Give your public school tax credit before December 31

by David Safier

An individual can give $200 to a public school — or break it up among a number of schools — and get 100% of it back at tax time. Once again, that's 100% back, no cost to you. A couple can give $400. You have to do it by December 31.

Remember, it doesn't cost you a cent, so long as you owe at least $200 in Arizona state taxes, or $400 for a couple. You'll get a straight write-off of the amount you gave.

Our public schools are starved for money. This is a way you can help the state do the right thing and put a bit more of its budget toward education. The money is restricted to extracurricular uses by state law, which is unfortunate, but extracurriculars are important as well as academics. (By the way, charters are public schools too, so you can give to them instead of district schools if you wish. Same deal.)

I'll give you the links to information and forms for TUSD and Sunnyside School District. In another post, I'll tell you why I'm not including other Pima County districts on this list.

For TUSD, start here. This page has a list of schools which receive the least per student in tax credit dollars. Not surprisingly, those are generally the schools with the lowest income students, where the need is greatest. You can either contribute online using a credit card or print out a form to send in.

Sunnyside only has the mail-in form.