Here is the video urging private school parents to “scam” state for tuition money

Maureen, you carry a torch for the teachers’ unions—and for the belief that, if not for public schools and their politically correct curriculum, all Georgia’s kids would somehow grow up “racist” or even God-fearing Christians.

But would giving parents more choices in education really herald the end of the world?

You and other liberal parents will still opt for public schools over those more willing to listen to the needs of parents concerned about learning. Readers of this blog can therefore only puzzle at why the concept of greater parental choice is so unnerving to you.

Hopefully there is a reason which transcends Democrat partisan politics.

Parents: Rent the film “Waiting for Superman.” Teachers: Do a Google search right now on “NEA” and “donations” to see what far-left causes your GAE/NEA dues are bankrolling.

(Sorry, Maureen—but like you, I have an obvious partisan preference.)

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Shameful.

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David Casas & Anthony Tricoli.

separated at birth?

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In reality, when we give to this tax credit — I know that my money is going to a particular fund that is then being used for kids that can not afford the private schools –plural — that I’ve been involved with — that are screening –really screening for need. I asked once if I could possibly qualify the one time that I was eligible when a child moved from public to private to get my money that I was setting aside in this program for my $20,000+ in tuition money (which I was paying per child in addition to my taxes for schools that absolutely failed my oldest child) and I was told I need to go through the needs based assessment process — which we were not going to qualify for – even with 3 kids on tuition — but it isn’t easy to pay 3 tuitions with after tax money — this program is a tiny, very tiny, tax break for a very small portion of one of our tuition payments and it helps one child attend our school who wouldn’t otherwise be able to attend but it isn’t going for my own child. If other schools don’t do it this way, perhaps the state should look into how they are running their programs.

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@Bootney, with all due respect, you are the Clarence Thomas to @Maureen’s Antonin Scalia.

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Thank you for posting this video, Maureen. It is a valuable document.

Some quotes:

“I was elected in ‘02 and starting working on the education committee….this [tuition tax credit] came on the heels of Senate Bill 10, GA’s first voucher bill for special needs children, in 2007….

“Now, tuition tax credit is a whole different ball game, because – it’s an amazing program. It’s something that we worked on with the purpose that the legislature and the governor would never get involved in something that would have be to appropriated every year. (Big smile) So if you’re worried about a program that can go away, don’t worry – this can’t go away!

“You can take this chunk of money and make it….even go to the student of your choice…

“When I see what’s Bob’s doing, with GASSO (?) it just makes total sense. This is exactly what we envisioned it to be.”

Then he discusses how he’s using this bill to send his children to private school and urges everyone there to “take advantage”.

Casas then states that they currently get $50 million to use every year, but he is now working to get an automatic increase (!!!) put into place, so that when they reach the $50 million expenditure mark it will just go automatically up to $100 million every year.

“They have it already in Florida…”

Excuse me while I go throw up.

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Very well said Choice Advocate and Choice is American!!!!

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Getting a $2500 tax credit for making the choice to send your child to private school, when that credit was meant to help poor children escape failing schools, IS stealing. You are stealing money from Georgia.

I really don’t see how hard that concept is to grasp. What makes you any different from someone who qualifies for food stamps and then sells them so they can spend the money on other things. It’s free money from the state, right?

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Let me understand the logic. If I don’t think police protection in my neighborhood is adequate, I can hire a private security guard. When I do so, I shouldn’t have to pay taxes to support the police since my guard can protect me and mine. This is important to me since most of my tax dollars for police protection are used elsewhere in my county. My area doesn’t have a lot of crime so my police department focuses its resources elsewhere.

I get all of this except where I get to divert public funds for my personal use. Maybe I need to buy myself a representative to pass a law that he or she knows is flawed and will allow me to steal from the government.

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The film “waiting for Superman” is full of inaccuracies. Much like the “documentaries” of people like Michael Moore, people just ignore falsehoods as long as the film supports their views. It is a very very misleading film.

