Betsy DeVos’ Zombie Voucher Schemes — the Unconstitutional, Undemocratic Tax Scams That Just Won’t Die
The week ended with yet another excellent article from Peter Greene in Forbes, this time on the dangers of “Tax Credit Scholarships”, one of Betsy DeVos major thrusts as Secretary of Education under Donald Trump.
So, what are Tax Credit Scholarships? They are complicated financial mechanisms that allow businesses to divert their tax payments to fund specific private and religious schools, including those that discriminate against LGBT kids and teachers, include overtly religious instruction in their curriculums, and endorse the teaching of objectively inaccurate and incorrect information to their students.
Now, “Isn’t that a violation of the separation of church and state?”, you may ask. “Aren’t private and religious school vouchers unconstitutional?” Well, it depends on who you ask.
If you ask constitutional law experts and former Supreme Court Chief Justices, then the answer is “Yes”…
“Under our system the choice has been made that government is to be entirely excluded from the area of religious instruction. . . . The Constitution decrees that religion must be a private matter for the individual, the family, and the institutions of private choice. . . .”
–Chief Justice Warren Burger, Lemon v. Kurtzman.
But if you ask advocates of school privatization and those who stand to profit from these voucher CONTINUE READING: Betsy DeVos' Zombie Voucher Schemes — the Unconstitutional, Undemocratic Tax Scams That Just Won't Die | Eclectablog
