Supreme Court seems favorable to religious education funding
4 years, 11 months ago

Supreme Court seems favorable to religious education funding

Associated Press  

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court’s conservative majority appeared ready Wednesday to reinvigorate a Montana scholarship program and make it easier to use public money to pay for religious schooling in many states. The court was sharply divided along ideological lines in arguments over a provision in Montana’s constitution that bars state aid to religious schools. Like other conservatives, Roberts questioned a state Supreme Court ruling that struck down a scholarship program for private K-12 education that also makes donors eligible for up to $150 in state tax credits. “That’s what you’re saying.” Justice Brett Kavanaugh, whose two daughters attend Catholic schools, referred to the “grotesque religious bigotry” against Catholics that he said motivated the original adoption of the Montana provision and others like it in the 1800s, although Montana’s constitution was redone in 1972.

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History of this topic

Republican Plan To Get Christianity Into Schools
1 month ago

Republican Plan To Get Christianity Into Schools

Huff Post  

LOADING ERROR LOADING From displaying the Ten Commandments to demanding that teachers use the Bible in their classrooms, conservatives seem determined to blur the lines between church and state by infusing Christianity into public schools. “We’re seeing an effort to have this Supreme Court reconsider longstanding precedent on keeping public schools secular,” Laser said. “I’m concerned we’ve sent a troubling …

Ruling revives lawsuit to allow state funding for special education to go to religious schools
2 months, 1 week ago

Ruling revives lawsuit to allow state funding for special education to go to religious schools

LA Times  

Yavneh Hebrew Academy is one of the private schools that filed suit against the California Department of Education. A 9th Circuit Court of Appeals panel revived a lawsuit this week filed by Orthodox Jewish families that sued California education officials over the state’s policy of refusing to fund special education programs at religious schools. Two religious schools and three Orthodox …

Editorial: Religious freedom under attack in Oklahoma schools
5 months, 1 week ago

Editorial: Religious freedom under attack in Oklahoma schools

LA Times  

For people who supposedly revere the Founding Fathers, some Christian conservatives seem to have no problem ignoring one of their most abiding principles: the separation of church and state. In a 1968 case, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that although the daily Bible reading in Pennsylvania schools was an unconstitutional effort to inculcate religious teachings, the Bible can be a …

Texas’ Christian-influenced curriculum spurs worries about bullying
5 months, 3 weeks ago

Texas’ Christian-influenced curriculum spurs worries about bullying

Raw Story  

Andy Wine thinks most children can understand the Golden Rule. “And yet, this particular faith tradition is being superimposed on children who come from many different faith backgrounds and whose parents would find it very offensive.” TEA Commissioner Mike Morath told The Texas Tribune in May that the curriculum as a whole — which consists of lesson plans for K–12 …

Texas State Board of Education fields concerns about Christian bias in proposed K-12 curriculum
6 months, 1 week ago

Texas State Board of Education fields concerns about Christian bias in proposed K-12 curriculum

Associated Press  

Members of the public told the Texas State Board of Education on Thursday they worried a proposed elementary school curriculum infused with religious references is too complicated, biased toward Christianity and below the standards of a classical education. TEA Commissioner Mike Morath said last month the curriculum as a whole — which consists of lesson plans for K-12 students and …

Oklahoma Supreme Court shuts down ‘unconstitutional’ taxpayer-funded Catholic school
6 months, 2 weeks ago

Oklahoma Supreme Court shuts down ‘unconstitutional’ taxpayer-funded Catholic school

The Independent  

Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Get our free Inside Washington email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy The country’s first-ever publicly funded religious charter school is an …

Public funds for religious charter school would be unconstitutional, Oklahoma high court says
6 months, 2 weeks ago

Public funds for religious charter school would be unconstitutional, Oklahoma high court says

Associated Press  

OKLAHOMA CITY — The Oklahoma Supreme Court on Tuesday stopped what would have been the first publicly funded religious charter school in the U.S., turning back conservatives and the state’s GOP governor who have welcomed religious groups into public education. The high court determined the Statewide Virtual Charter School Board’s 3-2 vote last year to approve an application by the …

Voucher expansion leads to more students, waitlists and classes for some religious schools
10 months, 1 week ago

Voucher expansion leads to more students, waitlists and classes for some religious schools

Associated Press  

The Miami Archdiocese’s superintendent of schools says Catholic education is increasingly in demand in South Florida, now that all K-12 students regardless of income are allowed to use taxpayer-funded programs to pay for private school tuition. Ed Choice President Robert Enlow disagrees: “These are funds given to parents that are neutrally and privately making choices to spend them at nonpublic …

Conservative Nebraska lawmakers push bills that would intertwine religion with public education
11 months ago

Conservative Nebraska lawmakers push bills that would intertwine religion with public education