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@ Choice Advocate- Couldn’t parents of high school seniors attending
college outside of the state of Georgia, or deciding to work after
their high school graduation argue why their tax dollars are being
used to subsidize your child’s college education in the future ? If
you decided that you wanted protection from a private security
company in your neighborhood, should the city, county ,and state
be obligated to give you a tax credit? I don’t think your a thief for
taking the tax credit, but I do think you should appreciate getting
any money as a subsidy for your child’s private school.You have
choice ,because you have opted out of sending your child to a
public school.If you advocate that the tax dollars should follow
your child to the school of your choice,then why shouldn’t
property owners with no children in your neighborhood be able
to argue that they should have to pay a lower rate than you?

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@Choice is American:

Here’s a video I’m sure you will enjoy…

http://vimeo.com/41994760

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I don’t think you’re a thief for taking the tax credit, but I do think you should appreciate getting
any money as a subsidy for your child’s private school.

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You have all the choice in the world when it comes to where your children go to school.

1. You can pay for it out of your own pocket, while paying local school taxes, just like most people who send their kids to private school do.

2. Move to a school district with a school system you are happy with, which is what plenty of parent choose to do.

In the real world, these kind of situations are what we would call taking ownership of a problem and finding a solution. It is the kind of thing conservatives used to believe in.

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I don’t understand how parents are designating their own children to receive the scholarship money when the law says this:
O.C.G.A. 48-7-29.16 (2010) Qualified education tax credit
“(d) The tax credit shall not be allowed if the taxpayer designates the taxpayer’s qualified education expense for the direct benefit of any dependent of the taxpayer.”

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@ Johnny boy

people pay taxes which go to the military as well.
you want to let the people dictate troop deployment? ROE?

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@Choice: But don’t you find it ironic that some of the biggest offenders are the private Christian schools? Schools that pride themselves on building strong moral character.

I have no problem with private schools. I do have a problem with cheating the system and theft.

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Well said RAMZAD, Choice is Available, Choice Advocate.

Zeke if you are so into data, why don’t you provide some instead of just ranting why you don’t like Waiting for Superman. Even if the producers got a few facts wrong, the premise is still the same. The reality of those kids in the movie is still the same. The tears flowing from those parents eyes when their number was not called for the lottery is still the same. I don’t think those were exagerations.

Every child is unique and not all children get the attention that would enable them to excel. Some kids need extra help. Hell a lot of kids need extra help! We all know about the budget cuts and the # of kids in classes creeping up. I live in an exceptional public school system. My child’s school was just awarded the GA School of Excellence. I am fortunate. But I also have a child with a special need. My child will excel further in his private school vs the public one across the street. We have had financial hardship and I am extremely thankful for that $2500. I’m paying the public school in my taxes but my child will not get the focused individualized guidance that he needs. I want that choice.

Besides if you want to save the state money. Try addressing the EBT card. It is ridiculous how many of those are handed out and to whom. I deserve a choice in education for my child and I APPRECIATE that the state recognizes that and allows some of my tax dollars to shift somewhere else if I make that choice.

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I didn’t rant. I just said that there are inaccuracies. Someone posted a video which pointed out some of them. Here is a list of the many factual things they got wrong.

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/answer-sheet/guest-bloggers/what-superman-got-wrong-point.html

I also didn’t say that the reality of the kids was false. All kids deserve a good education, but when you purposefully present your case in a factually incorrect manner you do more damage than good.

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Erica Long says “Shameful” when she, hubby Rep. Ralph Long, Rep. Alisha Thomas Morgan, the Black Alliance for Education Options (BAEO), and similar others steadfastly stand in support of quick-fix “Choice” and all that represents? Erica Long says “Shameful” all the while being willingly or unwittingly in service to ALEC?

Now, that’s shameful.

Whether willingly or unwittingly doesn’t matter; the effects are the same and, in either case, evidences profound lack of maturity, wisdom, foresight, and respect for those who so valiantly struggled to sustain democratic ideals in service to the common good, such as public education for all children, for example.

Perhaps Erica Long will care to post an account of her cohort of “young progressive Blacks’” latest visit to BAEO, expenses paid by BEAO.

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The ironic thing is these people who send their kids to the Creationism Christian schools wonder when their kids drop out of or fail out of college. They don’t know the stuff to succeed, in any true profession.

