To the Editor:
Kevin G. Welner’s Commentary on “neovouchers” (or tuition tax credits) for nonpublic schools was right on target (“Under the Voucher Radar,” Sept. 3, 2008). To it could be added that not only have millions of voters in 26 statewide referendums rejected vouchers or their variants by an average of 2-to-1, but that five of these states specifically have rejected tuition tax credits: Nebraska, in 1970 (57 percent against the credits to 43 percent for); the District of Columbia, 1981 (89 percent to 11 percent); Utah, 1988 (70 percent to 30 percent); Oregon, 1990 (67 percent to 33 percent); and Colorado, 1998 (60 percent to 40 percent).
Who can doubt that if voters in those states permitting neovouchers—Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island—had been allowed to vote on these programs, they too would have rejected them? It might also be noted that the constitutions of all six of these states contain at least implied prohibitions of vouchers and neovouchers.
Edd Doerr
President
Americans for Religious Liberty
Silver Spring, Md.
