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Thursday, February 11, 2021

David Berliner on the Travesty of Public Funds for Religious Schools | Diane Ravitch's blog

David Berliner on the Travesty of Public Funds for Religious Schools | Diane Ravitch's blog
David Berliner on the Travesty of Public Funds for Religious Schools




David Berliner, a distinguished scholar of American education, is writing a long essay about the dangers of public funding for religious schools. Currently numerous red states are considering proposal to expand vouchers and transfer more public funds to religious schools, typically without accountability. Their actions will overturn the historic tradition of separation of church and state. As the Pastors for Texas Children often say, that separation guarantees religious Liberty.

Berliner writes:

Public dollars for support of religious schools costs citizens billions of dollars annually, and ends up supporting some horrible things. A contemporary example of this is the criteria for entrance to the Fayetteville Christian School (FCS) in North Carolina. 

The Fayetteville Christian School is recipient, in a recent school year, of $495,966 of public money. They got this in the form of school vouchers that are used by students and their families to pay for the students religious schooling. The entrance requirements for this school, and other religious schools like it, frighten me, though they are clearly acceptable to North Carolinians. From their website, in 2020:1

“The student and at least one parent with whom the CONTINUE READING: David Berliner on the Travesty of Public Funds for Religious Schools | Diane Ravitch's blog