NC voucher applications show pitfalls of using public money for private schools
Published May 22, 2014
By Gregory Malhoit, Law professor at NCCU, published in News & Observer, May 21, 2014.
Without explanation, the N.C. Supreme Court has given a green light to legislators and the governor to move forward with implementing North Carolina’s school voucher program. But before lawmakers rush to write a $10 million check that will end up in the coffers of private, mainly religious, schools, they should use the short legislative session to take a fresh look at how the law will actually be implemented come August.
The transfer of public tax dollars to private religious schools touches bedrock principles of religious freedom found in the First Amendment. Freedom of religion is central to our identity as a free people. Yet the right to religious liberty is not secure when the government becomes intertwined with religion. And when state government uses tax dollars intended to benefit all citizens to indoctrinate children in religious belief, the wall between church and state is severely breached.
Schools do not exist simply to benefit parents. They serve to educate future generations, to create an educated citizenry and workforce, and to ensure that citizens can fully participate in a democratic society. Education is a public good supported by all taxpayers, including those who do not have school-aged children. This social value is recognized by our public school and compulsory education laws.
We now have a better picture of where tax dollars will go and how they will be spent when the voucher law hits full stride. We know that there have been 5,552 applications submitted to receive a $4,200 voucher. We also know that the large majority of private schools selected by parents are religious schools.
The two schools with the largest number of voucher applicants are religious schools:
• Victory Christian Center School in Charlotte – 98 applications
• Al-Iman School in Raleigh – 86 applications
Because not all voucher applications will be selected, a lottery will be necessary to determine which students receive a voucher. But assuming that 50 percent of the applications are approved for each school, the magnitude of public funding going to these schools is apparent. If 49 of its voucher applications are approved, Victory Christian Center School will receive $205,800 in taxpayer funds. Al-Iman’s share will be $180,600 assuming 43 students receive vouchers.
What is the educational philosophy of these and other religious schools that will receive public dollars? What will they teach voucher students? Will there be any separation between public funds and religious indoctrination? The websites of the two schools are instructive.
Victory Christian Center School’s website states: “We believe that the use of the Bible is paramount in the development of strong character. We believe in having a strong academic program with subjects being taught from a Biblical perspective. We believe that the Holy Spirit is The One True Teacher; therefore, it is necessary to have a Christian staff that prays and is led by the Spirit.”
Al-Iman School states that the school’s mission is “guided by the Qur’an.” “Through the teaching of Islamic and scholastic courses,” it prepares students “to achieve excellence in education and a strong Muslim identity.”
These are not isolated cases. Most religious schools likely to receive vouchers have similar religious missions and philosophies of education.
To be sure, all parents have the right to practice their own religious beliefs and to pass those beliefs on to their children. And all parents have the right to educate their child at a private or religious school of their choosing so long as it is at their own expense. But when public dollars are used to support the teaching and indoctrination of religion, as will surely be the case under the voucher law, the boundary separating church and state is crossed.
I don’t believe the majority of North Carolinians want their tax dollars spent on religious instruction and indoctrination of children. That is the proper role for parents and our centers of faith.
Policymakers still have time to stop this misguided law from taking effect. Let’s hope they do so.
Gregory Malhoit is a retired clinical law professor at N.C. Central University.
May 22, 2014 at 3:00 pm
Jennifer Stamper says:
What you and everyone else forgets it that without religious schools we would not have a public school system. Schools were primarily formed out of "church" schools, and that includes our public university system. Perhaps religion should have been removed from anything to do with education, government, etc. We would have no schools, and our government would be very different.
You cannot forget the fundamentals upon which every major institution of any kind was formed in this country. Everything that has made this country great started because of religion, including our existence.
This country is being destroyed by the unmoral, unethical, racist, divisive, discriminatory individuals who continued to forget the religious basis upon which this nation was founded.
Stay out of my religion and let me use MY TAX dollars to send my children to school where I want to!
May 22, 2014 at 4:07 pm
Richard Bunce says:
Here we go... parents are not capable of making the correct choice for their children's education... that is what government education bureaucrats are for. Sure the government schools have a majority of students not proficient at basic skills... no problem... they are learning to be good compliant little citizens of the state that will do our biding.
May 22, 2014 at 7:17 pm
Norm Kellly says:
Contrary to lib opinion, the facts show that there is neither a ban on freedom of religion in the state Constituion nor the national Constitution. There is not a separation of church and state to the extent that libs want to ban religion. It sure seems, though no lib will admit this is true, that libs want to use the state to BAN me from practicing the religion of my choice. If I don't bow at the alter of government, then libs want to prevent me from religious freedom.
