Saul highlights the Georgia Scholarship Tax Credit Program—making the Georgia program sound like the pith of the ten scholarship
tax credit programs across the nation.
The program serves approximately 8,131 students (which Saul fails to
report)—or only 6.3 percent of the 128,792 students who participate in private
scholarship tax credit programs. Thus, the Georgia program only represents a small minority of scholarship tax credit programs nationwide.
She also fails
to mention the programs in Indiana, Iowa, Oklahoma, and Rhode Island, instead only making reference to Arizona, Pennsylvania, and Florida.
Some of those other states might have been helpful in showing some context.
The Florida Tax Credit Scholarship, for example, serves
nearly 40,000 students, yet the program
is hardly mentioned in the story. In
fact, Saul does not mention the flagship program until the 16th paragraph,
where she writes:
Some
states have moved to tighten restrictions after receiving complaints. In Florida, where the scholarships are
strictly controlled to make sure they go to poor families, only corporations are
eligible for the tax credits, eliminating the chance of parents donating for
their own benefit. Also, all
scholarships are handled by one nonprofit organization, and its fees are
limited to 3 percent of donations.
Florida also permits the scholarships to move with the students if they
elect to change schools.
This “positive” aspect of the Florida program is shrouded in
negative light. A more balanced way of
talking about the program:
The Florida Tax Credit Scholarship, created in 2001, serves
nearly 40,000 students in the 2011-12 school year. To be eligible for the program, students must
qualify for the federal free and reduced-price lunch program—which in 2011
would require a family income of not more than $41,348 for a family of four. The program has also been the subject of
numerous students from both independent evaluators and the state.
