WASHINGTON -- President Reagan says his private tuition tax credit bill will put a 'healthy pressure' on public schools to improve, but a public educators group maintains the controversial measure will be 'uncontrollable.'
Reagan Tuesday sent Congress legislation to give the tuition tax credits to parents of children attending private schools, fulfilling a campaign pledge he made in 1980. It was sure to arouse heated debate between those who advocate freedom of choice in schooling and opponents, including powerful teaching unions, who say the proposal would harm public education.
The proposal, announced by Reagan earlier this year in a speech to the National Catholic Education Association in Chicago, would deny tax breaks for schools practicing racial discrimination.
Schools would have to file annual statements attesting they do not discriminate, and the U.S. attorney general would be authorized to file suit on behalf of individuals who claim they have been discriminated against.
Public school educators quickly criticized the Reagan initiative. Paul Salmon, executive director of the American Association of School Administrators, said:
'Providing tuition tax credits for parents of private and parochial students is opening Pandora's box. It would create an uncontrollable entitlement program since no one knows how many people would participate or what the cost would be to the government.'
Reagan said the tax break would cost the treasury $100 million next year, growing to $1.5 billion in 1987, but the president said the cost is 'modest' compared to that of public education.
'Diversity in educational opportunity has been one of the great strengths of our nation,' Reagan said in a letter to Congress. 'It is a foundation of our pluralistic society and essential to a nation which places a high value on individual freedom.'
The 'Educational Opportunity and Equity Act of 1982' would phase in the credits over three years. Parents could claim up to 50 percent of tuition paid per child up to a maximum of $100 in 1983, $300 in 1984 and $500 in 1985 and beyond.
Only families with incomes under $50,000 a year could claim the full credit; families with incomes above $75,000 a year would not be eligible at all.
In his letter to Congress, Reagan said the break to private school students would create 'a healthy pressure on public education authorities to maintain education standards and meet student needs.'
Rabbi Menachem Lubinsky, director of Government and Public Affairs, Agudath Israel of America, said Reagan had created a 'historic opportunity.
'Tuition tax credits is a concept whose time has come,' he said. 'It's about time that people at the highest echelons of government recognize there are two healthy educational systems in our country.'
Robert Baldwin, executive director of Learn Inc., said the proposal does more than just fulfill a campaign promise or 'mend some fences with those of us in the conservative movement.'
He said Reagan told his audience he is committed to the legislation and is mobilizing 'the full resources of the White House to get this bill passed in this session of Congress.'
The administration argues the issue really boils down to a question of 'tax equity.' Officials say administration legal scholars contend the Supreme Court will see it that way in the event of a lawsuit.
