In defense of Georgia’s tax-credit scholarships
This month the Wingfield household, like millions of others across America, has received a growing number of tax documents. Among them are forms certifying that we gave $50 to this charity or $100 to that one, allowing us to reduce what we owe in taxes.
What neither we nor the IRS will receive is official documentation that our church converted X number of non-believers into Christians, or that a charity we supported decreased poverty or sexual exploitation by a quantifiable amount. Or that everyone who benefited from our donations earned less than a certain amount of income.
Yet, similar bits of data are being requested of one of the kinds of non-profits we could have supported but didn’t: Georgia’s student scholarship organizations.
These SSOs accept donations from Georgia taxpayers, who can then reduce their state income taxes by an equal amount — up to a limit for all donors of about $50 million per year, or one-quarter of 1 percent of all revenues the state expects to collect this year. They then give the money to private schools, which in turn award scholarships to students.
Many claims are made about these so-called tax-credit scholarships. The most easily dismissed is that this is the state’s money.
“The United States Supreme Court ruled, clearly, that this is not tax money,” says Rep. Earl Ehrhart, the Powder Springs Republican who sponsored the 2008 bill that authorized SSOs and these tax credits. He refers to the court’s 2011 ruling in two cases involving Arizona’s tax-credit scholarships.
Indeed, the opinion authored by Justice Anthony Kennedy states: “When Arizona taxpayers choose to contribute to STOs [the equivalent of Georgia’s SSOs], they spend their own money, not money the state has collected from respondents or from other taxpayers.”
Given that ruling, it’s not clear Georgia has to report anything about donations to SSOs — any more than it should report how much Georgians give to churches, synagogues or mosques, groups that fight hunger and poverty, groups that promote the arts or conservation, or any others.
Still, Ehrhart has filed a bill this year, HB 140, that would, among other things, raise the annual cap to $80 million but require public reporting of some aggregated information about SSOs: the number and value of donations made by individuals and corporations, as well as the number and value of scholarships awarded.
That last bit of data could help prove what SSO advocates have long argued: that these scholarships actually save tax money, because the average award amount is less than what public schools spend per pupil.
Scholarship recipients’ family income is another matter. Ehrhart says the program “was never sold” as one meant to benefit only low-income students, though he argues they are bound to be the greatest beneficiaries.
“You don’t give [scholarships] to rich kids,” says Ehrhart, who serves as the unpaid head of an SSO called Faith First Georgia. “Why would you take your limited money and do that?”
And, getting back to the original point, means-testing would represent a level of scrutiny not applied to other charities and their donors.
Speaking of scrutiny, a newer complaint about tax-credit scholarships is that some private schools receiving money from SSOs have policies, for religious reasons, that prohibit gay students.
But as the Supreme Court recognized, these donations are private gifts, not public money. There is no conflict here with public discrimination policies any more than when Georgians make tax-deductible gifts to other religious entities with similar views.
Barring these tax credits based on some private schools’ faith-based guidelines for students could, however, set a precedent for attacking the tax-deductibility of all gifts to religious groups.
As for claims that some donors and private schools are finding ways to make sure contributions are earmarked for specific students, including the donors’ own children, Ehrhart points out that practice is illegal — and encourages anyone with knowledge of law-breaking by specific SSOs, donors or schools to contact their district attorney.
– By Kyle Wingfield
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293 comments Add your comment
Aesop's Fables and other Lib Economic Theories
January 31st, 2013
10:11 am
Enter your comments here
Aesop's Fables and other Lib Economic Theories
January 31st, 2013
10:13 am
haha, I think the left wingers are mad because 750,000 US soldiers didn’t get killed invading Japan. What a perfect opportunity gone to waste, huh?
SBinF
January 31st, 2013
10:22 am
Whole lotta Whiggish history being thrown around here….
Mary Elizabeth
January 31st, 2013
10:23 am
Kyle, thank you for your response. You are correct that I do not see it the way you do. The national movement toward dismantling public schools for private ones, or for public charter schools which are operated by private corporations for profit, is not a movement that I support.
