
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, May 29, 1993                   TAG: 9306010201
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-11   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

LET'S BE FAIR TO HOME SCHOOLERS

YOUR MAY 25 editorial entitled "Earle Williams, home schooler" was unfair to me, because it glossed over several points of my plans for education reform to focus on just one.

Yes, I have proposed that parents who teach their children at home be granted a tax deduction or a tax credit for some of their direct expenses (books, materials, etc.). But that really isn't such a radical idea, and it should be considered as part of a package.

Like a growing number of people, I believe that one way to stimulate school reform is competition. I believe in school choice. Parents should have more freedom to choose among the various public schools, and I am also willing to consider some form of vouchers or tax credits for private-school tuition. Similar proposals were part of President Bush's school-reform package.

If you are willing to subsidize private school tuition in some way, it is a simple extension of the principle to allow a modest tax deduction or credit for home schoolers, as well. It would not be fair to exclude the home schoolers. Remember, that by teaching their children at home, they are saving the taxpayers thousands of dollars annually, and I'm not proposing a 100 percent financial offset.

You ask, what about retirees, single adults and childless couples? If any of them makes a voluntary financial contribution to support a private school, that contribution is already tax deductible. Similar contributions to colleges are tax deductible. It is good public policy to encourage private, voluntary support for education.

Virginia is already offering public money to students who attend private colleges, through the Tuition Assistance Grant program, so "choice" already exists on the college level. That financially encouraged choice has improved, not damaged, Virginia public colleges and universities, and it saves Virginia taxpayers thousands of dollars per student per year.

Of course, everybody benefits from public education, not just the families of public-school students. I completely agree. Our whole society has a stake in the success of our public schools. And that is why I am willing to consider several ideas now being proposed to improve them. EARLE C. WILLIAMS Candidate for Republican nomination for governor McLEAN

Keywords:
POLITICS

by CNB