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Tuesday, March 20, 2007
Selling Vouchers As ‘Tradition’
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A new report and accompanying press release being touted by supporters of taxpayer-funded, private school tuition vouchers calls such financial assistance a long-standing “tradition” in Georgia.
Like football on Sunday, the report says that since at least the 1970s, Georgians have supported government aid for families who choose a private education.
Researchers with the Virginia-based Institute for Justice — a Libertarian law firm that’s represented voucher advocates in court cases across the country — unearthed almost $6 billion in state funds that have gone to private schools in the past three decades.
“There is, in fact, nothing new or controversial about … the idea of offering students the choice of public, private or religious schools with state funds,” the report says.
Funding researchers tallied comes from a collection of college scholarship programs as well as a couple of child care programs. None is used for K-12 students looking for an alternative to public schools — a plan the Legislature’s now considering for children in special education.
Not surprisingly, Pre-K and HOPE accounted for well over half of the money detailed in the report. Of course, those programs are supported by Lottery revenues, not taxes.
That distinction shouldn’t make a difference, according to the Institute’s Clark Neily, who was at the capitol Monday, and Senate President Pro Tem Eric Johnson, the sponsor of the special-needs scholarship bill. But critics say it does matter because the Lottery isn’t a mandated tax meant to pay for government services, such as public education.
Either way, is this a “tradition” lawmakers should build upon or not?
