This morning's NY Sun reports that Gov. Pataki is considering including some form of K-12 education tax credits in his upcoming executive budget. The paper reports that it would likely be a dollar-for-dollar credit, capped at $1,500 for parents who send their kids to private schools or who pay for tutoring to teach their public school kids what they should be learning during the school day (but aren't.) There would likely be income limits, so that the state wouldn't end up paying for rich kids whose families could already afford to vote with their feet out of crappy neighborhood schools. Strong support for the plan in the Senate, but less so in the Assembly. The most notable exception on the latter front appears to be Assemblyman Vito Lopez, who was just elected chairman of the Brooklyn Democratic Party.

Who knows where this will go. Whether it is a real attempt to give parents more educational choices, or merely a bargaining chip in the forthcoming state budget negotiations, it could be good news for charter school supporters. In places like Milwaukee, which had vouchers before a charter school law, charter schools often emerged as a "kinder, gentler" version of competition for the school system - especially since charter schools are still public.