Letters: Dispersing the EITC smokescreen

THE OPINION piece by Children's Scholarship Fund Philadelphia's executive director, Ina Lipman, ("Clearing the air over EITC programs") clouds the issue even more.

Lipman disingenuously leaves out some important facts and figures while using heart tugging anecdotes to deflect from the real problems surrounding the Education Improvement Tax Credit Act (2001) and its offshoot, the Opportunity Scholarship Tax Credit Act, signed by Gov. Tom Corbett, in 2012.

Lipman's article does not, for example, mention the gradual increase of tax-supported funding that goes toward these programs and scholarships. In 2012, it was $75 million. Now it is up to $150 million, and a bill in Harrisburg, if passed, will raise it to $250 million. That is public money from the general fund funneled to private and religious education across the state.

When Lipman says that the EITC act enables businesses to "contribute a portion" of their state taxes, she leaves out the part where they can get from 75 percent to 90 percent in tax credits per year. So, if a multinational, multibillion-dollar corporation, like UGI Energy, wants to contribute $800,000 in a single tax year to CSFP, $720,000 goes to the program, and the remainder, $80,000 stays with the state.

Another important figure left out of Lipman's piece is that scholarship organizations like CSFP can skim as much as 20 percent of that donation for operating expenses, including Lipman's salary.

In answer to the question of accountability, Lipman asserts that the organization itself measures outcomes. Citing high graduation rates from private schools that restrict admissions is hardly a fair comparison to public schools which take all comers. When Lipman describes "verifiable results of standardized student testing," she cannot mean the state exam or PSSA, which only public school students take. So, there is no direct reporting of these results to the state as a condition for funding.

One very glaring omission in this discussion is the reason that businesses need intermediaries like CSFP to funnel money to private and especially religious schools. These corporations cannot donate tax-credited funds directly to these schools because our state constitution explicitly forbids it. Article III, Section 15, of the Pennsylvania State Constitution states: "No money raised for the support of public schools of the Commonwealth shall be appropriated to or used for the support of any sectarian school." EITC/OSTC laws are cleverly written to circumvent that proscription. Gov. Tom Wolf correctly calls them "back door vouchers."

A major beneficiary of CSFP scholarships is a group called Independence Mission Schools, a private company that manages about 15 tuition-based former parochial schools in Philadelphia. So, private corporations donate to a private scholarship organization, CSFP, that funds privately managed schools, all with the help of public money and with no oversight. Nice.

Furthermore, Lipman admits that these scholarships are awarded under strict criteria and conditions. They are not available to everyone. And unlike public schools, the private school always has the final say in which children are admitted or expelled. So much for choice.

Meanwhile, public schools do not have "phantom" costs but very real ones, whether there are 30 students or 25 students in a classroom. In a state where there is not yet a fair education formula, and where urban districts like Philadelphia are struggling to pay their bills, the loss of hundreds of millions of tax dollars to private and sectarian education, with no accountability, does matter.

Gloria C. Endres

Philadelphia

And more on schools ...

The public schools are a mess in Philadelphia and Lisa Haver knows it. We need school choice. School vouchers and more charter schools will improve education in the city and just about everywhere else. The politicians and so called educators think they know what is good for us, the taxpayers.

Haver says, "Public schools are the foundation of a democratic society."

That is not true. The family is our foundation - students going home to parents who teach discipline and a work ethic. The decay of the family has led to the poor conditions of the public schools. All the tax increases and school boards won't fix it. The taxpayers should demand school choice and refuse to support the politicians and educators who want to continue this insanity.

Mike Casey

Fishtown