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@AngryRedMarsWoman
“I don’t understand how parents are designating their own children to receive the scholarship money when the law says this:
O.C.G.A. 48-7-29.16 (2010) Qualified education tax credit
“(d) The tax credit shall not be allowed if the taxpayer designates the taxpayer’s qualified education expense for the direct benefit of any dependent of the taxpayer.”

The reason you don’t understand is because Maureen purposely left out the facts. In the past, my child attended a school that offered GASSO, but we didn’t use it. The parents are not allowed to direct a tax-deductible donation to the school in their child’s name, as per the law. However, grandparents or friends of the student can. THIS IS IN KEEPING WITH THE LAW AS WRITTEN. Elected officials voted this in. By the way, government schools are Unconstitutional. They violate the First and Thirteenth amendments. “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.” COMPULSORY education laws violate this principle. Compulsory education laws establish law that forbids freedom of religion in government school education, IN DIRECT VIOLATION OF THE FIRST AMENDMENT!

The true law breakers are those that support government funded education. It is merely mob rule. Most wanted to abdicate their God-given responsibility to educate their own children and use the “gun” of the government to obtain other’s money to use for themselves. Of course the .01% got in on the act early and bought control of the “public’s” school. With a relatively small investment through their TAX EXEMPT foundations, they were given control of curriculum, aka the minds of future voters, while the sheeple footed the lion’s share of the bill.

Here is an eye witness account of this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9sOthrywpxo
Norman Dodd, Reece Committee

Rep. Casas is using Constitutional means to undo the damage. Even if he were wrong, which he is not, WHY DO YOU IGNORE THE OBVIOUS CRIMINAL ACTIVITY THAT ALREADY EXISTS?

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Wow…old Truth has really bought into the right-wing radio mentality. Typical complete lack of understanding of the constitution. No one is really surprised. LOL

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@Paranoid
Is your statement an example of your public school debate skills?
Please, elaborate point by point.
I’m interested.

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@Paranoia
Public school debate skills on display….EPIC FAIL!
Sorry, I don’t listen to the Foundation funded bastion of Catholic wisdom, Hannity and Rush.

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@Paranoia
Was that a Catholic school?
I’m sorry your parents wasted their money.

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Anything that puts money to good use instead of throwing it down the dry hole of public (re)education is good by me. It’d be better used as kindling that wasting it on many of the glorified taxpayer funded babysitting facilities it’s currently thrown away at.

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The word “scam” is in quotation marks in the headline. What can the headline possibly mean other than what it says? That is, that Casas is urging parents to scam the state and actually used that word.

I listened to the video and heard no such thing. Did I miss it? Or is someone lying?

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Maureen, as the Headmaster at Killian Hill Christian School, named in Rep. Casas’ 2009 video, I want to make a few corrections to his presentation. KHCS has never taken scholarship funds and issued them to students who were currently enrolled at KHCS. Rep. Casas states that KHCS used money to keep students in school whose parents had lost jobs and were going to have to leave the school. This is a factual misstatement. While we would be happy for Rep. Casas to apply for enrollment at KHCS, he has never done so. KHCS has been extremely careful to use the funds as the bill allows requiring that students be entering a private school for the first time and have a validated financial need.

KHCS does support the right for parents to have school choice. Without the GASSO funds the families that attend KHCS under this program would not have a choice in the education of their child even though as homeowners, they are contributing to the education of all children. In a political climate that screams for “fairness” and attempts to level out all income earners, I am surprised you and those who commented below are opposed to a program which affords the low-income earners the same opportunity for private education generally limited to high-income earners.

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The rationalizing of this pathetic program by certain folks here is amusing.

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@the cat – Casas is in Lilburn (Parkview and Brookwood) district of Georgia. So conservative, only the cold water works in mosts houses (right knob on your sink,,,ha ha ha) and you have four large private schools in that district. He’s there for a while.

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@Linster….WHY you ask? Because the constitution say free, PUBLIC, not private education. You want more…..PAY FOR IT! Just as my parents did for 6 years until they found out how much better public schools were. We have always had choices. Pay for it. You don’t like public, work within the sytem and change it! Eliteism only will set your child up for failure.

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Ooops, typo……says not say

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I cannot help vote Casas out as I am just out of his district. I will be working with our friends in the Brookwood area to vote him out.

