NO it should not. Parents who send their children to private schools pay a tuition, which should be partly applied to the school funding. Or they should find private donors that share the same views. I do not want my money as a public school parent to go to anything that discriminates against another. Public money should go to public schools

Misleading question. People get a tax credit for donating money to a scholarship program. That money (which is NOT tax money) goes to pay the child's tuition at the private school their choice. The money follows the child, and the moral beliefs of the school chosen are nobody's business. These are NOT dollars taken from public education. In fact, with less children attending public school because of this program, the public school have more money per child to spend. Whoever wrote this question needs to go back to school.

I mean this MOSTLY tongue in cheek. But not completely.

Most PUBLIC schools in this country have "explicit" PRO-gay policies. Shouldn't this be seen as a somewhat hypocritical?

String Bean...You my friend are the one who needs to go back to school. The SSO program was written as an endgame around the prohibition of public tax dollars funding private school education. In general, we have always been able to donate money to a qualifying Section 501(c)3 charitable organization which many private schools are. As a charitable donation, a taxpayer has always been able to reduce his/her federal and state tax liabilities.

Under the SSO program implemented by Georgia, the taxpayer not only reduces his/her federal tax liability but also receives a dollar for dollar offset against his/her state tax liability instead of a 6% reduction.

In addition, you believe that this is merely a case of the money following the child to the private school of his/her choice. Under federal and state laws, it is illegal to claim a charitable donation AND specify to whom the money is awarded. That is one of the noted problems with GA's SSO program. Private schools have been awarding scholarships to specific donor's children. Further, many people would not want their donations going to schools with anti-gay policies, and yet, once they make the SSO donation, the money can go whereever the SSO wants it to go. There is no reporting to prove otherwise.

Lastly, keep in mind that there is no prohibition from a Muslim backed private school that has anti-American policies from participating in the SSO program. Do you want your tax dollars going there?

I don't think any tax dollars should be given to private schools whether they have anti-gay policies or not. If you can afford to send your child to a private school I think that's great, but leave the tax dollars to the public schools.

Or police money for my neighborhood's private force?

I went to public schools. My kids went to public schools. I can tell you from personal experience that if I could afford it I would choose a private school in a heartbeat. Regardless of the anti-gay stance or no stance at all, it's really about education. Public schools are afraid because private schools give kids a better education, period. That is a fact, just look at the grades. Matter of fact homeschoolers do better than public schools. These parents are paying county school taxes and get nothing in return for it. So, just give me a break from the greedy, selfishness. Better yet, give these parents the deduction on their property taxes, then you can complain.

Chris, not all private schools perform better than public schools. But even if private schools performed better than public schools, the comparison is flawed. Private school population is comprised of a small subset of the general population. This subset is atypical in that most are from high income and probably, higher educated backgrounds than the population as a whole.

The real difference between private and public is that public has to take ALL children no matter their mental, physical, racial, economic, religious or gender background.

If you want to pay for your child's private education, go ahead but use your own money. If instead, you want public money to subsidize your child's education, go to public schools.

Frank, you state the obvious. My point was, those who choose private school are paying for public school through property taxes that they shouldn't be forced to pay. All the while public schools get funding through Federal, State, and local governments and they still fall well below world standards. Public schools, as a whole, are failing our kids and should be held accountable. Instead we get questions like this from the SEF to distract from its total failure.

Public money should be used to fund private schools with whatever type of policies the parents want. Time to disassemble the public school system in order to get higher quality education at a lessor price.

http://www.open.georgia.gov/sta/search.aud shows what teachers in the public system get paid.

Wasn't this decided with the last election when we voted on the Charter School issue, or is that something entirely different?

First of all, taxpayer monies should not be going to private schools. Students in grades 1-12 don't really give a rats A _ _ if a classmate is gay, lesbian or a druid. It appears the parents, administrators and politicians are "whipping" this issue to a frenzy and THEY are the problem. As long as public monies are not used to, for lack of a better word, "make things different" for ANY student (i.e. special classes, rooms etc.) for these students, who cares?

Jackie, they may be two points but they go hand in hand. The reason, a lot if not most, choose private schools is because of the failing school system. Thanks for the lesson on democracy. Your right, we don't get to pick and choose what we have to pay for. That sounds like socialism. Your right on the point that I wouldn't want to pay for your private army or Franks private police force. One more point to confuse you even more. I consider myself a team player and have never complained about what the government does with taxes. Surely we all have more common ground than we have differences. Feel free to comment on any point. I'll try not to take it personally, and none of my comments are to be taken as a personal attack. I love everybody equally.

Unfortunately, we, the public, don't get to decide where our tax dollars are spent. If we did, there are many programs that I would stop long before this one. It is clear from many of the responses, that many "sheeple" will try to do whatever they can to prop up the failing public school systems of this country, and prevent the growth of charter and private schools regardless of the facts. There is no one-size-fits-all educational system, yet the establishment wants you to believe that when it comes to public education. We need as many alternatives as we can possibly come up with and support financially! Competition breeds excellence!

