By Emma Murphy, Oklahoma Voice
OKLAHOMA CITY — In an effort to “protect family privacy,” Oklahoma lawmakers fast-tracked a bill to the governor on Wednesday that will no longer allow the public to view the names of Oklahomans who received a controversial private school tax credit.
If signed into law by Gov. Kevin Stitt, Senate Bill 684 would also remove individual names that were recently published to an existing state database of recipients of many tax credits. It listed those who received a share of hundreds of millions of state dollars allocated to the Oklahoma Parental Choice Tax Credit program.
House Democrats opposing the measure said it doesn’t align with how other tax credit program recipients are treated and will create a lack of accountability on where tax dollars are spent and who receives them.
The voucher-like program offers a refundable income tax credit of up to $7,500 to families who attend eligible private schools in the state. When creating the program, lawmakers gave priority to families earning $150,000 or less, and promised it would help lower-income students have the ability to attend private schools. A recent report showed over 46% of participants made over $150,000.
House Speaker Kyle Hilbert, R-Bristow, said the bill is about protecting the privacy of children and families. The publicly posted information does not list any children’s names or schools, just the taxpaying adult who applied for and received the funds and how much they received.
“And while it does not list the names of students, it absolutely is to expose the students via their parents about the fact that they receive tax credits,” he said.
The measure also requires participating private schools to be accredited by March 2027.
Democrats argued that the tax credit program has benefited high-income families, not underprivileged children. A recent analysis of the recipients by Oklahoma Watch found less than 3,000 of recipients had attended public school the year prior to the credit and only 9% were families that qualify for income-based public assistance programs.
The recipients of other tax credit programs are publicly available online because that’s how tax credits in Oklahoma work, said Rep. Ellen Pogemiller, D-Oklahoma City.
Rep. Forrest Bennett, D-Oklahoma City, said as a taxpayer he would feel uncomfortable not knowing where his tax dollars were going and who they were really benefitting.
He said he was bothered by “dismissive” answers from the bill author to questions from other lawmakers on the House floor, specifically responses saying that questions weren’t specific to the bill language.
“It behooves us, I think, to acknowledge that everything that we vote on is done in context,” he said. “And if I had a nickel for every time I have to talk about this issue, we could fund the voucher program, I think.”
While most of the debate and discussion focused on the privacy aspects of the tax credit program, the bill also would give priority consideration for the credit to those who received it the prior year.
First priority would go to families with income below $150,000 and second to any others who received the credit the prior year, regardless of income.
The Senate unanimously approved the measure Wednesday morning, while the House voted 68-23 to approve the measure Wednesday afternoon.
