Opportunity Tax Credit Improving Educational Achievement of Students

Opportunity Tax Credit Improving Educational Achievement of Students
Nevada Action for School Options Suggests Enhancements to Program

Carson City, NV – Nevada Action for School Options commends the Nevada Department of Education (NDE) and Superintendent Canavero for releasing an updated “Fact Sheet” regarding Nevada’s Opportunity Tax Credit Scholarship Program. The facts are clear, providing families with choice opportunities creates better results for Nevada’s future generations.

“The findings in the new report are encouraging – students in the Opportunity Scholarship Program are showing substantial academic performance growth, which likely compares favorably to Nevada’s broader student population. While this first report presents a positive report card, we need to remember that this is a new program and would benefit from fine-tuning some details to improve its performance further,” said Don Soifer, President of Nevada Action for School Options.

Nevada Action for School Options encourages legislative leaders to lock in the funding levels passed established during the 79th Legislature and consider the following suggested enhancements to the program:

Require that Scholarship Grant Organizations (SGOs) notify students of their scholarships and grant amounts before the first day of school. This will require the Department of Taxation expediting its timeline to review and approve tax credits. Also, this should not prevent SGOs from awarding scholarships at the last minute if funds become available, for instance if an awarded scholarship is not utilized.

Fund the NDE to instruct an RFP to Nevada’s public universities for a quantitative analysis of student outcome data for Opportunity Scholarship Program students.

Stipulate that SGOs provide families an alternative to requiring students provide filed tax returns of all adults in the household for specified periods. Require, and provide resources for, NDE to sample SGOs for adhering to income eligibility guidelines and other regulatory and statutory requirements

Stipulate that monies received by an SGO for the purposes of scholarships must be transferred to another qualifying SGO in the event an SGO loses its standing with NDE.

Nevada Action for School Choice Options looks forward to a healthy discussion of these important reforms in the coming months.

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Click Here to read more about what Nevada Action thinks about the recent achievement results.

Nevada Action for School Options opened its doors in the fall of 2017 as the Silver State’s nonpartisan, nonprofit “action tank” to support the timely growth of diverse choices of high-quality, rich and personalized educational opportunities for all Nevada students.