Yes, the public school system is working is some places, but it's precious few. I'm not advocating throwing the baby out with the bath water. I said "we need as many alternatives as we can possibly come up with", including public schools. Where it works, it should be kept, however, the Federal and State governments need to get out of it completely! Local control is the only way to run ANY school, public or otherwise.

The bill itself is biased in that preference is given to students with financial need. Perhaps taxpayers would like to see funding go to students who excel in their studies. Perhaps taxpayers would prefer funding be directed to stidents within youth detention centers. Perhaps ESL students are more deserving. Such funding must be dispersed equally, regardless of the recipient's need or affiliation, in order for taxpayer funds to be fairly distributed without bias.

Folks we aren't talking about true tax money here. Do you not understand that? You are debating the wrong issue.

This is about contributions to a scholarship fund being tax deductible. NOT about private schools getting public funds. Should be punished because of what education decisions parents made? (Where to send them to school).

Would you rather people, who are financially able to contribute to this fund, STOP their contributions? Thereby taking scholarship money away from low income students? They can simply put their money directly into a fund created only for students of private schools or whatever they want if there is no incentive to put it into the fund by way of a tax deduction No one forcing them to contribute to this. That is why it is not TAXPAYER money. If it were taxes it would be what you are debating, but it isn't. This is a question about tax deductions.

People are Crazy...I love your alias, but you're crazy if you don't think this is state tax money. This isn't about people contributing to a scholarship program for the poor to attend private schools. As the law is currently written, there are no income requirements for awarding scholarships. As I've started before, people were always able to contribute to 501c3 programs before this law was passed, but now they get a dollar for dollar offset against their state liability instead of a 6% charitable reduction. There is a huge difference between 6% and 100% and it's interesting that the law doesn't apply to public schools as well.

NO NO NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! no way should tax payers pay for private schools under any circumstance

I do not think any money is State money until they collect it from the people and it is there for the State to spend. I suppose in YOUR view that makes me crazy. Everyone is crazy, just to what extent. Are there any 501(c)3 plans for low income students? Did I state THIS? Read my post again. That is not what I said.
No one should be punished for their sexuality or spiritual choices, but I am for the FREEDOM OF RELIGION and the FREEDOM of the government to keep their freaking hands out of my pocket, home and my personal decisions. They should not be allowed to say what someone should and should not believe. PERIOD. They do it daily by controlling purse strings. If something is available to all, let it be available to all. At what point does reverse discrimination start? Should people no longer get credit for their deductions to churches that teach the Bible?

If we are going to argue 6% or 100% (that IS a different topic by the way) let's just stop ALL 501(c)3 deductions. Let's stop the tax deductions to the SEF which wrote this report, which IS a 501(c)3 (that likely names itself so closely to the entity that accredits schools so as to validate biased reports like this one so that people will think it comes from SAC, instead of this private liberal watchdog group).

I agree with you on one thing you said. People should get a deduction for contributing to public schools (via their school tax on property), especially people who no longer have children in school. :)

Of course not; homosexuality is not a learned behavior. You think your kid is going to be taught something in school that turns them gay? They may be taught to be tolerant of others but that message would not change their sexuality. You are or you are not gay; parents, school, churches or governments aren't going to influence someone to change that. It may give them to courage to be who they are without fear of being philologically abused by intolerant parents, schools, churches and governments.

To Frank Jones.

What has become obvious from you posts here you are someone who is only interested in preserving the status quo when it comes to "educating" America's future generations.

I, personally, am appalled at the amount of money this country spends indoctrinating good little worker bees in this country who's sole "contribution" to society is to be Walmart employees. Now we need Walmart employees but we also need independent thinkers who will help keep this the most free, productive and innovating country on the planet.

Government schools need competition in order to remain competitive. Let the money follow the child. Let competition, as it does in business, make America's schools the envy of the world they once were.

They are NOT, in my opinion, now.

Kathleen, you hit my views directly to the point. I completely agree with you

My first time reading discussion forums here on The Canton Patch. I've enjoyed and relied on the page as a good source of up-to-date local news.
While reading through these posts just now, one glaring discrepancy stands out. The editor of the Cumming Patch admonished one poster, including a link to the Patch terms of agreement for a comment; however, that same poster and one other were the brunt of direct insults (" you are obviously homophobic", dumb, etc), based on their opposing view comments, and yet no admonishment from the editor.
Hopefully one-sided censorship is not the norm in this forum.

There are no FACTS that show that competition in public education improves education.

Thank you Frank. I laughed until I cried.

Class dismissed

Thanks to the Patch editors for posting this question of the week. I was astonished by the findings in the Southern Education Foundation's report and wrote a blog piece published yesterday in the Huffington Post:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sally-hansell/antigay-private-schools-georgia_b_2952162.html?utm_hp_ref=gay-voices