Associated Press  

— Conservative lawmakers who want to intertwine religion with school curriculum in Republican-dominated Nebraska presented a slew of bills Monday to the state Legislature’s education committee. The list includes a bill that would give parents more control over their local school’s library books and curriculum and another that would allow public school students to receive school credit for attending religious …

NY’s power to regulate religious schools trimmed by judge
1 year, 9 months ago

NY’s power to regulate religious schools trimmed by judge

Associated Press  

ALBANY, N.Y. — Parents cannot be required to pull their children from private schools in New York that fail to meet state-designated standards, a judge decided, striking down a key provision of rules recently passed to strengthen oversight of such schools, including those specializing in religious education. The ruling in a state trial court in Albany came in response to …

Public money for private school tuition bill advances
1 year, 10 months ago

Public money for private school tuition bill advances

Associated Press  

— Nebraska could join 48 other states in offering public money for private school tuition under a bill advanced by the state Legislature on Wednesday, even as some lawmakers expressed concern about taxpayer dollars going to private schools allowed to turn away students based on religious tenets. Rather than appropriating taxpayer dollars directly toward private school vouchers, the bill would …

Kentucky Supreme Court strikes down school choice provisions
2 years ago

Kentucky Supreme Court strikes down school choice provisions

Associated Press  

FRANKFORT, Ky. — In a bitter defeat for school choice advocates, Kentucky’s Supreme Court on Thursday struck down a Republican-backed initiative to award tax credits for donations supporting private school tuition — a program that opponents said would divert money from public schools. “We simply can’t afford to support two different education systems — one private and one public — …

Vermont settles religious schools tuition lawsuits
2 years, 1 month ago

Vermont settles religious schools tuition lawsuits

Associated Press  

The Vermont Agency of Education and several school districts will pay tuition costs and legal fees to five families to settle lawsuits challenging the state’s practice of not paying for students to attend religious schools if their towns do not have a public school. In court filings late Wednesday, the two sides agreed to dismiss the two lawsuits in the …

How the Supreme Court is dismantling the separation of church and state
2 years, 6 months ago

How the Supreme Court is dismantling the separation of church and state

CNN  

CNN — Supreme Court justices on Monday readily put themselves in the shoes of a football coach who wanted to pray at midfield after a game, over those of students who might feel pressure to join him, in an expansive decision focused on the “suppression” of religious voices. Monday’s ruling threatens a series of decisions back to 1962 that have …

Supreme Court: Religious schools must get Maine tuition aid
2 years, 6 months ago

Supreme Court: Religious schools must get Maine tuition aid

Associated Press  

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that Maine can’t exclude religious schools from a program that offers tuition aid for private education, a decision that could ease religious organizations’ access to taxpayer money. “Maine chose to allow some parents to direct state tuition payments to private schools; that decision was not ‘forced upon’ it,” Roberts wrote, quoting from Sotomayor’s …

Supreme Court says Maine cannot exclude religious schools from tuition assistance programs
2 years, 6 months ago

Supreme Court says Maine cannot exclude religious schools from tuition assistance programs

CNN  

CNN — The Supreme Court said Tuesday that Maine cannot exclude religious schools from a tuition assistance program that allows parents to use vouchers to send their children to public or private schools. “Maine’s ‘nonsectarian’ requirement for its otherwise generally available tuition assistance payments violates the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the …

Maine cannot ban aid to religious schools, top US court rules
2 years, 6 months ago

Maine cannot ban aid to religious schools, top US court rules

Al Jazeera  

The six-to-three ruling is the latest in a series of Supreme Court decisions in recent years expanding religious rights. The US Supreme Court has allowed more public funding of religious entities, ruling in favour of two Christian families who challenged a Maine tuition assistance programme that excluded private schools that promote religion. “Maine’s administration of that benefit is subject to …

Supreme Court rules for parents seeking state aid for religious schools
2 years, 6 months ago

Supreme Court rules for parents seeking state aid for religious schools

LA Times  

The Supreme Court ruled in Carson vs. Makin that some parents of children in religious schools have a right to tuition aid from the state. Previously the high court had said that giving public funds to church schools violated the 1st Amendment’s ban on an “establishment of religion.” But over the last five years, the court’s conservative majority has flipped …

US Supreme Court to hear Maine religious school tuition case
3 years, 6 months ago

US Supreme Court to hear Maine religious school tuition case

Associated Press  

PORTLAND, Maine — The U.S. Supreme Court decided on Friday that it will hear a case brought by families from Maine who want to use a state tuition program to send their children to religious schools. I am confident that the Supreme Court will recognize that nothing in the Constitution requires Maine to include religious schools in its public education …

US Supreme Court to take up religious school dispute next term
3 years, 6 months ago

US Supreme Court to take up religious school dispute next term

Al Jazeera  

Justices decline to take up Washington state case of florist sanctioned for refusing to provide flowers for gay wedding. The Supreme Court on Friday rejected several appeals including one brought by a florist fined by Washington state for refusing to make a flower arrangement for a same-sex wedding due to her Christian beliefs. In 2018 the Supreme Court had ordered …

