HomeschoolrsRUs
04-08-2005, 10:43 PM
Emancipating children
Marvin Olasky
April 7, 2005
Rep. Trent Franks, 47, works out of his office in the Longworth Building just south of the Capitol, where a bust of Lincoln and a small statuette titled "Jesus With Children" are on display. From that small office is coming legislation that could free thousands and then millions of children from bondage to public schools harmful to their educational health.
Franks, a second-term congressman from Arizona, pushed through his state legislature in 1997 the Arizona Scholarship Tax Credit Bill. That law allows Arizona taxpayers to receive up to a $500 dollar-for-dollar state income tax credit when they make private, voluntary contributions to charities that use at least 90 percent of the money to provide scholarships that allow children to attend the school of their parents' choice.
Since 1997, Arizona taxpayers have made 120,000 donations, and this year the program is likely to raise $30 million for scholarships. Through the program, over 24,000 scholarship-receiving students in Arizona are attending a private school this year. Franks says: "Even the poorest child now becomes royalty in the system. In the past, only wealthy parents could afford their children such an opportunity."
As Arizona goes, so goes the nation?
The rest of this story found here: Marvin Olasky: Emancipating children (http://www.townhall.com/columnists/marvinolasky/mo20050407.shtml)
Marvin Olasky
April 7, 2005
Rep. Trent Franks, 47, works out of his office in the Longworth Building just south of the Capitol, where a bust of Lincoln and a small statuette titled "Jesus With Children" are on display. From that small office is coming legislation that could free thousands and then millions of children from bondage to public schools harmful to their educational health.
Franks, a second-term congressman from Arizona, pushed through his state legislature in 1997 the Arizona Scholarship Tax Credit Bill. That law allows Arizona taxpayers to receive up to a $500 dollar-for-dollar state income tax credit when they make private, voluntary contributions to charities that use at least 90 percent of the money to provide scholarships that allow children to attend the school of their parents' choice.
Since 1997, Arizona taxpayers have made 120,000 donations, and this year the program is likely to raise $30 million for scholarships. Through the program, over 24,000 scholarship-receiving students in Arizona are attending a private school this year. Franks says: "Even the poorest child now becomes royalty in the system. In the past, only wealthy parents could afford their children such an opportunity."
As Arizona goes, so goes the nation?
The rest of this story found here: Marvin Olasky: Emancipating children (http://www.townhall.com/columnists/marvinolasky/mo20050407.shtml)