Democracy for Montgomery County: URGENT! Act now to protect public schools!

I don't usually send out alerts with URGENT! in the subject line, so you
know this is important.

My friends in education tell me H.B. 946 is a real threat to public
education. Incredibly, this bill is likely to pass. Please act now!
(Please forward this to all your contacts in Maryland. My apologies if
you've seen this before.)

This is a matter of practicality and principle. We have to keep our
public schools as strong as possible, and if there's money for vouchers,
those funds should go to helping public schools. Certainly not to
undermine them with this showing of "no confidence." As a matter of
principle, public money should not support private, especially not
religious schools.

Please contact your own delegates, and the Ways and Means Committee
members you know personally. Email them ASAP, and also please make a
personal phone call. Find the links to get their phone numbers, a list
of their email addresses, points to make--everything you need--provided
below.

Contact as many of the delegates you can, but at least contact your own
delegate if he or she is on the Committee. Please use your own words,
but feel free to adapt the information below. If you're a constituent,
make sure they know that. Emphasize your concerns about vouchers
undermining public schools and using scarce tax money to promote
religious instruction. Remind the delegate that Marylanders strongly
oppose this proposed use of public funds for non-public schools. Studies
prove vouchers are not a solution to any problems in schools. Again, use
your own words--especially when emailing. Repetitive emails get less
attention. Please do not just forward this email to them.

Please also write letters to the editor. Keep them short and to the
point to increase your chance of publication.

**Gazette:* *By E-mail: letters@gazette.net or through the web, click
here: http://www.gazette.net/gazetteinfo/opinion.shtml
Washington Post: Webform only, must be exclusive to the Post:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/edit/letters/letterform.htm
Baltimore Sun: Webform only, check guidelines:
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/bal-letters-box,0,7198750.htmlstory
Frederick News Post: Webform only, check guidelines:
http://www.fredericknewspost.com/sections/customer_service/letters_to_the_editor.htm
Carroll County Times: By E-mail: cctnews@carrollcountytimes.com
The Capitol (Annapolis): By E-mail: capletts@capitalgazette.com

Thank you,

Mike Hersh

-------- Compiled from various concerned people --------

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

H.B. 946 is a "backdoor" voucher bill that if passed by the state
legislature would give taxpayer money to private and parochial schools.
It is "backdoor" because it involves tax credits rather than direct
funding. The result is the same: money drained from state funds at a
time when public education funding is being cut. Please contact your
delegates and ask them to defeat this bill.

Americans United for Separation of Church and State offers further
information below:

Thanks, Bill Murry
(Minister Emeritus, River Road UUC)

HB 946, a tuition tax-credit bill, would create an indirect voucher
program accomplished through a tax credit. Essentially tax credits would
constitute public funding: When the government grants a tax benefit, it
forgoes income. Though proponents maintain that tax-credit schemes do
not involve public money, there is no meaningful difference between tax
credits and direct government reimbursement of tuition for private and
religious schools--tuition tax-credits are backdoor vouchers. In this
case, for every dollar taxpayers donate, the government loses
seventy-five cents of revenue by giving it back in the form of a tax
credit. The Senate Fiscal and Policy Note estimates that under this
bill, general fund expenditures could increase by $50 million annually
and the tax credit will cost the state even more money to administer. In
these difficult economic times, this is fiscally irresponsible.

Funding of Religious Instruction: A central aim of religious education
is to instill religious values, beliefs, and practices in students.
Thus, religious schools integrate religious teaching throughout all of
their curricula. As a faith leader, I believe that tax money could be
used to fund education in a religious tradition that conflicts with my
spiritual conscience and with which I deeply disagree. Government tax
benefits should not be used to fund education in another religious
tradition when our own educational institutions already have the
voluntary support of our congregations. And this bill is structured in
such a way that will actually incent people to attend religious schools.
Religious Discrimination in School Admission: Religious schools retain
the right to admit students based on their own criteria. In fact, many
religious schools discriminate in admissions based on religion, sex,
disability, ethnicity, and economic background--or even based on the
status of their parents' relationship.

Tax money should not fund schools that children in my community might
not even be able to attend. Religious Discrimination in Hiring: The
government tax benefits created on this bill will go to religious
schools, which can discriminate in hiring staff based on religious
criteria. Thus, members of my congregation may not be eligible to teach
at the schools that accept vouchers because they are of the "wrong"
religion. Threat to Public Education: People of faith have a long
history of supporting educational opportunities for our youth. We stand
by our public school system and continue to work for its improvement.
School vouchers do nothing to improve educational opportunity. Religious
people are committed to Maryland's public school system. We know that
sending tax money to private schools is not the answer to Maryland's
educational problems.

---------

In addition to the info presented [above], here's a strong argument to
use: Millions of voters in over 25 statewide referenda, including two
here in Maryland, have rejected tax credits, vouchers and all other
schemes for tax aid to faith-based private schools by an average margin
of two to one. The figures on the referenda are shown on the ARL web
page--http://www.arlinc.org

Edd Doerr
President, Americans for Religious Liberty
Member, UU Church of Rockville

---------

The Committee is House Ways and Means. Here's the list of Committee
members (hyperlinked to their General Assembly webpage that has their
phone numbers):

Sheila E. Hixson
http://www.msa.md.gov/msa/mdmanual/06hse/html/msa12241.html , Chair
Ann Marie Doory
http://www.msa.md.gov/msa/mdmanual/06hse/html/msa12214.html , Vice-Chair

Here are the email addresses:

sheila.hixson@house.state.md.us, annmarie.doory@house.state.md.us,
joseph.bartlett@house.state.md.us, kumar.barve@house.state.md.us,
joseph.boteler@house.state.md.us, jon.cardin@house.state.md.us,
page.elmore@house.state.md.us, bill.frick@house.state.md.us,
ron.george@house.state.md.us, jim.gilchrist@house.state.md.us,
carolyn.howard@house.state.md.us, jolene.ivey@house.state.md.us,
anne.kaiser@house.state.md.us, peter.murphy@house.state.md.us,
leroy.myers@house.state.md.us, john.olszewski@house.state.md.us,
craig.rice@house.state.md.us, justin.ross@house.state.md.us,
christopher.shank@house.state.md.us, melvin.stukes@house.state.md.us,
frank.turner@house.state.md.us, jay.walker@house.state.md.us

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

URGENT! Act now to protect public schools!

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