That movement has deeper political and philosophical variances from my thinking than I can discuss here. However, I believe that I do see what is going on in our era, with long-ranged ramifications for our state and nation. I will say, however, that I support private schools that are paid for by private funds, and that I support a reasonable number of public charter schools that will work in harmony with traditional public schools – and not against them – for the equal benefit of all of the students in Georgia. I will, also, say that I support the improvement of traditional public schools so that all students in Georgia are well-served. I tried to be a leader toward that improvement of Georgia’s public schools before I retired. I continue to share my thoughts, based on my educational background and experiences, of how to improve Georgia’s public schools on the “Get Schooled” educational blog of the AJC, as well as on my personal blog.
Bottom line: I do not support schools in which the primary intent is profit. I saw myself as a public servant when I was a teacher, and an educational leader, in Georgia’s public schools. The hours that I spent, over and beyond the required hours, were freely given by me for the betterment of Georgia students and of their families, and not for additional money for myself. The educational philosophy of serving all students equally well, and not for monetary reasons, is what I want to see sustained in Georgia and throughout our nation.
Profit has its place in American society and I am certainly not against making a profit in the private domain. However, I believe that profit-making does not belong in public education. Moreover, to the extent that personal profit-making already exists in public education, then I believe that it must be uncovered and stopped. I want Georgia’s public schools to continue to place priority on educating all of Georgia’s students equally well, and not on profit. One cannot serve two masters equally well. One has to choose. The public domain has its place in American society, just as does the private domain. There must continue to be a well-orchestrated balance between the public and the private (or between making personal profit for oneself and ones’ family and serving the common good of all and not for profit for ones’ self) as our founding father’s recognized. My life’s choice, and my life’s work, has been in serving, and advocating for, the public domain, which ideally serves the common good.
I must leave for an appointment. That you again, for your response to my post.
PinkoNeoConLibertarian
January 31st, 2013
10:28 am
If we’re going to allow people to direct how and where their tax dollars are spent, why stop with private schools? I want all of my state tax dollars to go to the DOT and used to improve the roads and traffic congestion within a 5 mile radius of my house.
Mary Elizabeth
January 31st, 2013
10:31 am
Correction of grammar: “. . .and not for profit for one’s self) as our founding fathers recognized.”
md
January 31st, 2013
10:32 am
And ME is to be commended for ’serving”, as she seems to give the concept the respect it deserves.
But in my opinion, the problem now lies in the definition of “serve”. In days gone by it meant an individual electing to work for what the taxpayer was offering to pay. Today, they form unions to “tell” the taxpayer what they will be paid to serve……..
MANGLER
January 31st, 2013
10:39 am
Kyle, Folks,
The way that this issue was presented by several news outlets and advocate groups implied that, and in some cases directly stated, an up to $2,500 tax deferment from income taxes specifically into a scholarship for a non-public school would be taken out of the general education fund, dollar per dollar. So a portion of the public thinks that is taking $2,500 out of the State tax money going to public schools and giving it to private schools, regardless of whether or not the person making the deduction/contribution has a kid at the school or not. It’s implied that any GA resident can take tax money directly out of the education fund and funnel it directly into a private school. That perception is what is causing ire. The perception that tax dollars (ie public dollars) are being taken away from public schools which must by law be all inclusive and into private sometimes parochial schools which are not bound by those same inclusion requirements. See how that is angering people?
Is that the case? Is the money being taken, dollar per dollar, out of public schools and being directed into private schools? It can be confusing to read the bill to determine that.
If it is merely being treated as a charitable donation that happens to be going to a private school, then that is another issue entirely.
Hillbilly D
January 31st, 2013
10:47 am
A) I hope Kyle takes plenty of Lysol with him to the Gold Dome.
B) My Daddy was stationed in Japan in 1946-47 as part of the occupation forces. He said that although things weren’t to bad, you still had to be on your toes. They weren’t allowed off-base without a weapon and were told if they were off-base and anybody gave them any trouble, to kill them. He said he seldom went off-base and it was relatively peaceful but you had to be on your toes, occasionally people would take potshots, if they got the opportunity. He also said, that all troop trains traveled with shades pulled down because if they didn’t and people knew U.S. soldiers were on the train, some folks along the way would shoot at it.
