By Mike Hasten
mhasten@gannett.com
(225) 342-7333

BATON ROUGE -- Parents who send their children to private schools will not be receiving a tax break next year.
Gov. Kathleen Blanco on Friday vetoed Senate Bill 45 by Sen. Rob Marionneaux, D-Livonia, which would have granted income tax deductions of 50 percent of the cost of tuition, up to $5,000, to parents who send their children to private and parochial schools and the university laboratory schools. Marionneaux said the break was warranted because parents of private school students pay taxes to operate public schools but the state doesn't have to pay to educate them.
In her veto message, Blanco said, "I understand the sacrifice some parents make to send their children to private schools. But state government's primary responsibility is to maintain a public educational system. "It is my fear that this legislation may subsidize private schools at the expense of public schoolchildren," she added.
Marionneaux said he was disappointed that the governor chose to veto a bill that, in its final version, was approved by the House 97-0 and the Senate 32-1.
"It seems like a no-brainer to me," he said. "This was one of only a few bills that set out to help the average taxpaying citizen instead of special interests. Once again, average citizens lost out." Marionneaux said there was a remote chance that the Legislature could override the governor's decision in a veto session, but it's not likely.
The state constitution calls for lawmakers to review vetoes in a session on the 40th day after the Legislature adjourns, unless a majority votes not to have a session. The vote not to have one is customary.
He said he will reintroduce the bill next year and expects "the new governor will hear from the constituents that this bill sought to help."
Kirby Ducote, a longtime advocate of aid to parents of private and parochial schoolchildren, said Blanco's veto "was not unexpected."
"She has been beholden to public schoolteachers unions and school boards," Ducote said.
"There wasn't a shot that she would approve this," Ducote said. "It's a shame because something has to be done" to improve education opportunities.
Louisiana Family Forum Action President Gene Mills, who lobbied for the bill, said, "It is unfortunate that Governor Kathleen Blanco has chosen, once again, to protect Louisiana's status quo by vetoing Senate Bill 45."
He said 124,000 families "would have benefited modestly from this partial tax deduction for private and parochial school tuition, but they must, once again, wait patiently for an educational visionary to arise who handles the state with intellectual integrity."
Critics of Marionneaux's bill called it "back-door vouchers."
"This is the best news I've had all week," said Steve Monaghan, president of the Louisiana Federation of Teachers, who asked Blanco to veto the bill. "This was a way to wrap vouchers in a shiny or more attractive package." Instead of vouchers giving parents money to send their children to private schools, the state would use tax revenue to refund the money parents paid to schools.
"The end goal is the same as a voucher," he said.
During debate of the bill, the Senate Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Committee reduced its impact on the state budget by making it a tax deduction rather than tax credit, as originally filed. The change would cost $20 million to $23 million, instead of the original $272 million annual estimate.
Marionneaux's bill also was supported by the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry.
The governor also vetoed legislation authored by Sen. James David Cain, R-Dry Creek, which called for the state to seek bids from insurance companies to take over the policies offered through the troubled state insurer of last resort, Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Corporation.
Cain said it was a way to "get Louisiana out of the insurance business." Blanco said a previous bill she signed, which seeks to have insurance companies take over Citizens a piece at a time, would work better. She said that since there were no guarantees in Cain's bill, a company could reap the benefits of assuming good policies and cancel the rest.
Blanco also rejected a state sales tax break for Louisiana residents who are replacing hurricane-damaged property.

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