Editing 78-07-A7 (section)

=== Transcript ===
In a show of bipartisan statesmanship, a Democratic and a Republican Senator have called for an income tax credit for parents paying tuition to educate their children.
I'll be right back.

Tens of thousands of independent and parochial schools, elementary, secondary and college level, have gone broke in recent years. Unable to charge tuition high enough to keep pace with rising costs they've had to close their doors. This is a tragic loss. The very existence of independent schools helps preserve academic freedom and diversity. To reverse this trend two Senators sponsored a bill providing for an income tax credit for half the tuition up to a ceiling of five hundred dollars per child.

A credit, of course, means you subtract that amount from the income tax you owe. This would apply to both public and private schools. Now, I realize public school tuition only occurs at the college level so the benefited elementary and secondary levels would only go to parents whose children were enrolled in independent or parochial schools. The education lobby has risen up in wrath calling this a plot to destroy the public schools. That's a bit hysterical when you consider that ninety percent of all students attend public schools, only ten percent are in private schools.

Incidentally, they've seized upon that word private to make this seem like a tax break for the rich. The word private does conjure up an image of exclusive prep schools and ivy league colleges and while there are of course some of these, there are far more local parochial schools and small independent liberal arts colleges existing in gentile poverty. In the heated debate little has been said about the fact that the tax credit would probably help the schools more than the parents. Hard-pressed to meet increased costs, a school could raise tuition with the assurance that it wouldn't mean any actual increase in price to the parent. The result would be salvation for many otherwise doomed educational institutions.

Nevertheless, the Washington Post editorially predicts destruction of the educational system if the tax credit is adopted and, in a particularly ridiculous bit of demagoguery, Albert Schanker, president of the American Federation of Teachers, who numbers among his contributions to education a vast increase in the number of teacher strikes, says the tax credit, quote, "Would amount to taxpayers subsidizing private schools." Unquote. He's echoed by the president of the national PTA who declares, quote, "The public would be taxed twice, once to support public schools through existing programs and a second time to subsidize the private schools through tuition tax credits." Unquote. They must be using the new math to come up with that distortion.

The parent paying tuition to an independent school is paying his full tax also to support the public school but his children are not adding to the cost of public education. They pay for something they don't take. What do Mr. Shanker and madame PTA president think will happen if the independent schools close down and the 10% attending them are suddenly enrolled in the public school system. Mr. Shanker will probably call for a teacher's pay raise because of the added burden. School boards will demand bigger budgets to handle the increased enrollment and, presto, your local taxes will go up again. Is that really better than giving a break to people who are now supporting two school systems?

This is Ronald Reagan.

Thanks for listening.
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