SENATE APPROVES TAX DEDUCTION FOR PRIVATE SCHOOLING

The Missouri Senate's move to give tax deductions to parents whose children attend private or parochial high schools garnered praise and criticism Friday.

Catholic Bishop John J. Leibrecht of the Springfield-Cape Girardeau Diocese congratulated the Senate for passing the measure Thursday.

The measure, however, faces opposition in the House and Gov. Mel Carnahan opposes it.

The legislation would allow parents to deduct tuition, school supplies or transportation costs for up to $2,500 for each dependent child.

The legislation applies to all public and private high school students.

But parents of children attending private and parochial schools would benefit the most because they could deduct the tuition they pay.

Dr. Dan Tallent, Cape Girardeau school superintendent, viewed the move as the first step toward a voucher system that he and other public school educators oppose.

He said a tax deduction is a form of state funding. He said the state shouldn't help fund private and parochial schools because those institutions don't have to serve all students and aren't required to provide all the programs that public school districts must provide.

"It may not start out with any strings attached," he said. But ultimately it could lead to government intruding into the operation of private and parochial schools, he said.

"I am certain parochial schools would not want the government nosing into their business," Tallent said.

But Leibrecht, who was in Jackson Friday for a golf tournament to raise money for Notre Dame High School, said parents who send their children to private or parochial schools should receive tax credits.

"Government gives tax credits to many other agencies and organizations," Leibrecht said. "Businesses, for instance, receive tax credits in recognition of what they contribute to a community.

"I think we should use the same philosophy in recognition of parents and the contribution they make for the whole community."

Parents with children in private or parochial schools also pay taxes to support public schools.

"This is a help to parents and offers a sense of fairness to all taxpayers," Leibrecht said.

State Sen. Peter Kinder, R-Cape Girardeau, voted for the tax deduction, calling it "a huge, enormous shot in the arm for the cause of parental freedom in education."

The measure was one of several amendments to an overall tax-cutting bill.

The tax-deduction amendment passed by a vote of 18-13.

Kinder said the measure faces an uphill fight to become law, with both the governor and the public-education establishment opposing it.

Still, he said, the Senate's action was "historic."

"We sent a message that times are changing and we are going to change with them," Kinder said.

The Senate debated the amendment for two and a half hours Thursday.

Kinder said it marked the first time that the issue had reached the floor of either chamber in more than a decade.

Critics said the state's constitution bans the use of public money to aid parochial schools.

But supporters said the constitutional provision was rooted in anti-Catholic prejudice.

"We're clinging to a vestige of 19th-century bigotry," Kinder said.

He said no tax money would be spent on parochial and private schools.

"It isn't taking money out of the state treasury," said Kinder.

Missouri spends $3 to $3.5 billion a year on public education. The tax deduction would mean $4 to $5 million less in state revenue, he said.

Kinder said Cape Girardeau voters repeatedly rejected tax measures for the public schools in recent years, with parochial-school parents overwhelmingly voting against the tax measures.

He said he took that as a plea from parochial-school parents for some financial relief.