Estimated casualties for an invasion of mainland Japan were 1 million U.S and 5 million Japanese. One need only look at Iwo Jima and Okinawa casualty rates for the Japanese, which were over 90%, to know an invasion would’ve been tough sledding.
You also have to keep in mind that the firebombing of Tokyo killed nearly as people as the atomic bomb and that was just one of the firebombing raids. These things aren’t really so cut and dried as some people would like to make them out.
Whole lotta Whiggish history being thrown around here….
In my opinion, both the modern day Democrats and the modern day Republicans are just two different wings of the Whig legacy of the 1800’s. Jefferson’s view of things died long ago; Hamilton’s won out.
ND
January 31st, 2013
10:48 am
As a non-Christian I think it’s absolutely pathetic that you think “converting non-believers to Christians” is a valid cause for a charitable organization.
Henne
January 31st, 2013
10:48 am
Hmm, pretty sure Bookman has presented evidence of this tax-deductible tution being sold as such by schools. I’ll look for it when I have more time.
Dusty
January 31st, 2013
10:50 am
Self-aggrandizement sometimes blocks the view of good intentions.
Aesop's Fables and other Lib Economic Theories
January 31st, 2013
10:52 am
bookman has presented evidence, bwahahahahhahahhaha, oh my goodness, thanks for the laugh, my man.
Jefferson
January 31st, 2013
11:08 am
When giving a true gift, you don’t want anything in return. There lies the problem.
Dusty
January 31st, 2013
11:08 am
Hillbilly,
Hamilton was a fine fellow until Burr finished him off in a duel.. Nothing like getting a little huffy about criticisms!
I, too, had a family member in the Navy who entered Japan very soon after the WWII ended. He found the Japanese friendly and courteous and enjoyed the company of a local newspaper man. We have pictures of him standing on ruins at Hiroshima. I guess they were not worrying very much about residual radiation then. I’m sure he took many of the precautions your father did. Being on board ship much of the time might have made a difference.
Truman was a strong president and most Americans supported his decisions about the H bombs. Americans believed in his honesty. That still rings true although some may try to change history to further their own beliefs. .
Jefferson
January 31st, 2013
11:10 am
…. and Let the courts sort it out.
md
January 31st, 2013
11:17 am
Just reduce the tax rates across the board and get rid of all deductions….one page tax forms.
bullwinkle
January 31st, 2013
11:18 am
You’re right, it’s ‘easy to dismiss’ the argument that this is state money. It’s also easy to state that 2 plus 2 equals 183 – and just as wrong. Bottom line, this credit EFFECTIVELY – key word — allows taxpayers to earmark their state income tax payment for one use and one use only. By definition that is money the state would have had for other purposes but does not now. You and Tony Kennedy can write all the opinions you want and that doesn’t change. This is what conservatism has come to, on voting, taxes, schools, you name it – gaming the system to achieve what you can’t through legitimate political means. Sad….
Hillbilly D
January 31st, 2013
11:22 am
Dusty
I’d be curious as to what year your guy was in Hiroshima. Daddy said they passed through there on a train and weren’t allowed off the train because of the radiation. That was in late 1946.
Also, I don’t share your view of Hamilton. Burr was no day at the beach but I think he did us a favor, albeit a tad late.
Hillbilly D
January 31st, 2013
11:23 am
tax rates across the board and get rid of all deductions….one page tax forms.
Good idea but the lawyers and accountants will never let it happen.
southpaw
January 31st, 2013
11:24 am
ND @10:48
As a Christian, I have no problem with Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, etc. trying to find new converts. If they set up charitable organizations that also talk about their respective faiths, that’s a perfectly legitimate thing to do. They’re even welcome to try to convert me, although they won’t succeed. Freedom of religion at work.
Jefferson
January 31st, 2013
11:25 am
Get rid of deductions and go to a progressive rate base on income would be even better for GA.
Lee
January 31st, 2013
11:30 am
Personally, I think that if I send my child to an accredited private school in lieu of a public school, I should be given a tax CREDIT on my state taxes up to the amount the state provides to my local school system. Currently, I think that amount is around $6-7k, but I’m not sure.
