Tax-Credit Program Isn’t Covert Operation

Your description of Florida’s tax-credit scholarship program included errors and omissions (“Tax Credits for Gifts That Support Private-School Scholarships Raise Eyebrows,” November 15.)

Step Up For Students, the nonprofit that helps manage the program, does have a crack 10-person development team that is responsible for our fundraising success.

Every government and independent study ever conducted has shown that the program saves Florida taxpayers money, and parents are fueling the extraordinary growth. This year, the program enrolls 50,000 low-income students on scholarship, which represents a 10,000-student increase over last year.

By law, donors are not allowed to direct their contributions to a particular school or a particular student, and the Florida Legislature has publicly debated and voted to support the program eight times in the last 10 years.

There is nothing “backdoor” about the scholarship.

Doug Tuthill
President
Step Up For Students
Jacksonville, Fla.