An NYTimes op-ed (!) says parochial school parents should have their tax burden lifted

Last year, 23,826 children attended diocesan elementary schools on Long Island. That’s 23,826 children who put absolutely no burden on our local school systems. Nationally, some 1.8 million children attend parochial elementary schools. Our state and federal governments need to wake up to this fact and start issuing tax credits. We are one of the few modern cultures in which religious-affiliated schools receive little or nothing to offset the dual cost of education for the parents of parochial school children.

Given their track record, Catholic schools deserve greater public sympathy for their plight. Rather than being priced out, they should be recognized as the viable educational institutions they are and compensated for it.

Our religious schools should not have to scramble to pay their operating costs, offer substandard salaries and depend on subsidies from parishes. Taxpayers should be allowed to opt out of paying school taxes during those years that their children attend a parochial school. That way parents could afford higher tuition, and Catholic schools would get the lifeline they deserve.