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PA school privatization diverts taxpayer dollars to fundamentalists and lobbyists, according to Times investigation
A Pennsylvania program that gives tax credits to corporations in exchange for donations to private schools uses politically-connected middlemen to send taxpayer dollars to religious fundamentalists, according to a New York Times investigation published today.
PA school privatization diverts taxpayer dollars to fundamentalists and lobbyists, according to Times investigation
A Pennsylvania program that gives tax credits to corporations in exchange for donations to private schools uses politically connected middlemen to send taxpayer dollars to religious fundamentalists, according to a New York Times investigation published today.
The Times also reported on tax-credit programs―which are effectively the same as school vouchers, turning over public money to pay for private school tuition―in Georgia, Florida and Arizona.
In Pennsylvania, 200 organizations control more than $40 million donated by corporations and take an “administrative fee” of up to 20 percent. Two of those organizations, Bridge Educational Foundation and Bravo Foundation, allegedly coordinate their “scholarship-giving" with elected officials in the state.
Bridge has served as the middleman for more than $650,000 donated by natural-gas drilling company XTO Energy (now owned by Exxon).
“The media events began in 2010 and have generated a burst of good will for XTO at a time when the controversy over the hydraulic fracturing drilling method has been growing in Pennsylvania," the story notes. "In reality, as much as 90 percent of XTO's donation was underwritten by taxpayers. ... Such arrangements appear to benefit all involved―donors with business before the legislatures, lawmakers and lobbyists.”
Pennsylvania, long at the forefront of state legislative abuses, now appears to be actually using taxpayer dollars to fund lobbyists.
Notably, Bridge's director is Natalie Nutt, whose husband ran the 2010 campaign of Republican Gov. Tom Corbett, a major proponent of school vouchers.
The Times also found that taxpayer dollars were directed to schools teaching “a fundamentalist dogma holding that the world was literally created in six days;” that “much variety within the human race has developed from the eight people who left the Ark;” and that the “Great Depression ... was exaggerated to move the country toward socialism.”
The Pennsylvania Constitution clearly bars taxpayer funding of religious institutions.
The Times highlighted the role played by the conservative American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), and also that of the American Federation for Children, a national pro-voucher organization headed by Amway heiress Betsy DeVos. In April, I reported that DeVos' organization donated tens thousands of dollars to support state House candidate Fatimah Muhammad's challenge to leading anti-voucher state legislator Rep. James Roebuck.
Though Roebuck fought off his challenger, the privatization campaign continues.
Just two days ago, the Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia―embroiled in costly lawsuits involving sexually abusive priests, a challenge to the Obama Administration's requirement that health insurance plans cover contraception, and parochial schools hemorrhaging students to charters―held special masses asking parishioners lobby legislators for a bailout: taxpayer-funded school vouchers.
Like vouchers, the tax credits are billed as a way to help troubled children, but in reality often fund the tuition of students already attending private school.
The privatization movement has targeted Philadelphia's fiscally-beleaguered school district, backing a controversial plan (see "Who's Killing Philly Public Schools") that could turn over management of all district schools to private charter companies.
Follow Daniel Denvir on Twitter @DanielDenvir
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