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Federal tax deduction for teachers' expenses renewed
AFT lobbying also nets federal funds for school construction
Solid lobbying by the AFT and other pro-education groups helped guarantee that the interests of frontline educators weren’t lost in the shuffle when Congress closed shop before the fall election. Two key legislative priorities—preservation of a tax deduction for teachers’ out-of-pocket classroom expenses and a federal program to spur public school modernization—made the final cut in legislation enacted at the close of the congressional session.
The AFT helped win renewal of a tax provision that allows K-12 teachers, counselors, classroom aides and others to take a $250 deduction on their 2004 and 2005 federal taxes for out-of-pocket purchases of school supplies. Providing relief for these expenses is important—particularly at a time when deficit-burdened states such as California have suspended similar programs for educators in their tax codes. The deduction, which is available whether or not individuals itemize deductions on their federal returns, was set to expire with the 2003 tax year. The AFT worked with lawmakers throughout the year to ensure that Congress would reinstate this important provision before it adjourned for the year. Extension provisions were ultimately included in the Working Families Tax Relief Act of 2004, which was passed by Congress in early October and signed into law shortly thereafter. The two-year extension will save educators a combined $419 million in taxes.
Congress also provided valuable federal assistance in the battle to repair the nation’s school infrastructure. Lawmakers approved $800 million (over a two-year period) in school construction bonds, known as Qualified Zone Academy Bonds. The federal government pays the interest on these bonds through a federal tax credit offered to the buyer. This ultimately saves school districts up to 40 percent of the cost of the bonds, which may be used for repairs and reconstruction. The AFT is working to increase the numbers of these bonds to help modernize schools and expand their use in new areas, such as site acquisition and new construction.
AFT president Edward J. McElroy applauded the extensions but offered a cautionary note. “I am proud of AFT’s efforts to continue these important tax provisions that help our teachers and schools. Unlike the majority of other reckless tax cuts that have passed under [President Bush’s] watch that benefit the wealthy and shortchange our future, these provisions offer sensible tax relief to hardworking teachers while also helping school districts improve the environment in which they teach our children.”
E-Rate funding still vital to schools, lawmaker says
With controversy swirling around the federal E-Rate and program funding suspended, Congress must not forget that this federal effort to close the digital divide between disadvantaged students and their more affluent counterparts has made a lasting and positive contribution to public education. That’s the message one leading lawmaker gave the Senate Commerce Committee, which held hearings on the E-Rate program this fall.
E-Rate, a program that offers schools and libraries assistance in improving learning through online and other cutting-edge technology, “is a wonderful story of success over the past seven years” and a program that “has fundamentally transformed education in this country,” Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va) told the committee in October. He stressed that only 14 percent of all classrooms—and only 5 percent of the poorest schools—were connected to the Internet when Congress set up the program in 1996. Today, 92 percent of classrooms, including 89 percent of the poorest classrooms, can harness this technology. The West Virginia Democrat also cited statistics from the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office showing that almost nine out of 10 rural superintendents say E-Rate is helping them navigate requirements under the No Child Left Behind Act.
“The E-Rate has enabled schoolchildren across this country to participate in the information society,” Rockefeller stressed. “Unfortunately, this message has been lost in a spate of negative headlines about the program, which all too often have not told the full story.”
Rockefeller’s comments came after the Federal Communication Commission’s (FCC) decision to direct the nonprofit group that runs E-Rate to stop issuing letters of commitment for technology subsidies to schools and libraries. The suspension was prompted by a change in accounting practices aimed at curbing fraud and waste in the program.
“All of us are concerned about waste, fraud and abuse in this program or any other federal program. We need to make sure that the E-Rate program has strong program integrity and that any bad actors are appropriately punished so that we can make sure future bad actors cannot take advantage of schools or the program.”
But this necessary step must not deteriorate into throwing the baby out with the bath water, Rockefeller insisted, adding that a suspension of the program means that 4,000 schools and libraries with eligible applications for 2004 will not receive this assistance.
“Instead of a campaign to tear down these programs,” Rockefeller said, “we should be looking at how we can leverage the investments we have already made in wiring schools and libraries to bring a wider array of new services to most of our children.”
Lame-duck Congress will require vigilance by education groups
When Congress returned in mid-November after the elections for a lame-duck session, legislators still had to deal with 10 spending bills that had been left unresolved. Tor Cowan, acting director of the AFT department of legislation, warns that “we need to be on guard” during this time. “We have to be careful about what items make their way into omnibus spending bills, since they usually become the last train out of the station before adjournment.”The practice of bundling controversial items into these huge bills often makes it difficult for members of Congress to oppose the underlying measure based on a single issue, Cowan says. One bitter example of this tactic was the voucher bill for Washington, D.C., schools, which was folded into an omnibus spending package and passed by Congress nearly a year ago. Now, the danger may lie in what Congress decides to jettison. Although both the House and Senate have voted in favor of restoring overtime pay rights for workers, the prospect of including this provision in the final spending bill remains in question.
Regardless of which party controls the White House and Congress, “we can expect a continuation of the debate on the role and scope of the federal government, particularly through the budget and appropriations process,” says Cowan.