High court to rule whether to hear Maine school choice case
3 years, 6 months ago

High court to rule whether to hear Maine school choice case

Associated Press  

PORTLAND, Maine — The justices of the U.S. Supreme Court are set to decide whether to hear a case filed by Maine families who want to use a state tuition program to send their children to religious schools. “The government shouldn’t be able to deny those parents the ability to send their children to the best available education for them.” …

Maine ban on religious tuition funding goes to Supreme Court
3 years, 11 months ago

Maine ban on religious tuition funding goes to Supreme Court

Associated Press  

PORTLAND, Maine — Three families demanding that the state pay tuition for religious schools are taking their appeal to a U.S. Supreme Court that looks much different than when the lawsuit was filed more than two years ago. The conservative shift of the U.S. Supreme Court and a ruling in a Montana case make attorneys for the Maine families more …

Maine ban on tuition payments to religious schools is upheld
4 years, 2 months ago

Maine ban on tuition payments to religious schools is upheld

Associated Press  

PORTLAND, Maine — The 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed Maine’s exclusion of religious schools from a high school tuition voucher program, upholding the law after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in a Montana case seemed to open the door to more public funding for parochial schools. The Maine Department of Education currently allows families who reside in towns …

Exclusion Of Religious Schools From State Scholarship Program Violates Federal Constitution : US Supreme Court
4 years, 6 months ago

Exclusion Of Religious Schools From State Scholarship Program Violates Federal Constitution : US Supreme Court

Live Law  

In a notable judgement yesterday in the case Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue,the U.S Supreme Court reversed an earlier judgment of the Montana State Supreme Court and disregarded a "no-aid" provision promulgated by the Montana State department by finding that it is inconsistent with the Federal Constitution. The Court further explained that, "The rule was not required by the …

Supreme Court lifts ban on state aid to religious schooling
4 years, 6 months ago

Supreme Court lifts ban on state aid to religious schooling

Associated Press  

WASHINGTON — States can’t cut religious schools out of programs that send public money to private education, a divided Supreme Court ruled Tuesday. By a 5-4 vote with the conservatives in the majority, the justices upheld a Montana scholarship program that allows state tax credits for private schooling in which almost all the recipients attend religious schools. The Montana Supreme …

Supreme Court: Montana Can't Exclude Religious Schools From Scholarship Program
4 years, 6 months ago

Supreme Court: Montana Can't Exclude Religious Schools From Scholarship Program

NPR  

Supreme Court: Montana Can't Exclude Religious Schools From Scholarship Program Enlarge this image Andrew Harnik/AP Andrew Harnik/AP Updated at 5:53 p.m. ET In a major victory for what advocates call the school choice movement, the U.S. Supreme Court effectively killed state constitutional provisions in as many as 38 states that bar taxpayer aid to parochial schools. Justice Samuel Alito used …

Supreme Court Could Be Headed To A Major Unraveling Of Public School Funding
4 years, 11 months ago

Supreme Court Could Be Headed To A Major Unraveling Of Public School Funding

NPR  

Supreme Court Could Be Headed To A Major Unraveling Of Public School Funding Enlarge this image toggle caption Jessica Gresko/AP Jessica Gresko/AP In a case with potentially profound implications, the U.S. Supreme Court's conservative majority seemed ready to invalidate a provision of the Montana state constitution that bars aid to religious schools. The Montana court said that the subsidy violated …

Supreme Court will decide if religious freedom shields Catholic schools from teacher suits
5 years ago

Supreme Court will decide if religious freedom shields Catholic schools from teacher suits

LA Times  

In 2014, Kristen Biel told her principal at St. James Catholic School in Torrance that she had breast cancer and would need time off for chemotherapy. On Wednesday, the Supreme Court announced it would hear an appeal by the school that pits religious freedom against anti-discrimination law: Does the 1st Amendment’s protection for the “free exercise of religion” shield religious …

Betsy DeVos plans to give taxpayer funds to religious groups to provide school services
5 years, 9 months ago

Betsy DeVos plans to give taxpayer funds to religious groups to provide school services

Salon  

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos announced Monday she will allow religious groups to provide taxpayer-funded services in private schools, in a move education advocates called an affront to the separation of church and state. DeVos announced Monday that she will no longer enforce a rule prohibiting religious institutions from providing these taxpayer-funded services in private schools, claiming that the restriction runs …

Republicans Make New Push For Program That Would Bolster Private Schools
5 years, 10 months ago

Republicans Make New Push For Program That Would Bolster Private Schools

Huff Post  

ASSOCIATED PRESS Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos came to Washington in February 2017 with a mission ― to increase school choice. On Thursday, Republican legislators like Sen. Ted Cruz took DeVos’ dream one step closer to reality, unveiling a bill that could help families use public dollars to pay for private schools and other educational programs like apprenticeships, online learning …

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