Why Vouchers Are a Bad Deal for Catholic Schools
Read Joanna Bogle's report on what is going on with government interference in parochial school education in Britain, and then ask yourself whether you're really prepared for that kind of intrusion -- via taxpayer-funded vouchers -- in Catholic education here in the U.S.:
... worrying news about Catholic education.....three-pronged Govt attack on Catholic schools. First, the quota" idea; a specific number of places at Catholic schools will be reserved for non-Catholic pupils. The Anglicans have already agreed to this for their schools. It will mean a mess: at present Catholic schools are v. popular and over-subscribed, and all priests know about the families who suddenly start coming to Mass and getting active in the parish as they want to get their children into a good local Catholic school.... this has its own absurdities, but it will be even more ridiculous if practising RCs are turnd away so that the school can fill the places with the neccessary quota of non-believers! And then, because non-believing families won't really be happy with aspects of Catholic teaching and practice, we'll get newspaper reports of complaints and protests :"My child was forced to take part in a weird ritual...." "This Catholic school insulted by family by attacking our [gay/divorced/cohabiting/] etc lifestyle.....".My Comments:
Next, we have what has already been introduced: schools may not interview applicants for places as this makes the schools too "elitist". This means that if a Catholic family do manage to get within the possibilities of winning a place at a Catholic school, they won't be able to explain their specific needs and wishes at an interview....will have to rely on bluff and paperwork (this will militate against good families who aren't good at filling in forms and making their concerns look impressive in writing).
Finally - and this is really shocking - a Govt minister is about to introduce a Bill (in the House of Lords) establishing that teenagers from the age of 16 have the right to opt out of all religious worship in school, apparently on the grounds that he considers it's their 'human right' to do so. This has been in the offing for some time, and has been encouraged by the story of the college in S. London where there were complaints that pupils were "forced" (???) to take part in Mass and a May procession. As was pointed out at the time, if you attend a Catholic school, you can expect to find Catholic activities as part of the deal....like attending a sports college and finding you are expected to take part in sports.
All the above will mean that Catholic schools will find it increasingly difficult to exist as proper Catholic, worshipping communities. And the argument will be: why should it be only 16-year-olds who have the right to opt out of religious worship? Don't younger children have human rights too? We'll get media hype about sobbing non-Catholic youngsters who are forced to attend Masses they don't understand or sing hymns which frighten them with tales of crucifixion and blood, or something.....
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Note to American readers: in Britain we have Catholic schools whioch recieve generous public funding, so they are free for pupils, just like all other state schools. (We also have Catholic independent schools for which parents can pay, and some of these are quite famous eg Stonyhurst, Ampleforth).
Here in the States, a much better (certainly less government-intrusive) solution to the school choice issue than taxpayer-funded vouchers would be education tax credits.
Previous Pro Ecclesia posts on this subject:
Church "Robustly Opposes" Quotas for Non-Catholics in Catholic Schools (Catholic Church in England & Wales)
posted by Pro Ecclesia 12:02 PM
3 comments
3 Comments:
If vouchers are bad - and I'm not buying it because they are the greater good when discussing any plans to fix education - then having the state aid dollars follow the child would be gangbusters for parochial schools.
Do you know how many kids would have a much better education/life if their parents had a real choice (and opportunity) to send their children to a good Catholic School? Right now they are slaves to one path of education (public schools), and we all know that every child learns differently. School choice accommodates that diversity. Our current system does not.
So don't poo-poo school choice... it has saved many inner city kids in Cleveland and Toledo, and it can save more of our most at-risk kids everywhere. Don't be like Sen. Blaine of Massachusettes, his "Blaine Amendment" was the catalyst for the mess we're in today.
God Bless.
Please re-read my post. I did NOT "poo-poo school choice". In fact, I strongly favor school choice.
What I DON'T favor is a mechanism that allows the government to destroy that which makes school choice good. Taxpayer-funded vouchers will come with strings attached. Tax dollars ALWAYS do.
A much better option for school choice is education tax credits.
The real issue here is whether the law will respect and the courts will uphold the principle of intervening private choice. Under this principle, monies given to a student, who then chooses a particular school, are constitutional because they are used for a school of the student's choice and not a result of state action or state choice.
The way that the states are starting to get around this is to pass legislation, such as SB 1441 in California, which says that any state monies, including that which is given to the student and not just directly to the school, cannot be used at any school which discriminates against homosexuality in its hiring, firing, or admissions - no matter the student's choice. This bill applies to Cal Grants as well as CalWorks vouchers, among other things. This means that California state monies are now precluded from being used at most faith-based institutions - or at least those ones which care to be faithful to their teaching.
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