an additional 128,000 students, he said.

The bill’s sponsor, Sen. Rob Marionneaux, D-Grosse Tete, urged the committee to consider Greene’s amendment.

“Do we want to forgo the bill?” asked Marionneaux, whose son attends LSU Lab School.

The governor’s executive counsel, Jimmy Faircloth, declined to offer an opinion to the committee on whether the bill falls outside the parameters of the session agenda.

Faircloth said Jindal did not intend to exclude debate on public school students.



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