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Where are the Dick Russells, the Carl Vinsons and the Sam Nunns when Georgia needs them?

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Gwinnettparentz-please explain what “distortions” you are referring to in your post. Was there anything posted that is not true?

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I have just finished reading the book “Family of Secrets” by award winning investigative journalist Russ Baker about the “Bush Dynasty,” as the subtitle states. I was stunned at how relentlessly, ruthlessly, and secretively those within that power structure have used our government, through government public taxpayers funds, to take care of their own financial self-interests. The book is thoroughly documented and footnoted. Go here to find out more: http://www.familyofsecrets.com

Now, we have here in Georgia, representatives of the legislature who are attempting to openly use public taxpayer dollars for their own private self-interests instead of understanding that public tax dollars are meant to serve the common good of all of Georgia’s citizens, and that educational funds from public tax dollars are meant to serve all of Georgia’s children. Rep. David Casas seems to only be conscious of, and only care about, a particular group of students. What about the masses of Georgia’s children who will remain in public schools in which their public school’s funds will have been depleted through the efforts of people such as Rep. Casas?

As a teenager, I was thoroughly disappointed that during the 1950s and 1960s in Georgia most white people did not seem to care about the poor, disadvantaged black students who were in segregated schools and these fellow Georgians only thought about their own children and sought private schools to put them in, as a result.

Will Georgians ever raise their consciousness to see beyond the framework of “I look after me and mine”? And, now, through the efforts of Davis Casas and others, Georgians will continue to think “I will use the government, and government funds, to take care of me and mine.”

This from people, of both eras in Georgia’s history, who call themselves Christians. I am sad for Georgia, and for my fellow Georgians, this morning that many do not care to understand the deeper truths of what is happening through the thinking and efforts of Rep. Casas and others who think as he does, and what their efforts are doing to our collective souls.

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Interesting how Liberals like Mary Elizabeth think its the responsibility of white Georgians to leave their kids in failing schools for the betterment of society. This is a typical response of liberals. My parents sent me to a private school because the Bibb County Board of Education was going to remove me from my neighborhood school located less than 1 mile from my home and buss me 45 minutes one way to a school on the other side of town in the name of racial diversity. My parents did not stand for this misguided policy and I would not stand for it when it comes to my children.

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So many parents on the board who think that cheating the government is ok. I’m sure you’re passing your rock solid morals on to your kids.

If you want to send your kids to private school, pay for it yourself. Public schools are just that….public. Everyone benefits from them (even people like me with no children). The argument that the money should follow the child threatens the existence of government. Why stop at schools? Shouldn’t I be allowed to decide how all of my tax money is allocated?

Next point, by that logic, I have no children, so why am I forced to pay taxes to support schools which I am not using?

Fallacious reasoning, all around…

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83jacket-we do not care that you went to a private school as long as your parents paid for it and not tax payers. See the difference?

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I find it very telling Rep. Casas has not come here to defend his words on the video posted. What is he hiding? Is there truth to what Headmaster Williams writes?

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Here is Rep. Casas’ website:

http://www1.legis.ga.gov/legis/2009_10/house/bios/casasDavid/casasDavid.htm

I encourage everyone to contact him to express your dismay or satisfaction with this program.

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The issue here isn’t school choice, which I support. It is the abuse of the scholarship program. It is easy to fix. Just close the loophole, or get a court to rule it illegal. But this does show that the folks who are acting in this manner don’t want “those people” at “their schools.” Which is fine. Who needs them. But I don’t want my tax dollars supporting them. That is the issue. If it is my tax dollars, let it go to people who have morals. And to the people who are doing this, I am a fundamentalist Christian. Allow me to say that hell is hot, and thieves and cheats are going to burn there forever. Which is exactly why Luther Rice Seminary needs to fire David Casas.

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Sorry, not Luther Rice Seminary but Berea Bible College.

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I am for school choice and believe that the monopoly school districts enjoy coupled with guaranteed tax funding has effectively insulated them from being forced to make the changes that are so badly needed.

