MN K-12 Education tax credit updated at last!

Minnesota Afterschool Advance is excited to share that Governor Walz has signed the final omnibus tax bill, which included significant updates and expansions to the K-12 Education Tax Credit, the credit we use here at MAA!

When MN Afterschool Advance was founded in 2018 as a partnership between Venn Foundation and Youthprise, founding Director Matt Norris and the team knew that the current K-12 Education Tax Credit was a powerful tool for helping low-income Minnesotans access out-of-school time programming. But after less than a year of working to enroll families in MN Afterschool Advance, it become clear that the credit, which had not been changed in the 25 years since it was first introduced, needed some updates in order to make it more accessible for families across the state to access the educational programs and technology they needed. During the 2019 legislative session, Matt and his team got to work proposing legislation that would update the tax credit to adjust the income limit, factor in family size and inflation, and make it easier for families to determine eligibility.  

The bill, which has had bipartisan support since the idea was first introduced in 2019, was finally signed into law on May 24, 2023.

After 5 years of hard work led by Youthprise and Venn Foundation, Minnesota has made several exciting, much-needed updates to the MN K-12 Education Tax Credit, effective immediately:

  • Increase limit from $33,500 to $70,000

  • Increase max credit from $1,000 to $1,500

  • Change the way that families qualify from the complex “household income” definition which is nearly 1.5 pages (legal) long, to the simpler federal Adjusted Gross Income calculation

  • Adjusted for Inflation moving forward

We especially want to recognize Rep. Matt Norris, who championed these updates this year as Vice-Chair of the House Tax Committee.  Matt has been laying the groundwork for this bi-partisan legislation since he began as founding director of MN Afterschool Advance in 2018.  

Many partners lent their support to this effort as well.  An amazing 65 organizations signed a Joint Letter of Support in 2022 to pave the way for our success this session!  

We also want to thank everyone of you who has testified in hearings and written emails to legislators in response to our many "Calls to Action" over the years!  You truly helped make this vision a reality.

With the passage of this bill comes $47 million in dedicated funding to support families across the state in accessing computer hardware and out-of-school time programs like tutoring, music lessons, dance lessons, drivers education, and more!

This legislation will have a game-changing impact on our program.  We are currently assessing how MN Afterschool Advance intends to leverage these updates to engage more Minnesota youth, families, and service providers!