Star editorial on tuition tax credits

by David Safier
The Star wrote a strong editorial on the tuition tax credit abuse story, summarizing the findings in earlier Republic and Trib articles and calling for more regulation. As a matter of fact, the editorial takes the argument one step further, wondering if there is still a need for the tax credits in light of the abundance of charter schools.

This is an incredibly important point. In a sense, charter schools bridge the gap between traditional public and private schools. Students can attend schools set up on different operating principles with alternative curricula and emphases — similar, in other words, to private schools — within the public school system by enrolling in charters. Actually, the only thing prohibited from charter schools that you can find in private schools is religion.

Here's an incredibly important fact I want to add. About 80% of Arizona's private schools are religious schools, just like the rest of the country. So when government money goes to private school tuition, whether as straight vouchers or as backdoor vouchers tuition tax credit scholarships, the biggest chunk is going to religious education. I find that a misuse of government money, and I think, in the long run, it could harm the autonomy of the religious schools. Both church and state stand to lose in the arrangement.

NOTE: Praise to the Star editorial department for the editorial, but shame once again to the news team, which once again ignored the issue. It's straight reporting to cover yesterday's task force meeting. Both the Trib and the Republic covered the hearings. The Star? The reportorial silence was deafening — though the paper did find space to cover a computer virus at TUSD (no, I'm not kidding) and the heat distribution in Phoenix (once again, not kidding).