Education, vouchers, religion and the law

The Alaska Legislature is now in session and has quickly turned to Governor Parnell’s proposal to change the Alaska Constitution to facilitate state funding of students who choose to attend private schools, both secular and religious.

The reason given is the expansion of choice. I quickly contacted my friends at Baptist Joint Committee on Religious Freedom in Washington, D.C. Baptists historically have been the great defenders of First Amendments rights. The First Amendment standard is simple. People are free to practice their religion without government interference. The First Amendment does not bar religious people and institutions from participating fully in governmental affairs.

Here in Alaska, one of the leaders in the movement to amend the Alaska Constitution and to establish education vouchers is the Roman Catholic Church. We all need to recognize that Roman Catholics, their Church and the Church’s clergy are all free to participate in the debates that are now taking place. They can freely lobby and give money to pay for public debate. Catholics are acting within their legal rights.

There is now extensive legal history dealing with the voucher issue. Experiments with voucher systems have taken place across the country and have been thoroughly court tested. The rules have been set, and the lines have been drawn. First, government cannot pass voucher money directly to a religion-based school; however, when voucher payments are made to the parents of a student, the parents can legally choose to spend that money at the school of their choice, religious or secular. The chosen school can be atheist, Seventh-day Adventist, Roman Catholic, Muslim, for-profit or not-for-profit. There are no restrictions.

It appears that the proposal as is being made by the Alaska governor is within recent court rulings. People who oppose the governor’s proposal on religious grounds do not understand the First Amendment and the court rulings about its meaning.

Nine years ago the U.S. Congress approved the DC Opportunity Scholarship Program, and President Bush signed it into law. Under the program, families of children were given scholarships of up to $7,500 per year per student. The scholarships were renewable. All participating families had low income. It was the first such program in the United States. A majority of the students who used the program attended Roman Catholic schools. After five years a study was made. Student achievement for participants was not different than achievement by students in a controlled comparison study group.

Similar studies in other settings, where scholarships/vouchers have been used, produced similar results. I am not aware of any exceptions. A significant result has been that religious and other private schools have legally received a significant boost in income.

As the voucher/choice debate enlivens here in Alaska and across the country, public opinion is moving against the voucher movement. About 70 percent of Americans now oppose vouchers as a means to increase education choice. At the same time, many public school districts are multiplying educational opportunities through support of home schooling, charter schools and a variety of alternative schools. A majority of Americans are wary of taking money away from public schools and giving dollars to private schools.

Another issue arises in the conversations. Many people who send their children to private schools complain that they are paying twice for their children’s education. They pay the private school that their children attend, and they pay the same school support taxes as their neighbors. It is a bogus issue.

My wife and I pay property taxes that are used to pay for public education. At our advanced ages, it is obvious that we do not have children attending public schools. We are happy to help pay for the education of the kids who live on both sides of us, the kids across the street and dozens more kids in our neighborhood. We want every kid in our school district to receive a good education. We believe we are receiving full benefit from the school taxes we pay through the privilege of living in an educated society. It is a part of American common good. No one escapes responsibility for the common good by sending their kids to a private school.

There is strong evidence that the extreme individualism that has developed in America over the past 50 years is being effectively challenged. Extreme individualism does not contribute to e pluribus unum. Extreme individualism produces segregation, racism and wide income disparities. A healthy society is achieved when our neighbors’ wellbeing is as important as our own.

Education vouchers are a bad idea. Religious people should be the very first people to recognize their flaws. Love of neighbor and the common good are the reasons the Alaska State Legislature should quickly put aside the governor’s voucher proposal.

The Rev. Howard Bess is a retired American Baptist minister, who lives in Palmer. His email address is hdbss@mtaonline.net.

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