I was away last week, but I returned to find this story on my desk:

Scholarship Plan Unsettled

The OSTC (Opportunity Scholarship Tax Credit) is the best idea in education...maybe nationally. It has some danger. Anytime the government allows money to move around there is danger, but still the problems (which are the focus of the article) are greatly outweighed by the benefits.

Here is how it works. Families living in the regions where the public schools are in the bottom 15% (for Lancaster County this means McCaskey, Columbia, and Pequea Valley High School--it goes school by school not district by district so only high school students in Pequea are eligible) may (if businesses take advantage of the tax credit by rerouting their tax dollars from Harrisburg to scholarship organizations) receive an $8500 credit that can be used at another public or a private school.

Why is this a great idea? Here are the top four reasons:

1. It holds the worst schools accountable for their actions. If schools cannot or will not provide good service, it gives needy families the chance to escape. This will cause people at the schools affected to get serious about fixing the problems that they can fix.

2. It links private education with business rather than the state (as vouchers would). The state still could remove the tax credits in the future. This could be dangerous if a school is addicted to the money, but having the money pass from businesses to schools erects and important barrier between the government and private education. Schools like Veritas Academy are less likely to be pressured by businesses (especially local Lancastrian businesses) to downplay our allegiance to Jesus Christ and His word.

3. It save the state a boatload of money. This $8500 tax credit replaces the normal state allotment per student which is much higher if you included the unfunded and unfundable (sic.) future pension and benefit promises.

4. Finally, it begins to assert the logic that needs to be asserted. Money should follow the child. Parents should have the freedom to make educational choices for their children. Families in failing schools should not be trapped.

We can do better...and this program will help us do better as a state. Horah for Harrisburg! (Still, trying to let this sink in...)