The public school is STILL receiving federal and local property taxes, so I think that it would be a net gain for them.
But no, it is not about fiscal responsibility or what is best for the students, it is about the governmental education complex maintaining control of their source of revenue – your child.
My kids are now grown, but I did spend thousands each year on private school tuition AND tax payments in support of the public schools. My choice, but the reason we chose to do so was the sorry state of affairs at our local public schools – and it is not getting any better.
Dusty
January 31st, 2013
11:31 am
Bullwinkle.
Dear heart, you should have mentioned you were a liberal to start with. Then we would know where you were headed.
I would say that conservatives try to achieve their goals through legitimate political means rather than the liberal methods of chicanery. (See Washington for raising the debt level so liberals can increase the 16 trillion $$ debt more & more & more and tell us how good that is).
two riders were approaching
January 31st, 2013
11:33 am
Man, Aesop took a beating today. Probably doesn’t know it yet so that’s cool.
This was designed as a scam, is a scam, and will continue to be a scam. Yawn. Georgia.
md
January 31st, 2013
11:40 am
“This is what conservatism has come to, on voting, taxes, schools, you name it – gaming the system to achieve what you can’t through legitimate political means. Sad….”
As if it’s not a 2 sided game…….EIC?
md
January 31st, 2013
11:44 am
And EIC is the ultimate in game playing, not only is it political in nature, but they had to make it semantically political as well……….but the masses are oblivious to the irony.
SBinF
January 31st, 2013
11:59 am
“Personally, I think that if I send my child to an accredited private school in lieu of a public school, I should be given a tax CREDIT on my state taxes up to the amount the state provides to my local school system. Currently, I think that amount is around $6-7k, but I’m not sure.
The public school is STILL receiving federal and local property taxes, so I think that it would be a net gain for them.
But no, it is not about fiscal responsibility or what is best for the students, it is about the governmental education complex maintaining control of their source of revenue – your child.
My kids are now grown, but I did spend thousands each year on private school tuition AND tax payments in support of the public schools. My choice, but the reason we chose to do so was the sorry state of affairs at our local public schools – and it is not getting any better.”
By your logic, I should have to pay nothing toward educating children, because I have no children. If only I could get a tax credit for all the government services I never use. That would be something!
TGT
January 31st, 2013
12:06 pm
A fine account. Thanks for this Kyle!
yuzeyurbrane
January 31st, 2013
12:06 pm
Nice try at defending the undefendable. First, claim that it was not sold as program to help kids in failing public schools is just a lie. Just read the AJC archives from then. More like a classic bait and switch. Sold as that and then the wording changed behind closed doors and late in the session by our esteemed Rep. Ehrhart to allow parents of kids who were not in that category to be primary beneficiaries. Some of his partners in crime have even been taped telling folks how to scam the system. Second, it would be nice to refer some of the many cases of money being directed to pay tuition of donors’ kids but the same esteemed Rep. Ehrhart put into the law a provision actually forbidding disclosure of such things. To the extent information has leaked out, it seems like the use of funds for disadvantaged families is token at best. None of his new proposals would change things. Sorry to see Kyle get so hung up on tax law type legal technicalities claiming more or less the moral equivalent of “it just depends on what the meaning of is is.” The fact is that people who owe state income tax (which means for starters that they are not poor) can take a dollar for dollar credit for such “contributions”. It has meant $50 million per year removed from the State Treasury; now the esteemed Ehrhart wants to increase it to $80 million! Someone else has to make up that revenue shortfall and it usually means the rest of us. Now, this scheme is highly organized and the schools themselves will guide you through the hoops because the truth is that in the aggregate they amount to a nice chunk of change as a subsidy for private schools. I personally have nothing against folks sending their kids to private schools but I don’t want to subsidize this effort even if it is indirect because of the machinations of some clever CPA’s and tax lawyers. Kyle, you should be ashamed of yourself, especially when so many public schools are still furloughing teachers and have school years cut far below the supposed 180 day standard.
