Legislative chicanery on school vouchers - 2

In today's AJC, Maureen Downey further discusses the tax credits for school voucher programs and their misuse.   If you had any doubt that Republicans are pulling a fast one, think about what Downey writes:

Reports that private school parents were making donations to schools that were then repackaged as "scholarship" for their own kids have been made to the Georgia General Assembly to no avail.  In fact, all lawmakers did was make it a crime to release key scholarship data to the public.

In other words, given evidence of a problem with the program, all the lawmakers did was write in a cover-up law that made it a crime to disclose just such misuse.  Because, to them, it wasn't a misuse;  it was what they intended.  But now they knew they had to try to conceal what they were doing.

Further, Downey describes that, to be eligible for the "scholarships," a student has to be enrolled in a public school.   But the bill's sponsor, David Casas, helpfully explains in a video, no less, how parents of private school kids can get around that.  He told a group:

"All you have to do is just do it -- sign up and get in line to take advantage of this opportunity," Casas says.  "The moment you enroll you're eligible for the scholarship."

When a father asks if it isn't a scam to enroll a child in a local public school with no intention of attending, Casas reassures him that the ruse met with lawmaker approval.

"Two governors signed this bill.  Two legislatures have passed the bill.  So, we all know what it says.  It's for you to take advantage of -- that is the purpose," he says.

So:  comfortable middle class families get another advantage to help pay private school tuition -- $146 million of what would have been tax revenue -- while public schools have to lay off teachers and cut enrichment programs because of slashed budgets for public schools, necessary because of declining tax revenues.

Of course, I'm strongly opposed to this whole voucher system, not just this particular bill and its intentional loopholes.  I would make one exception and allows vouchers where a child has special needs that can't be met in his particular public school.   We need to strengthen public education, not weaken it.   It is terribly short-sighted to undermine good education for all Georgia's children.

Ralph