December 18, 2000

Court deals blow to vouchers
___By Bob Allen
___Associated Baptist Press
___CINCINNATI (ABP)--A federal court has struck down Cleveland's school-voucher program, saying it violates the constitutionally mandated separation of church and state.
___"This scheme involves the grant of state aid directly and predominantly to the coffers of the private, religious schools," Cincinnati's 6th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said in a ruling Dec. 11. "And it is unquestioned that these institutions incorporate religious concepts, motives and themes into all facets of their educational planning."
___Americans United for the Separation of Church and State described the decision as "a monumental victory for religious freedom, public schools and church-state separation."
___Others, however, said the ruling would prevent poor children from getting an education equal to their wealthy peers.
___"This is not between church and state," Kathryn Harris, principal at Cleveland's St. Adalbert's School, told the Cleveland Plain Dealer. "Our parents are just looking for a school where they think their children can get the best education."
___The ruling could set up a showdown before the U.S. Supreme Court, which has narrowed but not overturned a 1973 landmark ruling that vouchers are unconstitutional.
___Should the Supreme Court agree to hear an appeal of the case, "this will be the most important case about public schools and church-state separation in decades," said Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United.
___Lower courts have issued mixed rulings on vouchers. Court battles over vouchers are pending in Florida, Ohio and Wisconsin.
___The Supreme Court has refused to review cases involving voucher programs in Milwaukee and Maine.
___The Cleveland ruling is the latest in a series of setbacks for voucher proponents, who recently lost ballot initiatives in California and Michigan.
___"It's clear that the public wants to invest in improving America's public schools, where 90 percent of children attend," said Bob Chase, president of the National Education Association. "Now is the time to focus on improving opportunity for all students rather than being engaged in divisive and counterproductive battles."
___Cleveland's five-year-old voucher program provides up to $2,500 for low-income students to attend private schools. Out of 3,761 students in the program during the 1999-2000 year, 96 percent were enrolled in sectarian schools, according to a court document.
___While those schools vary in religious affiliation and approaches, most believe in intertwining religious beliefs with secular subjects and require religious studies and participation in chapel services.
___The appeals court concluded that the Ohio scholarship program "is designed in a manner calculated to attract religious institutions" and chooses the beneficiaries by non-neutral criteria. That places it in "direct contravention" to earlier Supreme Court rulings, the opinion said.
___The voucher plan survived a challenge in Ohio's Supreme Court, but plaintiffs took their case to federal courts.
___Judges Eric Clay and Eugene Siler wrote an opinion for the 2-1 majority. Judge James Ryan dissented, calling it "unmistakably clear that the voucher program passes constitutional muster."

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