Quote Originally Posted by GGT View Post
Question to Fuzzy: do you think vouchers should apply to religious schools?
The primary barrier to this is of course the establishment clause from the 1st amendment. AFAIK, the last governing precedent was set in Zelman v Simmons-Harris back in 2002, regarding a voucher program in Cleveland, where a 5/4 majority held that, even though most of the vouchers ended up going to Catholic schools, there were plenty of alternative, non-parochial choices within the system created by the program, the choice was in the hands of the parent, and no public entity was making any decision which might be considered to elevate a sect or religion above any other, there was no 1st amendment establishment violation. Prior decisions had determined things like funding provided solely to enable education was ok *Everson, the bussing decision* and that no funding that might go toward or enable religious education is permitted *a decision about textbooks and teachers salaries whose name is escaping me at present, but which created the jurisprudential "Lemon" test which has been somewhat ignored by SCOTUS over the last 20 years. Zelman, for instance, would probably have failed the Lemon test* I have no significant issues with the environment created by the Zelman decision. But as you know, my focus when it comes to the separation between church and state is more on free exercise and less on establishment.

Looks like he logged off, so the same question is open to everyone. Would you have reservations about federal dollars going to a Muslim school or madrassas? How about sect-based schools like factions of LDS? (That'd be the off-shoot of Mormons in the west that ended with the children being bussed off the compound until charges of sexual abuse and exploitation could be sorted out.)
I think every school eligible for vouchers should be required to meet relevant educational standards, set by the state and/or the semi-private regional accreditation organizations. I would not be averse to states or districts establishing further performance or curriculum criteria though I refuse to comment or opine on what they should be. You can't selectively choose what schools may qualify for vouchers with any sort of religious belief guideline however. The whole point of the exercise is to enhance local flexibility and adaptability for response to local problems and lots of centralized and/or universal rules and regulation creation runs directly counter to that. Further, saying some LDS sect or a madrassah can't receive the funds would itself be a violation of the 1st amendment. *I note no one, ever, has been talking about FEDERAL dollars in relation to voucher programs. The Feds don't directly fund public education that way, any funds would be state funds, even if they were derived earlier from a federal block grant* If they meet the established educational criteria, criteria which itself is limited to secular content, they'd have to be allowed if any similar parochial school is allowed.

I remember lolli talking about her private Anglican school and controversy surrounding same-sex parents. These are the kinds of things private religious schools can "get away with" that public schools cannot. Why should federal or state tax payer dollars go to religious schools that can be pretty damn discriminatory?
That goes straight back to the Everson decision. The challenge in Everson was two-fold, that the reimbursement for transportation costs for children attending private schools violated the establishment cause and that a taking *i.e. taxation* for this purpose violated due process. Why should they go to religious schools? Because absent any rule preventing it *like the establishment clause* the authorities are free to spend the money they receive for education ON education, as they see fit. If you want to object to that absent a judicial issue, you need to address your concerns to the relevant executive and legislative authority.