‘Couple of hiccups’: OK Parental Choice Tax Credit application opens after postponement

ENID, Okla. (KFOR) — The Parental Choice Tax Credit application portal is now open after facing technical difficulties resulting in a postponement, but some private school parents say the application process had some slight hiccups.

Governor Kevin Stitt signed the Oklahoma Parental Choice Tax Credit Act into law in May. It gives homeschooled and private school families an opportunity to get anywhere between $1,000 and $7,500 depending on household income.

For homeschooled students, eligible families could receive up to $1,000 per student.

The Oklahoma Tax Commission is currently in a $3.95M contract with Merit International Inc. to administer funds with the Parental Choice Tax Credit program.

A web portal for the program was set to go live on December 1. However, last minute glitches postponed the site by a week.

“Although the majority of taxpayers have received the necessary forms and are ready to apply, there are those who have not received their forms yet, and select taxpayers who have received forms with incomplete or incorrect information. We apologize for any inconvenience caused. We have already identified the issue, implemented a technical fix, and added additional quality checks,” Merit International Inc. has previously told KFOR.

The Oklahoma Tax Commission explained the decision to delay the application start date was not made lightly.

“We believe this adjustment is necessary to establish a ‘fair playing field’ for all taxpayers, since having the Enrollment Verification Form is a required part of the application process,” stated Oklahoma Tax Commission Public Information and Press Liaison, Emily Haxton.

The Tax Commission may only authorize $150 million of tax credits for tax year 2024.

Families across the state are now racing to submit an application as the portal went live Wednesday afternoon.

Governor Kevin Stitt told the Oklahoma Watch his family was even planning to apply for the tax credit.

“I think my wife was planning to fill out the form,” said Gov. Stitt. “Everybody knows what my salary is as the state of Oklahoma governor. Every bit helps. There’s caps on it, where we’re going to prioritize it with the $75,000 and $150,000 (income levels) all in one bucket. But we’re all anxious to find out how many people are out there, how many people sign up for it, and also how many new schools are started, which I’m real excited to see.”

News 4 emailed his office to see about sitting in on the application process with the Governor’s family.

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“The Governor encourages all Oklahoma families to apply for the tax credit. He did say he would [apply], but after talking to his wife, they decided to not apply and make sure other Oklahoma families have the opportunity to get the credit,” said the Governor’s Communications Director, Abegail Cave Wednesday morning.

St. Paul’s Lutheran School in Enid was prepared for the application portal to open Wednesday.

“That’s going to give us the chance to offer more to our students, pour back into our families and students’ education process and open up some doors for students that have not traditionally been able to afford a private education. This is something that will expand our zip code and allow us to reach out to some of those families in need looking for a faith-based education in a positive environment,” said St. Paul’s Lutheran School Principal, Richard Burdick.

St. Paul’s Lutheran School currently serves between 70 and 75 students.

Burdick told KFOR 95 percent of the St. Paul’s Lutheran School families have expressed interest in applying for the tax credit.

“I anticipate a large percentage of them applying for the parental choice tax credit,” he added.

To assist in the application process, St. Paul’s Lutheran School set up technology stations at the school.

St. Paul’s Lutheran School has a current tuition rate of about $3,900.

Burdick said tuition has gone up by $650 this year, but only to match inflation.

“It’s a mission of the church and we are very proud to serve our community, serve our families, and we want to do that to the best of our ability. We want that to be accessible to all of the families in our area. We thought it was the best decision for us to not increase or jump tuition,” stated Burdick.

The handful of St. Paul’s Lutheran School parents who News 4 sat with as they submitted their applications said the process was straightforward, but there were a couple of hiccups.

“It could have been a little bit easier. The real hiccup was the bandwidth of the website, I think. And also, if you’re able to submit one application for all four children, it would have been a lot easier. Once things started going through, it was actually pretty simple. The questions were not very difficult, was very straightforward besides that,” said St. Paul’s Lutheran School parent, Daniel Siemen.

It took Siemen and his wife about 35 minutes to submit all four applications.

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He said because of the popularity of the tax credit, he assumed there would be a lag in site performance.

Now, he’s hoping all four of his kids receive a tax credit.

“It would be huge for our kids. As you can imagine, to go into private school is not very cheap. If the tax choice credit keeps going, we’d be able to probably continue private education through middle school and high school, whereas probably after fifth grade, leaving St Paul’s [we] won’t be able to continue,” explained Siemen.

Jennifer Miller, another St. Paul’s Lutheran School parent, said it would be a benefit to their household budget if they received the tax credits.

“We’ve had an amazing experience here at St. Paul’s in Enid, and we would like to continue on here at the school and it’s just very exciting this piece of legislation has kind of opened up the doors for people from different socioeconomic backgrounds,” said Miller. “[I can get more] groceries, different household items needed, take my children to do fun activities.”

She told KFOR she’s relieved now that her kids’ applications are submitted.

Miller did say the bandwidth was a problem for her as well when trying to submit a second application.

“There were a couple of hiccups with the website, but overall, it was a pretty quick process,” added Miller.

One request Miller has for lawmakers moving forward is extending the tax credit coverage to transportation and meals.

“I think that could potentially be a barrier for some families,” stated Miller.

St. Paul’s Lutheran School will continue to assist families in applying for the tax credit by request.

The online portal will remain open for the next 60 days. It will close February 5, 2024.

The Tax Commission does not anticipate last week’s postponement of the application start date will delay disbursement of the first installment payments.

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