Rhode Island Rescues Students

To the Editor:

Your news article showed in a vivid, personal way how Rhode Island’s new tax-credit scholarship program can help needy children find improved educational opportunities in a private school when they are being ill-served, even endangered, in a public school. (“Tax-credit scholarships opening doors,” Oct. 14.)

However, the head of the National Education Association’s state affiliate, Robert Walsh, begrudges the loss to government coffers of the $1 million in tax breaks that companies collectively receive for contributing to these scholarships, asserting “that is $1 million in these tough economic times we’d rather have in the public schools.

Rhode Island is in the top 10 states in the amount it spends per-pupil on public education. Were that expenditure yielding high-quality education for all children, perhaps few, if any, families would want to opt out. To say that not even a minuscule portion of the annual public investment --- just $1 million out of $2 billion -- should be available for rescue scholarships is akin to arguing that all children should be held captive in a government-run monopoly.

Robert Holland (rholland@heartland.org) is Senior Fellow for Education Policy at The Heartland Institute.