What the national Constitution DOES say is the the state will NOT sponsor or endorse ANY one religion such that it becomes discriminatory. The case that the founders were trying to prevent was like the one in England, where so many of them came from. The STATE religion, supported by forced taxes (sound familiar?) from the citizens, was the Catholic Church of England. No other church was given support from the state. No other church had taxes stolen from the citizens for support. The state church WAS the church and everyone was required to support it regardless of which church anyone chose to attend.
Libs have changed our Constitution in an attempt to say that nothing religious can intersect with government. No government agency can spend any money that MIGHT, SOMEHOW end up in the hands of a religious organization or libs claim, with no evidence, that it is state sponsored/supported religion. The challenge with ANYONE'S complaint about vouchers is that it is NOT the state buying seats in a religious school. It's the parents spending a voucher on the school of their choice. Some of the money may be spent at a school connected to a specific church/religion. So? What's the challenge? Are libs complaining because parents will be allowed choice? Or is it that libs are trying to claim that this becomes a state sponsored religion? Which religion will be the state-sponsored religion? If parents get to choose the private school they spend the voucher at that best meets their kids needs, then what part of a specific religion is the state sponsored religion?
'indoctrinate children in religious belief'. Oh, I see. Libs have ZERO problem indoctrinating kids into socialism, but allowing parents to pick school for their kids that ALSO has religion classes is a problem? Indoctrinating into socialism: like the whole climate change teaching; like the 'suggestion' from Mrs. Obama that kids police their relatives speech concerning potential racist talk; like all the classes that teach government interference in every aspect of life is good; like teaching that white people just naturally have privilege? You know, ALL the aspects of socialism that libs slip into the classroom. Is it that libs are concerned that parents will finally get the choice of NOT having socialism force fed to their kids? Why is it that libs are so darn afraid of releasing the slightest bit of control over our kids? What are they indoctrinating our kids into that they want to refuse to allow us the opportunity to make a different choice?
Repeat the same lie often enough and some people start to believe the lie. Usually it's the low information voter that sucks down the lie. Almost always that also means lib voters, demon party supporters. Case in point: 'the boundary separating church and state is crossed'. Which boundary is that? The one that says all religion is to be banned unless it's the lib religion of government as god? Or the real one that says the state can not force practice of any given religion but that people are free to worship as they see fit. Certainly you don't mean the non-existent boundary that says you get to determine where my religious freedom ends and where/when I'm allowed to exercise my right to religious freedom. If you read the Constitution you will find that the lib reading of the 'living' document is completely wrong. The US Constitution is NOT a living document. Neither, by the way, is the Bible. Two things libs obviously have a problem with.
Example: gay marriage. Unnatural. Unhealthy. Forced upon me by libs. Even religious churches are not allowed to deny marrying a gay couple in their facility. Even though Christianity says that gay marriage is not allowed, libs are hell-bent on forcing religious institutions to participate or be fined or closed. Where's the separation of church and state there, libster? And, I don't accept lies, so don't even bother trying to tell me that churches aren'y or won't be forced to participate in such outrageous behavior. It's already happening. And it's your religion that is being forced on others, it's you who want to have a state-sponsored religion. You just don't want me to be able to practice my religion, using my Constitutionally protected right to religious freedom. I am not trying to prohibit you from practicing your religion on any grounds. I'm concerned that libs are trying to force THEIR religion on the rest of us.
I don't care WHERE parents choose to spend education dollars. That appears to be a lib problem that libs are projecting onto the rest of us. I believe that parents ought to be able to make education decisions for themselves. I believe education dollars OUGHT to follow the kids, regardless of where the kids attend school. This DOES NOT mean, as you libs have already jumped to, that there should be no oversight of education. Certainly more oversight than is given to the public school system. We went from a curriculum that was so out of whack, so slack, that we couldn't be sure anyone graduating from high school had any basic skills to a curriculum that makes no sense, appears to indoctrinate kids into the socialist theories, and does little to actually prepare kids to be successful out in the real world. It's time we had a public school curriculum that was geared TO TEACHING KIDS what they need to know to be successful citizens of a FREE country. The goal is not to make the teachers union happy; to make the administrators happy; the goal is to educate kids for life. If that happens to mean that a family chooses to spend the education money on a private school, then so be it. The same standard must be in place for the private school as for the public school. Simple. Maybe not simple to regulate, but certainly more useful for the kids & families than the current, monopolistic, education establishment we currently have.
School choice takes government regulators out of the picture to a large extent. Is this the challenge with vouchers? Government employees trying, once again, to protect their jobs first & foremost, actually educate kids and provide parents choice much much much further down the list or not on the list at all? Self preservation is more important to libs and educators than educating kids?
