Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Vouchers/Tax Credits Funding Creationism, Revisionist History, Hostility Toward Other Religions

Vouchers/Tax Credits Funding Creationism, Revisionist History, Hostility Toward Other Religions

Vouchers/Tax Credits Funding Creationism, Revisionist History, Hostility Toward Other Religions

Rachel Tabachnick

Are your state’s tax dollars funding the teaching of religious supremacism and bigotry? What about Creationism? The answer is undoubtedly yes, if you live in a state with a voucher or corporate tax credit program funding “school choice.”

Religious schools across the nation are receiving public funds through voucher and corporate tax credit programs. Many hundreds, if not thousands, of these schools use Protestant fundamentalist textbooks that teach not only Creationism, but also a religious supremacist worldview, with a shocking spin on politics, history, and human rights.
The following article was first published at Alternet.org. This expanded version includes footnoting of the textbook quotes.

In twelve states and the District of Columbia, almost 200,000 students attend private schools with at least part of their tuition paid with public funds. The money is taken from public school budgets to fund vouchers or by diverting state tax revenues to tuition grants through corporate tax credit programs. An interconnected group of non-profits and political action committees, led by the wealthy right-wing school privatization advocate Betsy DeVos and heavily funded by a few mega-donors, is working to expand these programs across the nation. The DeVos-led American Federation for Children hosted Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, and Michelle Rhee at a national policy summit earlier in May.

Take a look at what growing numbers of students are being taught with