However, I also recognize that I have a fundamental responsibility to pay taxes and to participate in the county, state and federal system. I do not pay the huge apportionment for Grady Hospital in order to subsidize my own health care; I pay it to support my fellow citizens’ health and, selfishly, to provide access to treatment that might otherwise end up starting an epidemic. I do not pay the enormous allotment to the Department of Defense in the expectation that I’ll have a Navy SEAL stationed outside of my living room window, but rather to defend the country and thereby give me a safer world.

I do not pay school taxes in order to fund my own child. I couldn’t – it costs significantly more in per-pupil spending than I contributed when my children were in public school. I relied on the tax contributions of all Atlantans, with help from the state and the feds, to cover the costs of my children’s attendance. The fact that I live in a high property tax area and therefore pay more than many other people did not entitle my kids to “better” treatment in classrooms than the kids who were there from shelters, any more than it entitled them to a bigger per-pupil expenditure than non-taxpayers’ kids. In fact, they received significantly less as they neither qualified nor needed the additional services that the schools have to provide to those needing extra help. And when my husband and I felt that the public schools could not offer what 2 of my 3 kids needed, we made the choice to send them elsewhere – and we paid for it from our own pockets.

Tax money is not “yours”, unless you are Sonny Perdue deciding where a road should go. Tax money is “ours”, and is spent on the priorities that our representatives determine through, ideally, debate and compromise. You don’t get to decide where your own tax money goes, with the sole exception of that $1 check off for political campaigns on your income tax form. That is both the beauty and the frustration of taxation. It’s bigger than you, and it is for a bigger purpose.

This program was set up to undermine that basic compact that exists between all of us, and it is doing the job that Casas and his pals meant it to. A hugely troubling part is the secrecy that has been purposely built around it – the suggestions that have been made to look into the program cannot be done, as it has become a crime to release information about where this public money is going. That is, to me, the worst feature of this program – the purposeful shutting out of oversight and therefore accountability from the general public who are indeed funding it with “our” money.

Casas shows himself in the video to be playing with the truth at best and intentionally conniving to defraud taxpayers at worst. He clearly implies that he designed the program to be gamed by people clever enough to see the loopholes he points out at the expense of others who he has done all he can to shut out, by not allowing either oversight or requiring voting to renew the funding. He’s slimy and divisive and meretricious, and his approach is an assault on the very notion of paying taxes for the good of the citizenry and nation.

I don’t get to siphon off my Medicare taxes because I think your grandma shouldn’t have smoked and therefore doesn’t deserve health care. You don’t get to siphon off your property taxes because you think my kid is poorly behaved as doesn’t deserve education. It’s unAmerican, unworkable and just wrong.

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GwinnettParenttz-the whole program is a scam and Rep. Casas is encouraging parents to use the scam just like he does! Why is this so difficult to understand? The whole thing is unconstitutional and should be struck down immediately. Pay for your kids to go to private school, don’t use my taxes.

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I suggest those that get stuck with their fingers in the candy jar when this law will hopefully be reversed, return the monies scammed from tax payers with interest. Rep. Casas should step down.

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But, Ms. Downey, wasn’t it passed by the legislature and signed by the governor with a wink, wink, nod, nod? Did ANY rational, observant person think that it would not end up being misused in this way? Is anyone surprised that it was written without oversight?

Do you recall any bill passed by our legislators and signed by our Governor lately that has been ONLY to help the poor kids/families? Or has every one of them had a “payoff” for some other group written in?

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@ It is to laugh . . . Too funny! Hey! Why don’t we take up a collection from the faculty to pay their scholarships? We can designate which child gets it. Right?

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@83jacket, 10:12 am

“The Cat…I see the difference but Mary Elizabeth does not.”
==========================================

I am an advocate for public schools because I have an egalitarian vision of humanity, and have had all of my life. However, I do not disparage parents who wish to pay themselves for sending their children to private schools, as long as they do not use public tax funds which were meant for public school schools and for public school children, to do so.

