CALL-TO-ACTION: Tell House and Senate to VOTE NO to Tax Reform that Guts Support for Public Education
Both the House and Senate are
considering comprehensive tax reform proposals. The House will vote as early as Thursday November 16th! AASA has reviewed both bills and is
opposed to specific provisions which undermine federal support for public
education and will negatively impact state and local funding for public
schools. To that end, we have a two-prong call to action:
- Call the Congressional Switch board (202) 224-3121 and ask to be
transferred to your Senators/Representative. The person who answers is
taking a tally of votes for and against, and the script you can read is
below.
- Email the education staffer and legislative director
for each of your Congressional delegation. It can even be one email! You
want to send this email to the people in the office who are
handling/tracking the policy specifics.
PHONE SCRIPT
HOUSE
Hello! My name is [___] and I’m the superintendent in xxxx
District in his district. I’m calling to let Congressman ______ know that I
strongly oppose the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act because of the devastating impact it
will have on my students and community.
My opposition to the tax reform is driven by two specific
provisions which will negatively impact our nation’s public schools.
First, this legislation would incentivize upper-middle-class and
wealthy Americans to educate their children in private schools by providing
them with a tax break as they can now utilize 529 accounts for private k12
education. These drastic
changes would enable anyone, regardless of their wealth, to put aside significantly
more dollars for use at private schools, at a greater expense to taxpayers and
schools.
Second, I am also deeply concerned by changes to the State
and Local Tax Deduction. Eliminating SALT will hurt more than 43 million
taxpayers from all 50 states and across all income brackets, it also will hurt
the ability of state and local governments, including my school district, to
fund essential services such as public education. State and local funding
accounts for about 90 percent of funding for K-12 schools, meaning that any
reduction in state revenue—which will likely happen when any state or local tax
is perceived as a double tax when it cannot be deducted—will almost certainly
lead to cuts in public education. Over time, it is likely that a change
in this tax provision would erode funding for education at a level deep enough
to mirror a direct cut in federal, state and/or local funding.
I urge Representative ______ to oppose this bill, which has
the potential to decimate education funding for our state.
SENATE
Hello! My name is [___] and I’m the
superintendent in xxxx District which is located in xx part of state. I’m
calling to let Senator _______ know that I strongly oppose the Tax Cuts
and Jobs Act because of the devastating impact it will have on my students and
community.
My opposition to the tax reform is driven by two provisions
which will negatively impact our nation’s public schools.
First, I am also deeply concerned by
changes to the State and Local Tax Deduction. Eliminating SALT will hurt more
than 43 million taxpayers from all 50 states and across all income brackets, it
also will hurt the ability of state and local governments, including my school
district, to fund essential services such as public education. State and local
funding accounts for about 90 percent of funding for K-12 schools, meaning that
any reduction in state revenue—which will likely happen when any state or local
tax is perceived as a double tax when it cannot be deducted—will almost
certainly lead to cuts in public education. Over time, it is likely that
a change in this tax provision would erode funding for education at a level
deep enough to mirror a direct cut in federal, state and/or local funding.
Second, I voice my strong opposition to
the inclusion of any provisions that that create a federal voucher program or
provide tax incentives for families that send their children to private school
have no place in this legislation. Given current levels of public education
funding we cannot divert revenues to support away from the school system that
educates 90% of American children.
I urge Senator ______ to oppose this bill, which has the
potential to decimate education funding for our state.
EMAIL TEXT
- Do you need the name and email address of the education
staffer and legislative director for anyone in your Congressional
delegation? Let us know, or email your state association director. We gave
them the full set of contact information.
- Use the text below as the basis of your email, and feel
free to personalize with details about your district or specifics on what
the tax policy ramifications will mean for your state and district
SAMPLE HOUSE EMAIL
Dear {INSERT NAME},
My name is [___] and I’m
the superintendent in xxxx District in his district. I’m emailing to let
Representative ______ know that I strongly oppose the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act
because of the devastating impact it will have on my students and community.
My opposition to the tax reform is driven by two specific
provisions which will negatively impact our nation’s public schools.
First, this legislation would incentivize upper-middle-class
and wealthy Americans to educate their children in private schools by providing
them with a tax break as they can now utilize 529 accounts for private k12
education. These drastic
changes would enable anyone, regardless of their wealth, to put aside
significantly more dollars for use at private schools, at a greater expense to
taxpayers and schools.
Second, I am also deeply concerned by changes to the State
and Local Tax Deduction. Eliminating SALT will hurt more than 43 million
taxpayers from all 50 states and across all income brackets, it also will hurt
the ability of state and local governments, including my school district, to
fund essential services such as public education. State and local funding accounts
for about 90 percent of funding for K-12 schools, meaning that any reduction in
state revenue—which will likely happen when any state or local tax is perceived
as a double tax when it cannot be deducted—will almost certainly lead to cuts
in public education. Over time, it is likely that a change in this tax
provision would erode funding for education at a level deep enough to mirror a
direct cut in federal, state and/or local funding.
I urge Representative ______ to oppose this bill, which has
the potential to decimate education funding for our state.
SENATE
Dear {INSERT NAME},
My name is
[___] and I’m the superintendent in xxxx District which is located in xx
part of state. I’m emailing to let Senator _______ know that I
strongly oppose the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act because of the devastating
impact it will have on my students and community.
First, I am also deeply concerned by changes to the State and Local Tax Deduction. Eliminating SALT will hurt more than 43 million taxpayers from all 50 states and across all income brackets, it also will hurt the ability of state and local governments, including my school district, to fund essential services such as public education. State and local funding accounts for about 90 percent of funding for K-12 schools, meaning that any reduction in state revenue—which will likely happen when any state or local tax is perceived as a double tax when it cannot be deducted—will almost certainly lead to cuts in public education. Over time, it is likely that a change in this tax provision would erode funding for education at a level deep enough to mirror a direct cut in federal, state and/or local funding.
Second, I voice my strong opposition to the inclusion of any provisions that that create a federal voucher program or provide tax incentives for families that send their children to private school have no place in this legislation. Given current levels of public education funding we cannot divert revenues to support away from the school system that educates 90% of American children.
I urge Senator ______ to oppose this bill, which has the
potential to decimate education funding for our state.