"Every student, no matter their family background, deserves to learn in the environment that best meets their needs. Scholarship Tax Credits will help expand school choice to all." -- Catholic Conference of Kentucky Ad promoting HB 134 and SB 36
This message is reinforced by the Catholic Conference of Kentucky in their push to get supporters to contact their legislators using the Voter Voice website. On that page, a handy form e-mail states (emphasis mine):
House Bill 134 and Senate Bill 36 will enact a Scholarship Tax Credit program for Kentucky, providing more educational choices for low and middle income families and students with special needs. As a constituent in your district, I am writing to ask you to co-sponsor this important legislation.
House Bill 134 and Senate Bill 36 will establish a nonrefundable tax credit for individuals and businesses who donate to fund needs based scholarships for Kentucky families. These scholarships help families afford the cost of K-12 nonpublic school tuition or other important educational services.
Please support equal educational opportunities for all Kentucky students by co-sponsoring House Bill 134 and Senate Bill 36.
Thank you!
But here's the question? Will it?
Andrew Vandiver, an associate director at the Catholic Conference of Kentucky has pointed to Florida's tax scholarships as an example of success. Florida's tax scholarship credit program indicates the amount awarded to a child cannot exceed $5,886 a year. The tuition and fees for DeSales are $13,281. Now I'm just a lowly public school graduate who barely passed my AP Calculus exam, but my iPhone is pretty sure that $13,281 - $5886 leaves $7395 for the parents who would like to chose DeSales for their child. Is that an amount that any poor parent can afford without other assistance?
Are DeSales and other Catholic schools really concerned about educating minority students? According to the National Center for Education statistics, DeSales had 12 black, 2 Asian, and 4 Hispanic children in a school of 319 students in 2015-2016. If you're doing the math, over 94% of the population is white.
By contrast, Kentucky's state report card for the 2015-2016 school year shows that JCPS was 46.6% white, 36.1% African American, 9.6% Hispanic, 3.8% Asian, .1% Native American, .1% Native Hawaiian, and 4.8% two or more races.
This isn't true just at DeSales. Here's a look at the data at other Louisville private high schools:
Trinity: Tuition is $14400 on a payment plan. 87% white.
St. X: Tuition is $14025 on a payment plan. 93% white.
Sacred Heart Academy: Tuition is $13200. 91% white.
Assumption: Tuition is $13096 on a payment plan. 94% white.
Christian Academy of Louisville English Station (9-12): Tuition is $10,975. 86% white (full school).
If Florida is our model, it's clear that all of these popular private school choices will still be out of reach for poor students, and even many middle class students without additional financial assistance.
So here are some questions for the Catholic Conference of Kentucky and the church organizations and legislators around Kentucky that are pushing this bill as being a solution for underprivileged and under-served kids in our public schools:
- If scholarships provided under this bill fail to cover the full amount of all private schools, what are you going to do to fill in the gaps so all can attend your schools?
- If you fail to provide additional scholarships to fill in gaps between the scholarship tax credit scholarships and the actual tuition, is it fair to say you're being disingenuous in pushing this bill as providing help to poor children?
- What efforts will your schools make to recruit, keep, and maintain ALL minority students that are currently in public schools regardless of their current academic or athletic achievement?
- Will you provide breakdowns of the scholarships received by the families you're currently using to advertise your cause?
- Will you truly make an effort to help shift the racial balance in your classrooms closer to the racial makeup of JCPS?
- If you believe that "(e)very student, no matter their family background, deserves to learn in the environment that best meets their needs", how will you ensure this happens?