Not Trump, DeVos, or GOP Law: Public Common Sense 101 (No Vouchers)

Thumb in the Public Eye – Hey, What Do I Know Anyway

 

Law Applies to Trump, DeVos, and Well, to Every American

Source for this education voucher-related story for religious schools with taxpayer’s money is from here.

Highlights: The U.S. Supreme Court ruled today that Missouri violated the constitutional rights of a church when it denied the church’s grant application for a new playground surface. The high court’s narrow ruling represents a setback for voucher proponents, who had sought to use the dispute to undermine state constitutional protections for public education and fuel the expansion of private school vouchers on a national scale, even for religious schools.

The court said it did not “address religious uses of funding or other forms of discrimination” in Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia Inc. v. Comer. The 7-2 decision leaves intact the Missouri constitutional provision prohibiting state funding of religious actions and leaves undisturbed the similar provisions of 38 other states. These “no aid” provisions were enacted to protect public schools and have been applied for decades to ensure that resources for those schools were not diverted to private religious institutions.

Reacting to the decision, Lily Eskelsen GarcÍa, who is also an elementary school teacher in Utah and the National Education Association (NEA) president, said in part:

We applaud the Supreme Court’s refusal to accept the invitation of voucher proponents to issue a broad ruling that could place in jeopardy the ability of states to protect their public education system by refusing to divert public school funding to private religious schools…

State constitutional provisions and decades of precedent protect our public education system from voucher programs. The court’s ruling is a big setback for those who want to push voucher programs that take taxpayer dollars out of public schools to divert them to private religious schools.

The case stems from a program in Columbia, MO, that provides non-profit organizations with grants for playground rubber surfacing. Trinity Lutheran Church, which operates a pre-school and daycare, applied for money for its playground but was turned down due to the state’s constitution, which prohibits public aid going to religious institutions. The church sued.

The ruling is not likely to please voucher supporters such as President Trump and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos. They have put forth a budget proposal that includes a $1.4 billion voucher program.

FYI: DeVos’ Record in MICHIGAN – HER HOME STATE – CASE IN POINT: 

In Michigan, 4 out of 5 charter schools are managed by for-profit companies, far more than any other state. Michigan charter schools receive more than $1 billion a year from taxpayers. But thanks to DeVos, GLEP and other deep-pocketed charter school proponents, state laws regulating charters are among the nation’s weakest, and the state demands little accountability in how taxpayer dollars are spent and how well children are educated, found the Detroit Free Press after a yearlong investigation.

The investigation, which reviewed two decades of charter school records, found:

• Board members, school founders and employees steering lucrative deals to themselves or insiders.
• Schools allowed to operate for years despite poor academic records.
• No state standards for who operates charter schools or how to oversee them.
• A record number of for-profit charter schools that refuse to detail how they spend taxpayer money, saying they’re private and not subject to disclosure laws.

The news article then concluded:

Michigan’s laws are either nonexistent or so lenient that there are often no consequences for abuses or poor academics. Taxpayers and parents are left clueless about how charter schools spend the public’s money, and lawmakers have resisted measures to close schools down for poor academic performance year after year.

Detroit has been especially hard hit by the unchecked growth of a charter school industry that woefully lacks accountability and transparency.

Thanks for stopping – now watch the Trump-DeVos-FOX-Righties reaction to this … claiming another assault on religion in America as their focus and boy will they milk this for all its worth. DeVos has to be the worst Edu Secy in American history, hands down.

Kind of how most advocates for public education see the Trump Team:

     And, yes, DeVos is a billionaire, too       

                                      

Related: A bit dated (from 2009) but still relevant from the Pew Research Center here and from NPR here (My Note: I have no problem with playgrounds and such with tax dollars, but not for religious teaching – a huge difference).