Janiyah & Stephanie Davis: Meet President Trump’s State of the Union Guests

Janiyah Davis and her mother, Stephanie Davis, from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, will be two of the guests of President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump at the president’s third State of the Union address on Tuesday, February 4, 2020, the White House says. Janiyah is a fourth-grade student and Stephanie Davis is a single mother, according to the White House. They are at the speech as representatives of Trump’s support of school choice.

The White House said in a statement that Janiyah, “loves art and math, but for too long she has been assigned to low-performing schools.” The Trump administration adds, “Her mom, Stephanie, is a hardworking single mother who tried to apply for a tax credit scholarship. But due to Pennsylvania’s governor recently vetoing school choice legislation, Janiyah remained among the estimated 50,000 students on a waitlist.”

The White House Says Janiyah & Her Mother Were Impacted by Democratic Governor Tom Wolf’s Veto of a Tax Credit Law, but He Did Provide Additional Funding

According to the White House, President Trump invited Janiyah and Stephanie Davis to the State of the Union speech as his guests as representatives of those in Pennsylvania, and around the country, who they believe have been negatively affected by Democratic opposition to school choice legislation.

In Janiyah’s home state, Governor Tom Wolf vetoed a Republican-led law that would have increased the state’s funding for its Educational Improvement Tax Credit from $110 million to $210 million, according to the Philly Voice. The program gives tax credits to people and businesses who make gifts to scholarships for private and parochial schools, and other non-public schools that qualify.

The bill was put forward by Republican House Speaker Mike Turzai, who said the tax credit program wouldn’t negatively impact schools. “The notion that we are neglecting our public schools is disingenuous,” Turzai told Philly Voice. “Rather, we have increased investments in public education K-12 to record levels. What we have neglected to provide is adequate support for those families who are looking for an alternative choice. We are unique in this country in living up to our obligation to provide a great public school system, as well as a robust school choice program. These are complementary, not contradictory, goals.”

Wolf told the news site, “Why would the Commonwealth allow for the expansion of the Education Investment Tax Credit that supports private institutions while our current public-school system remains underfunded? We have public schools that are structurally deteriorating, contaminated by lead, and staffed by teachers who are not appropriately paid and overstretched in their responsibilities. Tackling these challenges, and others, should be our collective priority.”

Wolf eventually agreed to a $25 million increase in funding for the tax credit program. According to the Philly Voice, he is also working on a more widespread charter school reform program.

The Trump Administration Plans to Offer Tax Credits to People Who Make Donations to Private School Scholarship Programs

GettyUS President Donald Trump speaks during a “Keep America Great” campaign rally at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, January 30, 2020.

According to The Washington Post, President Trump plans to unveil his own plan to use federal funding to provide tax credits to people and businesses who make donations to private school scholarship program, a similar system to the one in Pennsylvania the Trump administration said was underfunded by its Democratic governor.

“The $5 billion proposal, included in Trump’s budget last year, received the briefest of mentions in the 2019 address to Congress. This time, it will be more prominently featured, a White House official said Saturday. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because details of the speech are not yet public,” The Post wrote. “The administration calls its plan Education Freedom Scholarships. The proposal would create a 100 percent tax credit for individual and corporate contributions to state-sanctioned scholarship funds, meaning donors could get back their entire donation through a reduction to their federal taxes. The donated funds would then be available to help families pay for private education and other expenses, with rules set by each state.”

According to The Post, the Trump plan would set the maximum credit at 10 percent of an individual’s adjusted gross income and 5 percent of a business’s net taxable income.

The proposal does not have support in Congress, according to The Post.

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