Let schools spend donations wherever

Teachers can't spend Arizona tax-credit donations in the classroom because some fear it will create inequities between rich and poor schools.

The fear is real.

But the divide is already there. As The Republic's Mary Beth Faller points out, rich schools already get tons of donations. Some poor schools don't get any.

MY TURN: Why education tax credits are a great deal

The money now is mostly used to offset costs for athletics and band. So rich schools can offer enriching experiences for students without it cutting into their classroom budgets, and poor schools cannot.

Why perpetuate this equality facade?

Tax credits aren't going away. Even if some argue that they obscure where education funding goes, lawmakers love them too much to get rid of them.

And schools, even rich ones, have real classroom needs that tax credits could help offset. Why not let schools spend the money wherever they (and the donors) see fit?

I'm not saying we should leave poor schools hanging. Quite the opposite: We should loosen the strings on all schools and do more to leverage the business and faith communities to help those with the fewest resources.

The will to help is there. Our church adopted a low-income school and recently held a back-to-school shoe drive because the principal said many kids would come to class the first day in worn-out shoes. We donated hundreds of pairs.

Imagine how many more cool things we could do for that school if we could hire aides or buy new lab equipment. Freeing the tax credit could help pave the way.