Louisiana now gives bigger tax break for private school tuition

By Wesley Muller
Contributing Writer

(lailluminator.com) — A private school tuition tax break Louisiana families can claim will increase from $5,000 to $6,000 per student per year under a law that Gov. John Bel Edwards has signed.

House Bill 32, sponsored by Rep. Laurie Schlegel, R-Metairie, allows taxpayers to deduct up to $6,000 for tuition and fees from their total taxable income beginning in 2024. This is the first time the credit has increased since its creation in 2008.

The tax deductions can also be used for educational expenses, such as the costs of textbooks and lesson plans for home-schooled children and fees charged by public schools. However, those expenses only account for a small portion of the credits.

The deductions currently cost the state roughly $22 million per year, and the new law will increase that amount to roughly $24.2 million, according to the bill’s fiscal note. Most of the deductions are for private school tuition, while home-schooled and public school children average less than $100 per claim, according to the fiscal note.

The state already gives a dollar-for-dollar tax credit to wealthy people and corporations who divert money into school tuition organizations (STOs), which are supposed to provide private school vouchers to low-income families. Only about one percent of eligible students participate in the program.

This article originally published in the July 10, 2023 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.