Dr. Shannon Bernard and Michelle Luquette, representatives of On Track by 5 Alliance for the Lafayette Parish Public School System, join Discover Lafayette to discuss their department’s mission to improve the quality and access of early care and education for children from birth to age 5 years of age. The research is clear: 90% of brain development occurs before age 5. Great work is being done to improve early childhood educational options for young people which is being funded through School Readiness Tax Credits and the generosity of Lafayette businesses. You can actually designate up to $5,000.00 of your state tax dollars that are owed each year to go to On Track by 5 Alliance, and then get a refundable tax credit of that same amount. How does this work? In January of 2008, Louisiana established a package of refundable state tax credits for businesses designed to support quality child care pursuant to LA R. S. 47:6107. A business is defined as any for-profit or not for-profit entity, which includes sole proprietors, partnerships, limited liability corporations, and corporations. Your CPA can help you file for this refund if you give them a heads up before filing your tax documents. See below for Michelle Luquette's contact information to ask questions on this detail. How to Claim the School Readiness Tax Credit for Businesses? To file the SRTC for businesses: a) Filing Individually: complete tax form IT-540; b) Filing as a corporation or franchise: complete tax form CIFT-620; c) Filing for non-profit organization: complete tax form CIFT - 620. These tax credits provide businesses with a dollar-for-dollar credit of up to $5000 for donations made to Child Care Resource and Referral agencies that are contracted by the Department of Education. On Track by 5 Alliance is such an agency and your contributions go directly to benefit children that live in Lafayette Parish. You can make this designation each and every year, get a tax refund, and know that your money is being dedicated to early childhood educational efforts for our must vulnerable and in-need young people. Pictures above were taken when Ochsner's Lafayette General adopted Campbell Academy Childcare Center. Ochsner's Lafayette General participates in the School Readiness Tax Credit as a non-profit, giving OTb5 $5000 contribution per entity in its health system and in return Ochsner's entities get their contribution back with the dollar-for-dollar refundable tax credit program. These dollars are invested directly into our publicly funded childcare centers and Campbell Academy was able to get a Frog Street Pre-K curriculum. OTb5's mission is to have all children in Lafayette Parish kindergarten ready! Paul Molbert said this is part of their "Healthy State" initiative as education is one of the key components of improving the healthcare status of our citizens. The School Readiness Tax Credit and ON TRACK programs here in Lafayette are so special because they serve learning centers and programs only in Lafayette Parish. Lafayette applied to be a Childcare Resource and Referral Agency just for Lafayette parish, so businesses know their dollars are staying in the parish and serving local centers when they designate . This tax credit not only boosts the economy by investing money back into the parish, but also ensures that children will become contributing members of society. In Lafayette Parish there are 58 publicly funded centers (meaning they accept childcare tax dollar assistance) and over 100 centers total which service over 6,000 children. Some publicly funded centers include Gifted Early Learning Center, Little Blessings, Little Miracles, and LA 4 (a public pre-school). In a typical school day, children are learning through play, such as dramatic play, sensory play, and manipulatives. Manipulatives are tools like string beads for counting and puzzles which develop the child’s fine motor skills.
