Private school tax credits rife with abuse

Only God and the health of loved ones rank higher with Beth and Doug Fitch than an elite education for their two boys. The $20,000-a-year cost is exorbitant, Beth said, even though the Fitches are both personal injury attorneys and own an Ahwatukee Foothills home valued at a half-million dollars, Maricopa County property records show. But the Fitches haven't had to worry about the bill. Arizona has paid the price. The state's Private School Tuition Tax Credits program covers the cost of private education, often for children whose parents could afford to pay it themselves - while allowing affluent families to reduce the amount of income tax they pay into the state's general fund. To date, Arizona's main bank account has lost $350 million to private schools. The price tag is growing as the state grapples with the most serious financial crisis in its history, and people who depend on the general fund - public school children, the disabled, the poor and the sick - face severe cuts in services.