For instance, in Florida, new regulations bar participating schools from collecting tuition over the voucher amount, and in Milwaukee, even parochial schools cannot require students to participate in religious activities. Therefore legislators should have no more incentive to regulate independent schools than they do now. To date, Iowa and Minnesota legislatures have expanded the acceptable uses of their tax credits, and none of the four states with education tax credits has increased regulations on independent schools. Moreover, because tax credits involve private funds, they have cleared the church-state hurdle without incident. State courts have upheld the constitutionality of education tax credits in Arizona, Illinois and Iowa, and the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that education tax deductions do not violate the Establishment Clause.
Critics say such choice proposals are anti-public education.
But choice is not about favoring public or private education. It is about favoring children by letting parents decide what works for their kids. Adopting a universal education credit is a first step toward that horizon.