Tuition Deductions?

For weeks Congress has stalled the Administration's $5.3 billion omnibus education bill, containing aid for everyone from preliterate tots to illiterate adults. Last week the White House wearily agreed to let Congress unwrap the package and choose among the goodies. Prognosis: passage for perhaps $1.2 billion in aid for college construction, but probable death for aid to public schools.

What now blocks public school aid is Roman Catholic pressure for equal aid to parochial schools. Last week Connecticut's Senator Abraham Ribicoff proposed a solid effort to aid parents of children in parochial and other private schools and colleges.

"We must replace bitterness about the religious controversy in education with reason and careful thought." said the former Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare. As one who for two years plumbed "the depth of the feelings involved," Ribicoff urged "thoughtful moderation" with six proposals for federal aid to private education. They range from bus service to building science classrooms for parochial schools. Two key items:

> Income tax deductions of up to $1,500 for college expenses, and up to $100 for tuition at private and church-related schools. Example: a couple with a $10,000 income and two children in college, paying tuition of $3,000, could cut federal income tax from $1,612 to $996.

> Federal financing of "shared time," the compromise that allows parochial school pupils to use public school facilities (science labs, for example) on a part-time basis. This is already used locally in many areas, such as Pittsburgh, but Ribicoff is the first to suggest broad-scale federal financing.

Congress already has before it about 100 versions of Ribicoff's college-tuition relief plan, which would clearly aid middle-income families because they get less of the scholarship pie than poorer parents. Such tax relief, however, would leave colleges in a quandary. Those that depend heavily on tuition, particularly Catholic colleges, would be tempted to raise tuition, leaving parents where they were.

At grade and high school level, a $100 tax credit would amount to pennies for parents of children in private schools, paying tuitions in thousands. And some parochial school parents who, in effect, now pay tuition by putting money in the Sunday plate already have a form of relief: they can deduct the money (up to 30% of income, in fact) as a church contribution.

Ribicoff's effort nonetheless got some warm response. Andover's Headmaster John M. Kemper, whose own rich school would hardly benefit, supported Ribicoff because "the problem is to get all the kids well taught regardless of the type of school." The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, which runs the nation's second-biggest parochial school system, noted that it already supports tax deductions for part of the tuition at church-supported schools.

Catholics differed widely. Los Angeles' Cardinal Mclntyre chided Ribicoff for bypassing equal aid to parochial schools. But the church's chief Washington education lobbyist, Msgr. Frederick G. Hochwalt, called Ribicoff's idea "quite intriguing." said that "a fairly large segment" of Catholic parents "are interested in something along these lines."

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