Politico
January 31st, 2013
12:08 pm
“I would say that conservatives try to achieve their goals through legitimate political means rather than the liberal methods of chicanery. ”
And I would say that if you know anything about politics on a local, state and federal level then you were either joking or lying. BS and “chicanery” goes on all day, every day from those of all political stripes. No one has a monopoly and even Stevie Wonder can see that.
bigbill
January 31st, 2013
12:23 pm
@Mary Elizabeth – 10:23 AM – Well said, Mary Elizabeth! Great statement. I believe that you do indeed “see what is going on in our era, with long ranged ramifications for our state and nation.” You correctly observe that this private school tax-credit scholarship movement must be viewed, not just in terms of whether it is but one more good public policy alternative for promoting education in general, as Kyle Wingfield would have us believe, but whether it is in fact just one more destructive prong in the multi-pronged radically conservative, well-financed “national movement towards dismantling public schools for private ones, or for public charter schools which are operated by private corporations for profit…” as you say. And I firmly believe that when one “follows the money” back to the individuals and groups working behind the scenes in state legislatures around the country promoting the passage of these private school scholarship tax-credit laws, people like billionaire radically conservative Betsy Devos and her public school-privatization front group, the American Federation for Children, and the also radically conservative, extreme right-wing legislative clearinghouse group, the American Legislative Exchange Council, one certainly gets a better understanding, a more complete picture, “what is going on in our era.” What’s going on? The elimination of universal, traditional public schools in America.
A terrific New York Times news article on the subject of these private school tax-credit scholarship programs published May 21, 2012, written by Stephanie Saul: “Public Money Finds Back Door to Private Schools,” digs into this as it reports these facts:
“A national network of school choice advocates has been promoting the programs with financing from conservative activists and foundations. The advocacy groups do everything from financing political advertising to lobbying state legislatures. One group, the American Federation for Children in Washington, D.C., has not shied from the rough and tumble of state politics.”
In Florida’s 2010 election, the federation supplied $255, 000 to finance an organization that paid for advertising against Dan Gelber, who was running for attorney general and opposed state financing fro private schools.”
“The ads, mailed to Jewish neighborhoods, called Mr. Gelber “toxic to Jewish education.” His staff found out about them from his 11 year old daughter, who called the office in tears after finding an ad in their mailbox.”
And this: “One big proponent of the tax-credit programs is the American Legislative Exchange Council, a coalition of conservative lawmakers and corporations that strongly influences many state legislatures…”
” ‘ALEC is a huge player in pushing forward a conservative agenda based on the premise that the free market and private sectors address social problems better than the government,’ said Julie Underwood, dean of the school of education at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, who has been critical of ALEC’s education agenda.’ ”
Believe me, Republican Rep. Earl Ehrhart who sponsored the 2008 bill that authorized the SSOs and the tax credits is not operating in a vacuum here. He is carefully following the radical right-wing Republican-Libertarian public school privatization-for-pofit-and-ideology national game plan of Betsy Devos, the Koch brothers and their legion of fellow like-minded conservative Republican-Libertarian billionaires who are using their fortunes to radically transform public education in America by effectively using back-door means to eliminate it. This private school scholarship program is but one of those means.
bigbill
January 31st, 2013
12:30 pm
Here is a link to the New York Times article covering these private school scholarship tax-credit laws, especially the Georgia law, the article entitled “Public Money Finds Back Door to Private Schools,” by Stephanie Saul, May 21, 2012:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/22/education/scholarship-funds-meant-for-needy-benefit-private-schools.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
Dusty
January 31st, 2013
12:42 pm
Hillbilly D 11:22
I looked at the WWII pictures in Japan and there were no dates on them. Found some papers and seems he served on the aircraft carrier Shangri La.( Mentioned 100 F43s, Ears ringing. Tiger shot down two planes today. )Left PearlHarbor for Okinawa invasion 4/1/45. Then left for homeland invasion sometime in August of ‘45. Started 1946 @Nagasaki(train ride–40,000 dead). Probably picture of Shinto shrine there. ) . Said he went to Yokahoma March 7.1946. His final separation notice from the Navy was dated 15 July 1946. Also listed were American Theater, European Theater and Asiatic Pacific (2). Lots of papers here with too much info to include.
