Michael A. Sawyers
Cumberland Times-News
— What on earth is the matter with Gov. O’Malley? On March 3, he urged the Senate Budget and Taxation Committee to pass a bill to provide tax aid to faith-based and other private schools (Senate Bill 385).
Isn’t he aware of our state’s financial problems?
Isn’t he aware that millions of voters from coast to coast, including in Maryland, have rejected in statewide referenda any form of tax aid for nonpublic schools by an average margin of two to one?
Isn’t he aware that the private schools for which he seeks tax aid commonly practice forms of discrimination and indoctrination that would be unthinkable in public schools?
Gov O’Malley seems not to agree with Benjamin Franklin that there is something wrong with religious institutions that seek government aid when their own members choose not to support them.
Edd Doerr
Silver Spring
