Arizona: Sto

by David Safier

Another strong article about tuition tax credits and STOs from Pat Kossan and Ronald J. Hansen at the Republic. It focuses on taxpayer-funded scholarship money going to families that don't fit most people's definitions of "needy," though it also mentions examples of families who are well within the normal definitions of need.

My favorite line is a paraphrase of an answer by Sen. Steve Yarbrough about whether his STO, Arizona Christian School Tuition Organization, gives money based on need.

Steve Yarbrough, who runs the group, uses committees to decide which students are awarded scholarships and how much. Most scholarships awarded by the committees are based primarily on need, he said.

An STO fund sweep? What an idea!

by David Safier

The House task force on tuition tax credits and STOs met Wednesday. This is the House group started by Ds, then joined by some Rs, not to be confused with the Senate committee started by Rs in response to earlier task force.

Both the Republic and the Trib covered the hearing. (If you only read the Star, I don't think you'd have an inkling it happened). My favorite idea that came out of it: If some School Tuition Organizations can't figure out how to give away 90% of the tax credit money that flows in for scholarships, they should return the excess to the general fund.

by David Safier

The Republican-created Private School Tuition Tax Credit Committee met, in part to counter the Dem-created panel looking into the STOs as well as the scholarships they give out. Much of the testimony was from a hand picked group of parents who get scholarship money. They love their scholarships, of course. No surprises, and not much valuable information.

But testimony by Georganna Meyer, chief economist at the state Department of Revenue, "who has administered the tax credit programs since their inception," should raise a few eyebrows. She said she only knows what the STOs tell her, which isn't much, and there may be STOs out there she doesn't know about.

by David Safier

A complex new story in the Republic about a too-close-for-comfort relationship between Sequoia Choice Arizona Distance Learning, a charter school, and Joy Christian, a private religious school whose students get tuition tax credit money, deserves a careful read. The word "scam" springs to mind.

I'm going to be gone today, so instead of trying to break the complexities down, let me give you some excerpts from the story.

State officials are raising questions about an arrangement in which a private school in Glendale and a public charter-school operator have teamed up to help finance the private school with taxpayer dollars.

State records obtained by The Arizona Republic show that Sequoia Choice Arizona Distance Learning, a charter-school firm, collected at least $1.