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Superintendent urges board to consider resolution to opt state into federal scholarship tax-credit program
Summary
District leaders urged the board to support a resolution asking Wisconsin to opt into a federal scholarship tax-credit program, saying partial participation could yield substantial funds for New Berlin schools under plausible assumptions; the board was alerted that the governor has not opted in and that prior legislation had been vetoed.
A district administrator told the board the district is exploring a federal student scholarship tax-credit program that would require the state to opt in for Wisconsin families to direct certain tax-credit funds to local schools.
The presenter (identified in the record as Mr. Arend) summarized the program and said he would work with board members and outside groups to prepare a resolution for the board to consider. He described the program at a high level and ran through a hypothetical calculation: "if we have 4,500 students, let's assume just half of our parents, so like 2,250 of our parents actually opted into this tax credit and opted in our schools ... That totals almost just over $3.8 million," he said. The presenter noted that previous state-level proposals had been vetoed and that the governor has not opted Wisconsin in.
Administrators said the tax credit could be used for a range of eligible expenses that the federal guidance lists — including technology, transportation and special-education services — and that districts are examining how such funds could be used for public-school students if the state adopts enabling procedures. The presenter said the district would work with the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty and other partners to draft a resolution if the board wished to proceed.
Board members were given notice of the issue and told a future proposed resolution would appear for formal board action. The presenter emphasized the numerical example was an estimate based on simplified assumptions about take-up and should not be construed as a guaranteed revenue figure.