Moreover, I do not think that we, as a society, should close our collective eyes to the underlying reason that many wish to use public tax money to send their children to private schools today. Earlier in Georgia’s history, trying to send white children to private schools in order to avoid integration left a moral stain on Georgia, that most will now acknowledge. Today, trying to use public tax funds to send one’s children to private schools will undermine public schools for the majority of Georgia’s children because doing so will deplete public school funds meant for all of Georgia’s children. Moreover, doing so will send a strong message that some are “more equal” than others, which is a hierarchial vision of humanity. This hierarchial perception of mankind that was present in the class system of Great Britain when our founders formed the more egalitarian American colonies. That hierarchial vision was also present in the Antebellum South and it continued in the South through the days of Jim Crow. A hierarchial vision is also present, today, in the ideological penchant for dismantling public schools for private ones, in which some are considered to be more “privileged” than others. Our nation was founded on an egalitarian vision of humanity, not a hierarchial one. That is why Thomas Jefferson supported public education. To the extent that each of us contributes toward furthering that egalitarian vision, to that extent we have made our state and our nation proud. History will not look kindly upon this current political penchant for dismantling public schools any more favorably than it has upon the white Southerners flight to private schools of the 1950s and 1960s.

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@Mary Elizabeth – Was that a paper you had to write for your Ed Leadership degree? Jeeesh. NCLB was of public education. But what the hell has OBAMA done to make it better? I voted for him thinking we’d get relief…but we got more of thE same…just more expensive. Our kids (soldiers) are still dying all over the globe. And ask a DeKalb county teacher if they are better off today. Get real. Dems and Reps…they are both on the take. THE BOTTOM LINE IS MONEY DOES NOT EQUATE TO A SOUND EDUCATION! PARENTING DOES. AND IF YOU START TO LIMIT MONEY IN PUBLIC EDUCATION YOU ALL SCREAM BECAUSE ITS LIEK A MAGIC FIX…LIKE A COMPULSIVE EATER WHO SOMEHOW FEELS LIKE BUYING A GYM MEMBERSHIP WILL HELP THEM…YET NEVER STEP FOOT IN THE GYM. YOU ALL OR FOOLS. GET YOUR KIDS IN PRIVATE SCHOOLS AS FAST AS YOU CAN. IT’S THERE ONLY HOPE…BECAUSE YOU CONTROL THE CURRICULUM AND THE LEARNING MUST BE SUPPRTED IN THE HOUSE FOR THE CHILD TO BE SUCCESSFUL. “OOO..THAT’S TOO HARD!”

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@Thewayifeel, 2:25 pm

I taught within public schools in the greater Atlanta area for over 30 years, 16 of which were in an all black high school. Public schools can be improved from within, if there is the will to do so. That is the better alternative than simply giving up on public education and, then, trying to educate the masses of children in Georgia through private education. There will always be some form of public schools, but, if there is a concentrated effort to dismantle public education for private education, the resources needed for improving public education will become even more depleted. Georgia has already lost many years of improving public education because Georgia’s legislators and governors have been underfunding public education by billions of dollars in the last decade.

To create a society in which we have more responsible parents of children, we must improve public education and refocus upon the disadvantaged in society-at-large.

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“has become a back door for middle class parents to use THEIR tax dollars to pay their private school tuition bills.”

Fixed it for you.

Perfect libtard speak. You pay for your kid to go to a private school. You file to get a tiny portion back since you don’t utilize the poorly organized and run public school – but its robbery? SMDH

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I am grateful to the retired single doctor with no kids for calling Maureen Downey to make the case that, although she does not want her taxes back, she has far more claim to have them back than a lot of other people.
===========================

Perhaps the point needs to be underscored, for some.

As the movement for private education at taxpayers’ expense escalates, so will the thinking and the feelings of many citizens that they should not have to pay their taxes for educating other people’s children if they have no children of their own in school (as is true with myself, also, although like the retired doctor, I gladly pay property taxes to support the public education for all of society’s children).

If this way of thinking were to dominate the minds and hearts of America’s citizens, then gone will be the idea that paying taxes to support “the common good” and of “promoting the general welfare” of the population, as the Preamble to the U.S. Constitution states, are values to hold dear in America. Are we to become a nation whose vision for humanity will become so small that we can only think of “what is good for me and mine”? Can we not see what this momentum for business control of education and for private schools to supplant public schools, en masse, is doing to our national consciousness? We are, each, interconnected – one with another – in our nation. America has not, yet, become a place where each person perceives that he or she is “an island unto itself.” Hopefully, we will not let that happen. That consciousness would diminish the soul of America.

