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National Affairs - Critical essay
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School choice's ace in the hole.
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SCHOOL CHOICE is becoming the most popular education reform idea, but not all school choice is created equal. The most powerful kinds allow parents to choose any school--public, independent, or religious. Most of the time, vouchers are what people think of when we are talking about this type of full-fledged choice. Yet, there is another policy that increasingly has been successful in recent years: education tax credits. Vouchers essentially are checks that the state sends parents to use at schools that the government deems are voucher-worthy. Tax credits, though, reduce the amount a taxpayer owes the government for each dollar he or she spends on a child's education. Moreover, tax credits for donations to scholarship organizations can help support school choice for lower-income families, and personal-use credits can help middle-class families. For instance, if a business owes the state $4,000 and donates $4,000 to a scholarship-granting organization, it would pay nothing in taxes. Similar benefits for donations can be applied to individuals. Three states have modest forms of personal-use tax credits: Illinois allows families to claim credits worth 25% of their edu...See the full content of this document
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