City Councilman Eric Ulrich is pushing an educational tax credit that would encourage more donations to educational institutions. File Photo
A special tax credit geared towards education would likely spark more investment into the state’s schools, lawmakers argued this week.
City Councilman Eric Ulrich (R-Ozone Park) stood beside John Cahill, a candidate for attorney general, to plug the education investment tax credit as a means to encourage businesses or individuals to donate money to educational institutions. It was a measure Ulrich said received incredible support in the state Senate, but has yet to get going in the Assembly.
The two stood outside St. Francis De Sales School on Beach 129th Street on Monday morning to promote the tax credit.
“Parents who choose to send their children to Catholic schools and Yeshivas pay twice – once with their tax dollars for a public school they don’t use and again for a private or parochial school they do,” he said. “Albany must keep its promise and provide some relief for these families. The [tax credit] is a common sense piece of legislation that will encourage private donations to scholarship funds to support education in our state.”
Ulrich plugged Cahill as an educational advocate for students and threw his support behind him for his attorney general campaign. Cahill, who launched his campaign last month, equated education issues to a very different issue to make his point.
“Education is the civil rights issue of our time, to deny students access to a quality education and condemn them to failing schools violates our state constitution,” he said. “As attorney general, I will be the students’ lawyer and I will fight for their right to a quality education, which includes the passage of the education tax credit.”
The credit would increase charitable donations from individuals or businesses for education by delivering a tax credit from a donor’s state tax liability for donations to educational institutions. It would specifically help public schools, teachers, not-for-profit organizations and families with children who attend private or parochial schools, Cahill said.
The current bill was voted on this year in the state Senate with a 55-4 margin in favor. The Assembly version, however, has sat idly – even despite it boasting 97 co-sponsors, including 65 Democrats and 32 Republicans.
Cahill placed some of the blame on Eric Schneiderman, his incumbent opponent for attorney general.
“On every significant educational opportunity of our time, Eric Schneiderman is absent or opposed,” Cahill said. “As state senator, he voted against charter schools and as attorney general, he conspires with Mayor Bill de Blasio to kill charters while the education tax credit lingers in Albany.”
By Phil Corso