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fyi — our non-sectarian private school plays the nice Chrstian schools in sports and their sportsmanship oftentimes leaves alot to be desired – as a non-Christian I oftentime find the irony in this interensting (even after we read all sorts of statemetns about sportmanship…. and “say” the prayer before the game….). I think the point that many miss on the discussion is that there is so much corruption and active misuse of the many millions of dollars coming into the public school coffers so the fact that some parents have the abiltiy to get some of these funds into the hands of private schools, which are (at least a number of them) doing an excellent job actually educating kids and also peeling very deserving kids out of the public system and into these schools — as set forth by the Westminster letter and at my school — this is, in my opinion — a higher and better use of the money than what is happening at the local public school level wit the corruption and ethical issues at the local level.

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This thread is making me feel so smart for educating my children in public school!!! Years ago I had a hunch that public school would better suit my two children and their educational needs. Truly, it is so difficult to know what type of student an elementary aged child will become in middle school, harder yet projecting forward to high school. Now we are emerging from the other end of the public school odyssey and, I must say, hurray for public school!
A little sleuthing on the internet shows that our little old public high school competes very nicely against two of the private Christian schools mentioned in this thread.
Greater Christian: Average SAT 1730, number of APs offered: 13
Killian Hill Christian: Average SAT 1768, number of APs offered: 5
Alpharetta High School: Average SAT 1679, number of APs offered: 31 !!!!! Not 3 and 1, 31!!!
And just remember, Alpharetta High school has a special ed center with a distinct program catering to students with the most intense physical and educational needs. As with all public schools, it takes everyone in the area no matter the color of their skin, the language they speak or their performance on a placement test.
And I won’t get into specific numbers, but as a junior my child far outperformed the average SAT scores for both Greater Christian and Killian the very first time she took the SAT. Actually, both of my kids came close to those scores when they took the SAT for the Duke TIP program in 7th grade. My child will graduate next year with 7 AP courses and over a dozen honors classes. Bring it on Christian schools!!!!
Thank you, thank you. This is the validation I needed after years of choosing public over private.
If I were Sen Casas I’d be asking for my tuition money back. Hey wait… maybe we should all ask for his tuition money back since $2,000 were actually tax payer dollars!

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I am glad that this misuse of public funds by our elected officials is coming to light before the November constitutional amendment to promote “school choice”. Just remember that this grab at public tax dollars for private use was advertised as a leg up for truly needy children. The constitutional amendment will be sold to Georgia voters as a means of granting increased “choice” to parents. In actuality it will be a Trojan horse to divert public funds and to bring in private entities to run schools with no oversight by elected representatives who answer to the voters in your area.
The determiners of state sanctioned charter schools will be a board of appointed cronies who do not answer to taxpayers. Two main questions have never been answered:
What is the funding stream that supports these schools?
Who appoints the members of the charter school commission?
To date, these questions have not been answered. Further, it is possible that neither question will be answered prior to the amendment vote in November.
This recent story regarding school scholarships and the misappropriation of those funds, should be a warning call for all of us. The “school choice amendment” will be the Trojan horse that diverts public funds to sleazy crony organizations. The two stories are running parallel.
BTW, two other points…… Everyone on this blog who is admitting to utilizing tax funds intended for needy children to subsidize tuition for their middle class student is doing something extremely unethical, and likely illegal under tax law.
Second, my heart truly goes out to those who feel their child is not served in public school. Do your best to dig in and get results. In doing so you serve not just your child, but many, many others. A good public school serves hundreds or thousands of students every day.
Years ago when the state of Georgia changed the math curriculum I was one of many parents who dug in their heels, forced the state to produce data showing results and in the absence of results, forced change. It wasn’t easy, but it was important. It would have been far easier to have yanked my kids and stuck them in private school. But that would have fixed the situation for only a few kids, leaving many others to fall behind. Ultimately, it would have been the wrong choice.

