Explores the nature and implications of a 1999 decision of the Arizona Supreme Court that upheld the constitutionality of a state tax credit that offers a $500 credit to taxpayers who donate money to nonprofit organizations, which in turn, donate the money to students to help defray the costs of attending private and parochial schools. (SLD)

Describes the Arizona education tax credit law as a voucher plan in disguise, and argues that the concept of justice underlying the law is an element largely missing from the school choice debate. Calls on educators and policymakers to concentrate on efforts to help needy students rather than to channel tax dollars toward self-interested ends.…

Comments on the language used in the Arizona tax credit law and by commentators on this law and discusses a factor that fuels the impetus for sectarian education. Explores these questions in the context of the social, cognitive, and moral costs of privatization. (SLD)