UK General election campaign kicks off and already the Conservative Party are eager to make progress pushing all matters pertaining to Social Investment…plus a couple of stories from our fanatically SIB enthusiastic cousins on the other side of the Atlantic…
New Social Investment Tax Breaks Could Be ‘Win-Win’ For Charities
Josephine Moulds – The Guardian
As the election looms closer, the photo opportunities are coming thick and fast. Earlier this month cabinet minister Francis Maude showed up at a Scottish whisky refinery to launch a global campaign to promote the UK social economy.
Maude said Britain was “fast becoming the centre for social enterprise globally”, and trumpeted the coalition’s support for the sector. Among other steps taken, he highlighted the introduction of social investment tax relief (SITR), a 30% tax break for investors in shares or unsecured debt issued by certain types of charities and social enterprises.
Lawmakers Get A Second Look At “Pay For Success”
Todd Engdahl – Chalkbeat
A new bill in the legislature would enable the state to launch “pay for success” programs through which private investors or philanthropists would fund social services programs.
Funders would be repaid if those programs produced savings in other government services but would have to absorb their costs if programs didn’t produce results.
For example, investors in a preschool program would be repaid if that program led to reduced remediation or special education costs in schools.
The bipartisan sponsors of House Bill 15-1317 hope their bill has better luck than a similar 2014 measure, which passed the Senate but died in a House committee during the chaotic final days of that session.
“It’s a very new concept,” acknowledged prime sponsor Rep. Alex Garnett, D-Denver. (Some senators at hearings last year seemed a bit befuddled by the whole idea.) But Garnett hopes the idea will get more traction the second time around, and that this year’s version may have more appeal, given that it’s less focused on education services.
He also said increased experimentation with such programs by local governments provide concrete examples that can be cited during hearings on HB 15-1317.
Garnett stressed the concept is worth serious attention because “for a state as cash strapped as Colorado … we really need to find innovative ways to fund programs.”
Pennsylvania – Gov. Wolf’s State Budget Proposes Increased Educational Funding
Dr. Paul Eaken, Fleetwood Superintendent – Berks Mont News
On March 3, Governor Tom Wolf presented his state budget proposal to the Legislature. Governor Wolf highlighted the importance of a strong public education system to our future. The funding of public education was a focus of the speech. He seeks to restore the cuts in education funding that have occurred in recent years. He also recognized the burden of funding schools primarily through property taxes. Governor Wolf proposed significantly reducing the school property tax and replacing it with a combination of other taxes.
Governor Wolf is also proposing Social Impact Bonds that would be focused on supporting early childhood education and school-to-work initiatives. He proposed a $120 million increase in early childhood education that would enroll more than 14,000 additional children (a 75% increase).