Almost
twenty years ago, an opponent of the Communist
regime in Poland perceptively observed that the
right to obtain information from the government was
more valuable than the right of free speech. Without
the ability to learn what government is up to, a
citizen’s right to criticize is hollow.
Any abstract right
can be rendered meaningless when citizens are denied
the practical ability to exercise it. Americans have
the constitutional right to exercise their religious
beliefs, for example, but they are slowly losing the
practical capacity to do so.
The growing role of
government, its intrusion into areas of life once
considered private, and the spate of judicial
decisions that restrict expressions of religious
belief in public schools and governmental facilities
have had a profound, negative effect on religious
liberty. When these developments are coupled with
the impact of an American culture that is
increasingly hostile to religion, the concern of
many American parents over their ability to transmit
their religious beliefs and traditions to their
children is understandable.
Not all Americans
are opposed to this erosion of family autonomy. Some
actually favor government parenting and the
weakening of parental authority. These people
gravitate to social services agencies and public
education to pursue their agenda.
Parents who are
concerned about the situation in public schools
where obscenities are tolerated but prayer is
forbidden are left with two alternatives: They can
home-school their children or enroll them in private
schools.
It was only in 1984
that Virginia parents secured the right to
home-school their children. Many who have chosen to
do so can attest to the lingering hostility of some
public education officials to home-schooling.
Parents choosing
private education are penalized for doing so. They
pay federal, state and local taxes that fund public
schools, then pay tuition and other expenses related
to private education. Much the same is true for
parents who choose to home-school their children. As
the tax bite grows, those parents have less and less
money available for private education or home-schooling
expenses.
This trend is
portentous. We risk a future in which only the very
wealthy can afford alternatives to public education.
Without viable alternatives and competitive
pressure, public education will become even less
responsive.
The fundamental
concern is not the condition of public schools, but
rather the condition of our society, the measure of
freedom we enjoy, and the health of the culture that
sustains our way of life. Each is threatened by a
constant increase in the burden of taxes.
Government does not
yet have a complete monopoly in K-12 education.
Heaven help us if it ever does. Imagine a future
without an alternative to government schools.
Without competition, public schools would go the way
of all monopolies, and a basic freedom will have
been lost.
A
legislative study group known as the Joint
Subcommittee to Study and Revise the Tax Code will
certainly have much influence on the direction
Virginia takes on parental choice in education. If
it proposes the elimination of all tax deductions
and exemptions, it will nudge the Commonwealth
toward a public school monopoly by denying already-strapped
private schools relief from taxes, while precluding
a tax credit program to encourage contributions to
private schools or the voluntary payment of private
school tuition.
The
General Assembly should think very carefully about
these consequences before revising the tax code.
--
Sept. 16, 2002
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