As to Hamilton, George Washington liked him (so my historical novel said) and that is a good reference. Seems Alexander had an affinity for a “lady” not his wife, but what’s new? Sleazy women and easy men! A never ending “sport”!!!
Finn McCool (The System isn't Broken; It's Fixed)
January 31st, 2013
12:46 pm
What neither we nor the IRS will receive is official documentation that our church converted X number of non-believers into Christians
But you did get the form telling how many non-believers they burned at the stake?
Dusty
January 31st, 2013
12:47 pm
Hillbilly
My original post @ 11:08 about pictures of WWII was wrong. I thought they were taken at Hiroshinma but found out later they were probably of Nagasaki. Just wanted to correct that post.
Finn McCool (The System isn't Broken; It's Fixed)
January 31st, 2013
12:50 pm
but found out later they were probably of Nagasaki.
Well, it’s kinda easy to confuse the two, ya know?
bigbill
January 31st, 2013
12:51 pm
Here is a link to an article with detailed information about radical right-wing Republican billionaire Betsy Devos who created the American Federation for Children, a powerful, well-financed proponent of public school privatization which she and her front organization effectuate in part by means of such programs as this private school scholarship tax-credit law (The article is entitled: “The Right’s School Choice Scheme,” by Rachel Tabachnick, The Public Eye Magazine, Summer, 2012):
http://www.publiceye.org/magazine/v27n3/School_Choice.html
The article labels Betsy Devos as “The Four Star General of the Privatization Juggernaut.” Articles like this are, I believe, extremely important because they show us who is actually behind the curtain pulling the financial levers that make laws like Georgia’s private school scholarship tax-credit law happen not just in Georgia but around the country.
Dusty
January 31st, 2013
1:01 pm
Ya had to be there, FINN, to decide. A pile of debris is a pile of debris even with a Shinto shrine on top.
JDW
January 31st, 2013
1:09 pm
I think the issue is one of scale. A $1000 contribution to a charity of my choice reduces my Georgia taxes by $60 while the same $1000 contribution to SSO results in a reduction of my tax bill by $1000…that is a big difference. Seems to me what it does is allow a parent of a private school student to make a contribution directly to the school that their child attends without actually spending any money…what parent doesn’t make that choice and what private school doesn’t encourage them to participate?
This is really another example of our “esteemed legislators” spending tax money stealthily. This way they can directly appropriate state funds to private schools all the while calling it a tax “reduction” and continuing to preach against “gubmint spending”.
JDW
January 31st, 2013
1:24 pm
@bigbill…wow that article is just flat scary…
@Kyle…you should give it a read. You asked for evidence earlier…it seems they have Wyatt Bozeman, an administrator Wyatt Bozeman, an administrator on video saying…
“A very small percentage of that money will be set aside for a needs-based scholarship fund. The rest of the money will be channeled to the family that raised it.”
The other bit that should give one serious pause about the valitdiy of this use for tax dollars is from the headmaster of the Covenant Christian Academy in Cumming, Ga., confirming that his school used texts from Bob Jones University that teach amoung other things that…
“much variety within the human race has developed from the eight people who left the Ark.”
and calls the purported flood
“the reason for both the world’s petroleum reserves and the development of fossils.”
“You have to keep in mind that the curriculum goes beyond the textbook,” Mr. Arnold said. “Not only do we teach the students that creation is the way the world was created and that God is in control and he made all things, we also teach them what the false theories of the world are, such as the Big Bang theory and Darwinism. We teach those as fallacies.”
Nice of them to point out the “fallacies” in scientific thought.
JF McNamara
January 31st, 2013
1:32 pm
Kyle wrote:
“What neither we nor the IRS will receive is official documentation that our church converted X number of non-believers into Christians,..”
I absolutely hate the exemption for church spending for this reason specifically. You get a tax break for trying to buy your way into heaven. What if you don’t believe in that? Where is my exemption? If the money is used in a charitable fashion, fine, but most of the time the Reverend gets a new car and the church begins an endless expansion.
