|
| April 20, 1998 |
Education's Old Guard Seeks to Keep Parents and Communities Out of Education
Proponents Expect Victory Despite Efforts to Kill A-Plus Education Bill
This week -- despite strong opposition from the defenders of the status quo -- the Senate will be given a rare opportunity to begin the process of building an elementary and secondary education system that mirrors the success of our higher education system. That process begins with passage of the Coverdell-Torricelli A-Plus Education Savings Account bill. The centerpiece of the Coverdell-Torricelli bill is the establishment of tax-free savings accounts that can be used for qualified education expenses from kindergarten through college:
- A + Savings Accounts. These accounts are similar to the current Education IRA for college tuition. Under the Coverdell-Torricelli proposal, the annual contribution limit will be increased from $500 to $2,000 a year.
In addition to giving millions of families the opportunity to save tax-free for their children's education, the Coverdell-Torricelli bill will:
- Extend employer-provided education benefits to 1 million employees. The bill extends this popular provision that allows employees to accept employer-provided education assistance without having to declare it as income (up to $5,250 a year). The tax exclusion will apply to assistance for both graduate and undergraduate courses.
- Allow 1 million students to benefit from tax-free state pre-paid tuition plans. Many states have established pre-paid tuition plans to make it more affordable to attend state colleges in the future, and to help families save for this important expense, the Coverdell-Torricelli bill goes a step beyond tax deferral of such savings as currently allowed: this bill makes such savings tax-free.
- Finance $3 billion in school construction bonds for 500 schools. For local school districts that have experienced a high rate of growth in student population, the bill provides the traditional tax-exempt bond funding for school construction.
As part of the debate on the Coverdell-Torricelli bill, the Senate will also have the opportunity to vote on a number of other key education reforms including: the House-passed Reading Excellence program, the Gorton Dollars to the Classroom plan, and the Mack-D'Amato Teacher Testing and Merit Pay initiative. Such provisions make this a winning package for America's hard-working families, and a "must-pass" bill for the Senate.