This is the way it used to be!   This is the way it still is!   For the Arizona 2007-2008 school year, there were 1,064,023 students of which 442,273 (41.57%) were Hispanic.   These numbers will be updated as they become available.   For the Diocese of Phoenix schools in the current school year, there are 14,167 students of which 29% of K-8 and 19% of 9-12 are Hispanic totaling 6,779 Hispanic students.   In summary, there are 442,273 Hispanic students in Arizona public schools and 6,779 Hispanic students in Phoenix Catholic schools.   The Arizona Republican state legislature has gutted public school funding but has made available Arizona tax credits to fund private schools.   This decrease in public school funding plus the Republican legislation to divert public school funds to private schools by use of Arizona tax credits penalizes public schools where low and moderate income students attend.   Arizona tax credits have diverted $379 million in tax revenue to private schools since 1998.   The not so hidden agenda for the Arizona upper class white community has succeeded in devastating public school funding were minorities are found and has provided $379 million to private schools to flourish where non-minorities students attend.   The most brazenly blatant promotion of private schools in Arizona is the Catholic Diocese of Phoenix.   According to the Alliance for Catholic Education of the University of Notre Dame, nearly 70% of practicing Catholics in the USA are Hispanic. If the Notre Dame 70% for the entire USA is accurate, a safe assumption with Arizona being a border state, Arizona would have substantially more than 70%.   The Catholic Diocese of Phoenix is 81.35% Hispanic, yet the Bishop of the Diocese of Phoenix's use of tax credits is a slap in the face at Hispanic Catholics by promoting white Catholic schools devastating public schools where Hispanics attend.   This is hypocrisy at its worst.   Another example of the Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Phoenix turning his back on the Hispanic Catholic community!   Now being drafted for Hispanic News: Olmsted Who Supports Arpaio now Devastating Public Schools where Hispanics Attend.   Jon Garrido Chairman of the Board and CEO Act Arizona, Political Action Committee Jon@JonGarrido.com 602.244.1000

Diocese of Phoenix Allowed Taxpayers to Name Specific Students but Alters Tuition Tax Credit Policy After Criticism

PHOENIX (Wire Services) December 14, 2009 — The second largest private-school tuition organization in Arizona has suspended its new program that allows taxpayers to recommend specific students who receive the scholarship funds.

The decision by the Catholic Tuition Organization for the Diocese of Phoenix comes in response to recent criticism of the practice by similar organizations. Those critics say donors' naming of recipients is open to abuse, in which parents swap donations, claim up to $1,000 in state tax credits and effectively trim their child's private-school tuition cost.

Some experts say those swaps may violate U.S. tax laws, because parents often claim the donations as charity deductions on their taxes while reaping personal gain.

The Catholic tuition organization had never allowed the recommendations before this summer. It suspended, but did not cancel, the policy about two weeks ago after deciding there is too much legal uncertainty and it didn't want to jeopardize its non-profit status, said Paul Mulligan, the executive director.

The decision comes after it was reported last month the state's private school tuition tax credit law has done little to reach poor students, the primary justification for the law.

State lawmakers have formed a special task force to review the law in the wake of reports of possible abuses.

Under the law, taxpayers can donate up to $1,000 to a non-profit tuition organization, which then must pass at least 90 percent of the gift to a private school. The donors reduces his or her tax bill dollar for dollar.

In 2008, taxpayers diverted $55 million from the general fund to school-tuition organizations, some of which consider recommendations of recipient students.

The tax-credit program has little state oversight and there is no way to know how many donations are recommended for particular students.

Mulligan said those who have already donated to the Catholic STO and recommended a student can get their money back.

He said the STO will maintain its emphasis on providing scholarships to low-income students wanting a private, Catholic education.

Before the STO began accepting recommendations this summer, contributions stagnated, he said. Donors preferred earmarking the tuition assistance to specific students, he said.

Other STOs said there is discussion about whether the practice should continue, but so far there is no reason to think it will change. Some organizations said Monday they continue to accept recommendations.

ChamBria Henderson, executive director of the Arizona Scholarship Fund, the state's third largest STO and one that allows such donations, said her computers detect illegal swapping patterns and she prohibits such arrangements.

"Every year the software picks it up," she said. "I'm very confident of it."

"It probably happens on a school level. Any STO that is aware of it would probably put an end to it," she continued.

Henderson said her STO has accepted recommendations since 1999, when a cancer-stricken parent told her organization she had lined up multiple donors to help her child and wanted to ensure it happened.

"My board, it pulled their heartstrings, obviously," she said. After reviewing it with tax officials, "we've been doing it ever since."

These days, about 70 percent of donations include recommendations for a particular child, Henderson estimated. Those are usually honored, she said.

The Institute for Better Education, based in Tucson, receives a "substantial number" of donations with recommendations, and those are generally honored, said Charlotte Beecher, the executive director. But most donations don't come with recommendations, she said. Ninety percent of the recipients of those that do would qualify as financially needy under the Institute's system, which roughly measures disposable-income levels.

Beecher said the Institute primarily bases its scholarship decisions on financial need.

Others do as well but do not accept student recommendations.

The Jewish Tuition Organization has taken a dim view of the practice. On its Web site, the organization notes, "Any funds received by a student from a 'pass-through' STO that are directed to a specific student will be offset against any funds awarded to that student by the JTO."

Beginning next year, schools supported by the Jewish Tuition Organization will not accept scholarships from school-tuition organizations that allow recommendations, the organization said.