Towards a Federal Mandate for Vouchers

CTU President, Stacy Davis Gates

Now that the pro voucher president-elect has promised to abolish the Department of Education - it would be a good time to correct a major injustice. To correct an injustice to taxpayers that choose to send their children to parochial schools by demanding that some of that taxpayer money go to their schools. For purposes of teaching the same general studies material taught in the public schools. Although many states already do provide public funds for that, many do not. It is time to press for a federal law mandating that all states do that. Especially now with a Supreme Court sympathetic to religious concerns.

Those that might argue that the separation clause of the First Amendment precludes any government funding for parochial schools must contend with voucher states that to the best of my knowledge have never faced any constitutional challenges. Or if they did, they prevailed. 

It seems more than reasonable to me that funding a secular curriculum that uses the same textbooks and teaches the same material that public schools do ought not be considered a violation of the First Amendment. And yet opponents of providing such funds to parochial schools keep insisting that they do. Arguing that any connection at all with a religious school violates the separation clause. 

Fortunately they have all been proven wrong. Had they been right the Supreme Court would have long ago declared those states to be in violation thereof and forced them to stop. They have not.

And it’s a good thing they didn’t. Parochial school parents that live in those states are therefore able to see the same taxpayer benefits their public school parents get. While at the same time enabling their children to retain the religious values they learn in the home without the influence of values promoted in public schools they see as counter to theirs.

Nonetheless diehard opponents will argue that if the secular studies curriculum is identical, why not just send our children to public schools and have religious studies after class? Wouldn’t that help solve the financial burden without the need to resort to government funding they see as constitutionally questionable?  

That may sound good in theory but the reality is entirely different. Environment matters. If one is instilled with religious values for part of the day and values that are considered anathema to those values for part of the day confusion will surely prevail. The values between the parochial school kids and the public school kids will be vastly different and relationships between them will be awkward at best. and deleterious to their spiritual health at worst. 

If you are a devout Christian or a devout Orthodox Jew, this is no way to educate your child. 

What kind of values are public school kids being taught? I was forwarded a copy of a declaration by the CTU (Chicago Teachers Union) calling for a mass rally in response to the election of President Donald. J. Trump. here in part is what it said: 

In our schools, a powerful union contract will be a bright line of defense against the Project 2025 agenda. We will use it to defend sanctuary, LGBTQIA+ rights, and a public education system that teaches students about their own history and to be critical thinkers. 

LGBTQIA+ rights? That surely includes supporting gender affirming care for children under the age of 18 born with gender dysphoria. If I understand correctly this means even against the wishes of parents.

Sanctuary? Does that mean providing masses of illegal migrants a place to live indefinitely - paid for with city funds Chicago does not have?

Teaching students about their own history? I doubt the CTU meant teaching Jewish kids about centuries long antisemitism culminating in the Holocaust. I’m sure they mean vilifying the founding fathers as a bunch of colonialists and racists who built this country on the backs of black slaves whose descendants ought to be paid reparations by the government

Critical thinkers? Only if they criticize any political agenda that does not fit with their own.

This is not an environment I would want my children to experience for even one hour a day, let alone several classes a day from CTU teachers that are ‘true believers’.  

Parochial schools are careful to hire teachers that do not bring politics into their classroom. They teach science, English, math and American history in the traditional manner it has always been taught and there is zero discussion about LGBTQ+ issues and certainly no gender affirming therapy ever given to any child under their jurisdiction..

The CTU teaching philosophy that supports an LGBTQ+ agenda; and as altered their curriculum to fit their negative views of American history is exactly why the President-elect is right about dismantling the Department of Education. 

That it has devolved into indoctrination of values foreign to religious people is why it is more important than ever for parochial school parents to demand their rights to access the funds that are supposed to benefit all of Americas children. Without their children being exposed to values they do not support. I might even argue that not getting access to those funds would violate the ‘free exercise’ clause of the First Amendment – hampering it by forcing parents to pay high tuition costs they can ill afford for subjects their children should be taught for free, Same as public school kids.