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How the Supreme Court eroded the separation between church and state - The Washington Post

How the Supreme Court’s decision on religious schools just eroded the separation between church and state

 

The Supreme Court ruled 5 to 4 on Tuesday that a Montana tax incentive program that indirectly helps private religious schools is constitutional, a major victory for Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and her allies, who advocate for more public funding of religious institutions.

As my Washington Post colleague Robert Barnes wrote, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., who wrote for the conservative majority, said Montana’s Supreme Court had been wrong to strike down a tax incentive program that allowed public money to be used for religious education.

Supreme Court says Montana program aiding private schools must be open to religious schools

The issue of whether public funds should be used to pay for religious school education has been increasingly central to the education reform debate for several decades as a growing number of states have started various programs — vouchers, tax credits and similar plans — that allow the use of public money for religious school tuition.

School-choice supporters say that state laws prohibiting public money from being used for religious institutions is discriminatory, while opponents say that they protect the doctrine of “separation of church and state” that has been interpreted as the meaning of the establishment clause and free exercise clause of the First Amendment: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”

DeVos has long been an advocate of using public funds for religious education, and she and President Trump have made expanding school “choice,” or alternatives to traditional public schools, their top education priority.

What ‘school choice’ means in the era of Trump and DeVos

In this post, Kevin Welner, an attorney and professor specializing in educational policy and law, writes about how this decision helps erode the doctrine of the separation of church and state. CONTINUE READING: How the Supreme Court eroded the separation between church and state - The Washington Post

Supreme Court: Montana Can't Exclude Religious Schools From Scholarship Program : NPR - https://www.npr.org/2020/06/30/883074890/supreme-court-montana-cant-exclude-religious-schools-from-scholarship-program?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=education on @NPR

Supreme Court Gives States Green Light to Expand School Vouchers http://neatoday.org/2020/06/30/supreme-court-opens-door-to-voucher-expansion/#.XvtuQoydXgg.twitter

Supreme Court Rules State's Denial Of Funding For Religious Schools Violates Constitution | HuffPost - https://www.huffpost.com/entry/supreme-court-montana-espinoza-religious-schools-constitution_n_5eeccb52c5b634145cc1309b on @HuffPostPol

BREAKING NEWS: Supreme Court Rules Against Montana Ban on Funding Religious Schools | Diane Ravitch's blog - https://wp.me/p2odLa-qUV via @dianeravitch

Secretary DeVos on Espinoza: Religious Discrimination is Dead | U.S. Department of Education - https://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/secretary-devos-espinoza-religious-discrimination-dead

Supreme Court blurs the line between church and state by striking down Montana’s exclusion of religious schools from scholarship program – Raw Story - https://www.rawstory.com/?p=1640074

Supreme Court hands victory to DeVos in decision on aid to religious schools - POLITICO - https://www.politico.com/news/2020/06/30/supreme-court-tax-dollars-religious-schools-345349