Matt Blunt Endorses School Choice

Blunt, legislators support revival of tax credits for scholarships:

Gov. Matt Blunt, flanked by several legislators and civic leaders, said Tuesday he supports resurrecting last session's failed legislation allowing state tax credits for a proposed scholarship program for students in struggling school districts.

Blunt pledged his support at a news conference at the University of Missouri-St. Louis following a luncheon meeting with state Reps. Robert Behnen, R-Kirksville, Ted Hoskins, D-Berkeley, and Rodney Hubbard, D-St. Louis, St. Louis Urban League President James Buford, and others.

Supporters said the mechanism would give children in failing schools a chance to succeed, while opponents say it amounts to a school voucher. The measure failed in the House last session. Hubbard and Behnen said they are building coalitions and looking at ways to generate enough support for passage next year.

"This is not a voucher, or a tuition tax credit," Blunt said. "It's a tax credit to contributors to the scholarship fund."

Missourians Fired Up! comments:

Yesterday, in St. Louis, Gov. Matt Blunt endorsed a plan for vouchers in Missouri. His plan would take money out of the treasury that would otherwise be available for public schools and send the money to private and parochial schools.

How is this wrong?

• They are tax credits, not vouchers.
• They don't take money out of the treasury, they leave money in citizens' pockets.
• The lost revenue is not specific to public schools; perhaps MFU would be happier if it thought that the revenue was unavailable to governor mansion renovations during Republican administration.

But some people think that all property and goods come from the government and you possess them only at its leisure.