ALBANY, Oct. 22 (UPI) -- Roman Catholic priests have been asking parishioners in New York to send postcards to state legislators asking support for education tax credits.
Catholic bishops have joined with leaders of Jewish and nondenominational schools to get state approval for tax incentives to help both parochial school parents and their schools, reported the Buffalo News Saturday.
The groups want an education tax credit of up to $3,000 per year for parents of both public and private school students, charter school students and those who are home-schooled. The second initiative would give tax credits of up to $250 for individuals and $17,500 for corporations for donations to public and private schools.
The tax credits would cost the state an estimated $700 million a year in lost tax revenue.
Critics say the effort is a way around the state constitutional ban on taxpayer support for religious schools. Supporters say the effort would help keep more private schools from closing, which would further strain public schools.
"If all the non-public students went into the public system, the system would be overloaded," said Diane Vigrass, superintendent of schools in the Catholic Diocese of Buffalo.
"Taxes would go up. They wouldn't be able to handle it."
