Legal Clips, [June 2007]A number of private school voucher proponents recently testified before the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights (USCCR), denouncing the anti-Catholic constitutional amendments adopted by several states in the 19th and early 20th centuries that are now preventing states from enacting school voucher programs. Thirty-five states have amendments prohibiting state funding of "sectarian" schools." Often called "Blaine Amendments," a reference to U.S. Rep. James Blaine, who in 1875 led an unsuccessful effort to add the amendment to the U.S. Constitution, the original effect of the amendments was to prohibit funding of Catholic schools established as an alternative to the non-denominational Protestant education being offered in the early public school system. The amendments now pose a major hurdle for proponents of school choice who believe religious schools offer better educational opportunities for poor families who could not afford private tuition without government vouchers. Anthony Picarello, vice president of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, told USCCR that Blaine Amendments are "the last constitutional weapon available to attack democratically enacted, religion-neutral school voucher programs or social service programs that contract with faith-based providers." Richard Komer, a senior litigation attorney at the Institute for Justice, testified that "as long as we persist in funding the vast majority of our children's educations through the existing public school model, this hideously expensive failure will continue." He pointed to successful school voucher programs like the one in Milwaukee, Wisconsin established in 1995, which he insists has increased student performance and has challenged the public schools to provide better education due to the competition with private schools.
Others argued that Blaine Amendments serve an important purpose of keeping a "wall of separation" between church and state. "I don't think I should have to pay for the education of divinity students or programs which subsidize religion-based schools," says American Atheists President Ellen Johnson. "I do not believe that any American should be compelled to finance, directly or indirectly, religious schools, which are simply extensions of churches." Hollyn Hollman, general counsel of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty, supports Blaine Amendments because they protect religious institutions from government interference.
CNS News
By Nathan Burchfiel
[Full story]
[Editor’s Note: A USCCR press release announcing the hearing is at the first link below. The question of religious bias in a state constitution was at issue in the 2004 U.S. Supreme Court decision upholding Washington’s prohibition on the use of state scholarship funds to pursue a divinity degree. That decision is summarized below.]
[USCCR press release]
[NSBA School Law pages on Locke v. Davey]