As president of the State Senate, he has promoted a range of conservative policies, including a tuition tax credit system<br />that provides over $100 million per year to finance vouchers for private schools.<br />By contrast, many of the largest new direct voucher programs, where funds go straight from the government<br />to the school, require private schools to administer the same tests given to students in public schools.<br />Tax credits for vouchers also allow states to circumvent so-called Blaine amendments, legal prohibitions against the direct disbursement of public funds to parochial schools<br />that were added to many state constitutions in the 19th century during a wave of anti-Catholicism.<br />“It’s been better and more successful than even those of us who were enthusiastic from the get-go imagined.”<br />Some states, like Alabama and Indiana, limit tax credit vouchers to low-<br />and middle-income families, or to students who were previously enrolled in public school.<br />For some, spending $1,000 directly on a school voucher is government spending, while<br />forgoing $1,000 in revenue to finance a $1,000 nonprofit voucher is a tax cut.
