Letter: What don't lawmakers get?

School choice proponents say we do not understand that school choice is not taking any money away from public schools, yet they do not explain what we do not understand. They do not explain why they can have $25 million for school vouchers and cannot just increase public school funding by $25 million and end school vouchers as voters demanded in a referendum. They have tried tax credits and direct allocation from general funds.

Tax credits are nothing more than giving taxpayers the right to say how their tax dollars are spent to support their political agenda instead of going to general funds and the Legislature deciding how to spend the money. Using state funds to maintain religious schools is a violation or Article 1-4 of the Nebraska Constitution based on a 1932 court ruling. No matter how you source the money or how many times you move it to a fund with a special name, it is still public money.



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. Kenneth Snyder, Lincoln Catch the latest in Opinion Get opinion pieces, letters and editorials sent directly to your inbox weekly!.