According to a report recently released by the Southern Education Foundation, some scholarship money generated through a Georgia tax credit program has been used at religious schools that ban gay, lesbian and bisexual students.
And, those schools should not be given the public funding, the report asserts.
At least two of the schools named in the report are located in Gwinnett County:
- Hebron Christian Academy in Dacula
- Providence Christian Academy in Lilburn
In 2008, legislators established a tax credit program to allow individual and corporate taxpayers to contribute to qualified student scholarship organizations and receive a dollar-for-dollar credit against their Georgia income tax liabilities. SSOs provide the funds to private schools for all or part of a student’s tuition.
Although the amounts awarded to each school are unknown, more than $170 million in taxpayer funds have been set aside to cover the tuition costs of students in private schools during the last four years.
And, the Southern Education Foundation knows of at least 115 private schools in the tax credit scholarship program that have severe anti-gay policies or belong to state and national private school associations that promote anti-gay policies, according to the report.
"Altogether, as much as one-third of all private schools participating in Georgia’s tax credit scholarship program may be governed by the schools’ explicit anti-gay policies or their church’s anti-gay statements of faith," the report reads.
And that count, according to the report, is likely an understatement.
The Southern Education Foundation does not take issue with the policies of the schools. They have a constitutional right to believe whatever they want to believe and to operate their private affairs in accordance with those beliefs, the foundation said.
But schools that "exclude, condemn, and demonize students for who they are and who they accept in their lives" should not receive public funds, the foundation wrote in its report. "Tax dollars should go to schools that educate all students. That is the promise and virtue of our democracy."
Click here to read the full report from the Southern Education Foundation. It is also attached to this article as a PDF. Click here to read about other metro Atlanta schools listed in the report.
Should public money be used to assist needy families who want to send their children to private schools with explicit anti-gay policies? Tell us in the comment section below.
Someone said that if you send your children to a private school you shouldn't have to pay for public schools. In all places that I know schools are partially financed by property taxes. So, if you own property and pay property taxes you support public education. I've never had any children, but I have paid for a lot of public education. One thing a private school can do and the government will not bother them is to take no public funds.
Now MAN MADE global warming I will argue about. Of course the globe warms and then it cools it is cyclical. Some people even call it SEASONS
More people are killed with cars, hammers and knives every year than guns by a LONG shot!! Pardon the pun. Makes you wonder does it not?
Changes in Neptune's brightness do seem to correlate with changes in the Sun, but the linking mechanism (if any) is unknown. Changes in Pluto's atmosphere seem to be seasonal; work is ongoing on this topic. In the cases of Mars, Neptune, and Pluto, our understanding is incomplete. They may prove to have no connection to mechanisms for natural climate change on Earth. At the same time, some global warming believers have been too hasty in dismissing these observations. Still, they do demonstrate that we don't fully understand climate change.
This is why ALL state and federal subsidizing of education is a bad idea. It is used by those holding the purse strings to reward those who "think" like them and punish those who don't. 100% local control of funding for schools is the only sane answer!
Point taken, and thanks for the correction. A more germane example, then: I was vehemently against the war in Iraq, but my federal tax dollars went, in part, to fund that war. But I don't expect a refund. Once again, the system would not work if taxpayers only paid for what they agreed upon or the services they personally planned to use.
http://www.boston.com/yourtown/wellesley/articles/2010/09/18/wellesley_pupils_prayers_at_mosque_fuel_call_for_policy_change/?page=2 The issue there was over the prayer, not parental consent. And that was based on one witness who claimed that the boys had been forced to participate. Other witnesses said it was not even suggested that they should participate, but a few did so out of respect, much as I participate out of respect when visiting the place of worship of another faith. My mother has been a public school teacher for 40 years in systems across the country, and I called her to get her take on this. Simply put: Off-campus trips require parental consent at some stage of the game, period. I'm not saying maverick teachers have never taken students off campus without consent, but those who do are asking for a lawsuit.
As far as the gay issue, I really just don't care. I think way too much attention is given to gays, especially when you consider the relatively tiny percentage of the population they represent. US adults think the gay population is as high as 25% while, in reality, it is a mere 3.5%. Let queers do what they want. It's not really going to affect normal people much at all. http://www.gallup.com/poll/147824/adults-estimate-americans-gay-lesbian.aspx
Not the first dumb thing I've heard today but certainly one of the dumbest. Government money? Wouldn't that be OUR tax dollars. Wouldn't WE be the government? Shouldn't WE decide where our money is spent? I don't want to pay any tax. Toll roads, private security, fire protection provided by your insurer just like the old days. When we let government get involved, things went downhill fast and are still declining...at a faster rate.
Here is a hint for you: Don't waste your time looking because it isn't in there.
But, thanks for the acknowledgment of sometime agreement. That's rare for me. I don't expect anyone to agree with me on everything, and many on nothing. So, I'll take it. Basically, I come here to state, not debate.
Except, wait . . . "Section 8. Clause 1. The Congress shall have Power to lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States." I believe this is known as the General Welfare Clause. And, the 16th Amendment authorizing federal income tax: "Passed by Congress on July 2, 1909, and ratified February 3, 1913, the 16th amendment established Congress's right to impose a Federal income tax."