"Anti-Catholic" Laws Hamper School Choice, Voucher Backers Say

From Cybercast News Service:

(CNSNews.com) - State constitutional amendments adopted in the 19th and early 20th centuries as "anti-Catholic" measures are now preventing states from enacting school voucher programs that would help parents pay for private schools, according to testimony delivered Friday to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.

Thirty-five states have amendments prohibiting state funding of "sectarian" schools. They are often called "Blaine Amendments," a reference to U.S. Rep. James Blaine, who in 1875 led an unsuccessful effort to add the amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

The original effect of the amendments was to prohibit funding of Catholic schools that were established as an alternative to the non-denominational Protestant education being offered in the early public school system. As religion was gradually pushed out of public schools, the amendments came to be applied more broadly, prohibiting funding of any religious school.

The amendments now pose a major hurdle for proponents of school choice who believe religious schools offer better educational opportunities for poor families who could not afford private tuition without government vouchers.

Anthony Picarello, vice president of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, told the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights that Blaine Amendments are "the last constitutional weapon available to attack democratically enacted, religion-neutral school voucher programs or social service programs that contract with faith-based providers."

Opponents of school choice have tried to overturn voucher programs under the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, which requires Congress to "make no law respecting an establishment of religion."

The Supreme Court, however, ruled in Zelman v. Simmons-Harris (2002) that programs allowing parents to choose religious schools from among a pool of private and charter schools does not violate the First Amendment.

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My Comments:
Interesting. My biggest concern about vouchers is that with government dollars comes government interference.


UPDATE (also from Cybercast News Service)

Zelman v. Simmons-Harris

Five years ago, in a 5-4 ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the school voucher program in Cleveland, Ohio, does not constitute the establishment of religion.

Then-Chief Justice William Rehnquist, writing for the majority, concluded thus:

“In sum, the Ohio program is entirely neutral with respect to religion. It provides benefits directly to a wide spectrum of individuals, defined only by financial need and residence in a particular school district. It permits such individuals to exercise genuine choice among options public and private, secular and religious. The program is therefore a program of true private choice. In keeping with an unbroken line of decisions rejecting challenges to similar programs, we hold that the program does not offend the Establishment Clause.

The judgment of the Court of Appeals is reversed.”