Subcommittee advances bill to raise education tax-credit cap to $25 million
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Summary
The Ways & Means (Income Tax) subcommittee voted to pass HB 565, which would raise the annual cap on a public-school tax-credit program from $15 million to $25 million and preserve per-filer ceilings; proponents said the change is needed after demand nearly exhausted the current cap.
Representative Townsend presented HB 565 to the subcommittee, saying the program — administered through the Georgia Foundation for Public Education — supports innovative projects in public schools and that "right now, we're doing it at a $15,000,000 clip per year" but supporters want to "increase that to 25,000,000." Townsend said the existing per-filer limits (for single filers, married filers and pass-through entities) would remain unchanged.
Robert Aecott, speaking for the Professional Association of Georgia Educators, urged the committee to support the bill on behalf of the group's members, saying the program helps classroom teachers and school programs across the state. Townsend said proponents expect the program to exceed the current $15 million cap this year, which motivated the proposed increase.
The subcommittee moved to pass HB 565 during the hearing; after a motion and second, members voted in favor and the chair announced the bill "carries," sending it out of the subcommittee. The record does not include a roll-call tally in the transcript provided.
The committee indicated no substantive amendments at the hearing; the sponsor and proponents framed the bill as designed to sustain funding for workforce-related, literacy and innovative classroom projects. Next steps: the bill was passed out of the subcommittee and will proceed through the committee process for additional consideration.
