Dan Patrick Tries An End-Run to Give Texas Students Taxpayer-Funded Scholarships To Private Schools
Sen. Dan Patrick, R-Houston, is determined to get his taxpayer-funded scholarship bill through the Senate, and he's even willing to scale it back to do so.
Patrick, with few members of the Senate Education Committee but plenty of audience, laid out Senate Bill 23 yesterday The bill, co-sponsored with Sen. Donna Campbell, R-San Antonio, would provide taxpayer-funded private- and parochial-school scholarships for low-income children in failing schools.
Patrick, in his substitute, has limited the pot of money for these scholarships to $100 million, which would be culled from donations from participating businesses. Those businesses would earn a tax credit for the franchise tax they deposit in the fund. A total of three non-profit entities would be authorized to distribute the scholarships.
Patrick frames the scholarships as a moral imperative. Wealthy kids have options, he said. "But if you're a working mom in the inner city or a grandmother or a guardian, you don't have that choice," Patrick said. "I don't know why in Texas we would say to the poor, to say to that mom, you don't have the same rights as someone who has more zeroes in their bank account."
More at http://blogs.houstonpress.com/hairballs/2013/04/patrick_vouchers_private.php .
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