Supreme Court strikes down ban against taxpayer funding of religious schools.

[nolidad]

SCOTUS just struck down a state ban on school choice involving sectarian religious schools being excluded from those choices.

While I am joyful over this ruling in that it allows believing families who through their taxes pay for their childrens education, it could end up being a curse in disguise!

If the government leaves the schools alone to teach spiritual values along with standard educational necessities (the old three R's), that is great!

But as a former Christian School board member of a private Christian SChool, I know that govt. money normally comes with govt. interference. We tried to apply for subsidized school lunches and found that if we accepted federal money for food, we had to comply with every govt. rule governing schools as well! We declined the money! We would have had to almost cease to teach Christian Doctrine!

I also investigated our church opening an after school day care as a way to help our community and provide an opportunity to minister to unsdaved as well as saved families. The rules we would have had to follow and the things we had to make clear along with the application (more than just we were a Christian Day Care) caused us to not move forward with the idea!

This could end up being more a curse than a blessing, and I am a huge fan of Christian Schools.

 

[JackRT]

A very great many people will be greatly offended when their taxes start to support Yeshivas and Madrassas and Ashrams and the like.

 

[thecolorsblend]

it could end up being a curse in disguise

It may not even have a disguise.

 

[nolidad]

It may not even have a disguise.

too true!!!!

 

[nolidad]

A very great many people will be greatly offended when their taxes start to support Yeshivas and Madrassas and Ashrams and the like.

Well if the govt. doesn't interfere with the operations and those schools provide the basic education as well as the spiritual aspects, Some believers need to get over themselves! I would love to see Christian only schools funded, but we are supposed to welcome the stranger. If we cannot convince them to become Christian by our living lives worthy of the name Christ, then we should not shut them out of the govt. feed trough either!

 

[The Barbarian]

This could end up being more a curse than a blessing, and I am a huge fan of Christian Schools.

Yep. Government handouts come with strings. I'd be really, really cautious about that kind of welfare payment.

 

[pescador]

A very great many people will be greatly offended when their taxes start to support Yeshivas and Madrassas and Ashrams and the like.

The First Amendment reads, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

It doesn't name a specific religion, so it applies to all religions.

 

[The Barbarian]

It doesn't name a specific religion, so it applies to all religions.

Yep. I don't think that those folks realize that this means the government will be subsidizing Jewish, Muslim, Wiccan, and other schools.

 

[pescador]

Yep. I don't think that those folks realize that this means the government will be subsidizing Jewish, Muslim, Wiccan, and other schools.

Who are "those folks"?

 

[Quartermaine]

But as a former Christian School board member of a private Christian SChool, I know that govt. money normally comes with govt. interference. We tried to apply for subsidized school lunches and found that if we accepted federal money for food, we had to comply with every govt. rule governing schools as well! We declined the money! We would have had to almost cease to teach Christian Doctrine!

what rules would those be exactly?

 

[JackRT]

what rules would those be exactly?

Rules like admitting homosexuals or transgender people and teaching to meet all curricula standards particularly in the life sciences.

 

[Quartermaine]

Rules like admitting homosexuals or transgender people and teaching to meet all curricula standards particularly in the life sciences.

yes but i was hopeful that the author of the OP woudl admit to such

 

[nolidad]

what rules would those be exactly?

It has been a long time, but if I remember correctly, we could not teach sectarian theology, we could not limit applications to believers only and others I am less sure of.

 

[tulc]

It has been a long time, but if I remember correctly, we could not teach sectarian theology, we could not limit applications to believers only and others I am less sure of.

...so because you weren't allowed to discriminate against who you wanted to discriminate against that was a "no go" for your group?
tulc(is just wondering)

 

[The Barbarian]

It's why Catholic school systems usually reject state aid; there are points where teaching Catholic theology could conflict with government rules.

 

[jgarden]

The First Amendment reads, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

It doesn't name a specific religion, so it applies to all religions.

Apparently conservative members of the Supreme Court haven't heard of the separation of Church and State - once they start down this path, Christians may be less than pleased that American taxpayers are now funding non Christian schools!

 

[nolidad]

...so because you weren't allowed to discriminate against who you wanted to discriminate against that was a "no go" for your group?
tulc(is just wondering)

We were a Christian school teaching normal education plus Christian Doctrine. OUr by -laws required that teh parents have a home church they belonged to and were professing Christians. We decided to guard against letting anyone in and having ot fight parents who may resent sending their kids to school and be taught and required to do things based on Scripture.

We alos suspended and/or expelled students for things like stealing and other things that were of a serious enough nature.

And it was a no go for us to accept government funds for meals. We would have had to open up the school to everybody regardless. It wasn't discrimination to hate or demean, but discrimination to train our children biblically in a setting that was free from outsider influence as much as possible.

 

[The Barbarian]

We were a Christian school teaching normal education plus Christian Doctrine. OUr by -laws required that teh parents have a home church they belonged to and were professing Christians.

Which is quite properly a right of any private school, unless they get government funding. As soon as that happens, they can no longer discriminate on the basis of religion. You were wise to be wary of such funding.

 

[tulc]

We were a Christian school teaching normal education plus Christian Doctrine. OUr by -laws required that teh parents have a home church they belonged to and were professing Christians. We decided to guard against letting anyone in and having ot fight parents who may resent sending their kids to school and be taught and required to do things based on Scripture.

We alos suspended and/or expelled students for things like stealing and other things that were of a serious enough nature.

And it was a no go for us to accept government funds for meals. We would have had to open up the school to everybody regardless. It wasn't discrimination to hate or demean, but discrimination to train our children biblically in a setting that was free from outsider influence as much as possible.

...I'm not actually sure how that's different from what I said, but okay.
tulc(will drink some coffee and read some more threads)

 

[JackRT]

I taught public high school in Canada for nearly 40 years. Our dedicated, well educated and well experienced teachers came from every ethnic and religious background. What we all resented was the way in which Christian and other religious schools would simply dump their problem students on us. It was as if they were saying to the students (and their parents) "We are giving up on you, you're not worth the effort to educate you."