The church exemption needs to be eliminated immediately. If you want to buy your way into heaven or have a large church to justify your ego, do it at full fare.
alex
January 31st, 2013
1:35 pm
@SBin F:The key to your statement is ‘key family backgroung characteristic”…..so if you are able to control for these characteristics, then the public school student will turn out just as well as the private school student..interesting stats dilema, I wonder exactly what number of students in the public schools have these characteristics and most importantly what are they and are they truly independent of the public school….I suspect it is a difficult ? to answer, BUT for either side when you toss in “key family characteristics to be considered”, you’ve got to ask a lot of questions about the data…
Cheesy Grits is gone but not forgotten
January 31st, 2013
1:40 pm
As for claims that some donors and private schools are finding ways to make sure contributions are earmarked for specific students, including the donors’ own children, Ehrhart points out that practice is illegal — and encourages anyone with knowledge of law-breaking by specific SSOs, donors or schools to contact their district attorney.
This has been proven to be exactly what is going on.
Its the good ole boy network in action
On Monday, SEF officials submitted a complaint to the state Department of Revenue that documents in great detail multiple, widespread, blatant and continuing violations of state law regarding the scholarship program. (The full complaint is available here; it makes convincing reading.) It will be interesting to see what, if anything, comes of it.
- Jay Bookman
Sadly I doubt in this hillbilly state anything comes of it.
bigbill
January 31st, 2013
1:44 pm
@JDW – Thanks for your comment. It is scary. And by the way, check out the latest (today’s) pronouncement from billionaire radical right-wing Republican Betsy Devos’s American Federation for Children – Georgia branch – promoting the “creation of a (Georgia) statewide school voucher to help children from low income families attend the school of their parents’ choice.” Here is the link:
http://www.federationforchildren.org/articles/752
These billionaire radical right wing Republican-Libertarians and their wealthy front organizations are always couching their insidious public school privatization proposals in language that focuses on helping “children from low income families” like this one or “low income black families” like many of their charter school proposals. Just as Jay Bookman pointed out in his recent blog about the Georgia private school scholarship tax-credit law, it was pitched by these conservatives and their right-wing conservative legislator-proponents that this would help low income students leave poor, non-performing public schools and gain access to high quality private schools. Yet there is no means test built into the current law. And believe me there will be no means test for Betsy Devos’s Georgia statewide school voucher law once she gets it enacted.But it sure sounds good to be advocating for “children from low income families.” Right! Yet we somehow know instinctively that these school vouchers will in fact be using Georgia state taxpayer funds to help the wealthy and upper middle class students to fund their matriculation at the fancy private schools they already attend. Follow the money. Always follow the money.
Cletus
January 31st, 2013
1:52 pm
“…official documentation that our church converted X number of non-believers into Christians…”
That one could be zeroed out by counting the number of believers converted into non-believers.
Dusty
January 31st, 2013
2:06 pm
Look, fellows,
If you want to read what Bookman writes, go to his blog or some other blog as Kyle suggests in his rules. Thank you.
If you want to be a heathen, nobody is going to stop you. But in the meantime, don’t write a bunch of tripe about churches and those who worship there when you obviously know nothing about them or haven’t been in one in years. What you read in exciting headlines for a newspaper is little of what you hear in church.
The other “stuff” you hear these days comes mainly out of Washington where someone seems inclined to make us more like Cuba, Greece and Spain. How strange that liberals are blind to that condition but can smear any mention of a church as if it means downfall to them. .Tunnel brain waves? . .
Rafe Hollister preparing for an Obamanist America
January 31st, 2013
2:10 pm
bibbill
So, we should get Davos and the Koch Bros out of education, and put back in its rightful place in the hands of the NEA, the teachers unions, and George Soros.
Rafe Hollister preparing for an Obamanist America
January 31st, 2013
2:12 pm
But you did get the form telling how many non-believers they burned at the stake?
Haven’t gotten around to you yet, Finn? I’ll send the Koch brothers an email.
Cheesy Grits is gone but not forgotten
January 31st, 2013
2:14 pm
If you want to read what Bookman writes, go to his blog or some other blog as Kyle suggests in his rules. Thank you.
Ill read both and post whatever I want thank you very much.
Its always the religious ones who think they can boss everybody around.