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Shar — the Department of Defense analogy doens’t work — the function of governement at its very core is to protect the nation — that is really what it is there for. We can’t exist as a nation wihout our defense. How we do that? I don’t know — I’m not military (although I was born on a base)…. I just feel very strongly that we cease to exist as a country if we can’t and don’t defend ourself. This is core function of government. There are arguments to be made that education isn’t really a core function of government and that we could be better off if we made people responsible for educating their own offspring (no I’m not presenting this position but it is not a core function of government at a very basic leval that is needed for core suvival as a nation like food, water, oil and defense) — people can do it for themselves — we can not defend the nation ourselves — we cannot survive without Courts — we cannot survive without some basic laws as to the enviornment and other laws that regard what people should and shouldn’t do to harm others. The rest of what governmen does isn’t necessarily necessary for it’s core functioning and there are ways that it could be designed for the private sector to accomplish the same tasks, possibly more efficienttly and more effectively …. there are arguments that are made on both sides of the issues but the Soviet Union didn’t survive; life in Cuba doesn’t look like much fun; a blind man just stumbled his way out of communist China at a tremendous cost — freedoms like we have here are to be treasured and valued and these ideas are to be really considered and thought about. What we have had as Americans has morphed over the past 3-4 decades and we have lost many liberties at the expense of more “government” involvement and more taxes and more “hand outs” to “help” others while they become more and more dependent on the handouts. So, allowing choice in the form of scholarship funds to minority students to attend private schools to get those who want “out” out of their local public schools isn’t such a bad thing if done properly. That way they can really be educated and get to a really good college and move up in life. I think vouchers would be a great thing but I’ve made that point before. Keep in mind that all 3 of my children were in DCSS schools thorugh 8th grade and my oldest didn’t pull out until mid-way through 11th grade — I’ve really seen public schools and we are in one of the best of the DCSS systems.

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Correction: “Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom,” not “Statue. . .”

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Anonmom, you are just plain wrong here. The tortured tone of your response shows that you know it and are twisting in the wind.

Education not a core responsibility of our government? Oh, yes it is. It falls to the states instead of the feds (not that they seem to notice that), but take a look in the Georgia Constitution – or the constitution of any state you choose.Article VIII, Section !; “The provision of an adequate public education for the citizens shall be a primary obligation of the State of Georgia. Public education for the citizens prior to the college or postsecondary level shall be free and shall be provided for by taxation.

Not “But you can get your money back if you don’t like it.”

Education, just as much as defense, is a national priority. We can not all educate our own children although our federal Constitution says we can defend our country individually – “A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.” I whole heartedly disagree with how this Constitutional guarantee is interpreted and effectuated, but that doesn’t mean that I get to pull my taxes back from the courts, jails, police,Department of Justice, etc.

I don’t want tax money supporting religious education, and I have a Constitutional guarantee that it should not. This program goes wrong there. I don’t want tax money being spent where the public that provides it has no oversight or right to know where the funding goes. This program goes wrong there. And I don’t believe that your oh-so-high tax bracket somehow exempts you from fulfilling the responsibilities of citizenship.

You resent the fact that poor people get to vote themselves benefits that they don’t have to pay for. I resent the fact that rich people have special access to legislators to get special favors, breaks and perqs that the rest of us don’t get. Both of these things are problems in this country. However, that does not give you or anyone else (listening, you foul Casas?) the right to decide to only fund the programs and spending you agree with.

That’s called tax fraud. And arrogance.

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Shar — I agree with you on the religious ed front — I don’t have the angle addressed yet in my head — I think the monopoly the government has on schools has failed and needs to be changed — we need competition — desperately need competition as what lies ahead with the path we’re on is really, really bad — it’s got to change — I like the way France and Italy and Belgium do it (at least they way I understand they do it) which is a form of voucher system — the kids, by 8th grade are applying out to schools that are of their choosing based on their competency and skills –it’s not based on neighborhood and it is not automatic. It’s much more of a voucher system. It’s more of a tracking system. Money corrupts and we have mass, unchecked corruption in the public system. This article paints up corruption with this program — I don’t want corruption anywhere –the answer is to prosecute the corruption and to, me, to add the competition across the board not to eliminate it. But, yes, I agree with you on the religious education front — that scares me as a religious minority and under principals of separation of church and state. But I think that there’s are people more brilliant than I who can develop a system that would have it all working — perhaps based on the model implemented in Louisiana –as Gov. Gindal is one of those brilliant ones.

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fyi — one of the first things the Nazis did was confiscate weapons from the folks that were to be killed later on….

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