Leaders of Reform Judaism criticized the Supreme Court decision to allow public funding of religious schools.
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Reform Jewish Movement Denounces Supreme Court Decision Allowing Government Funding of Religious Education
WASHINGTON – In response to the Supreme Court decision in Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue permitting state funding of private religious education, Rabbi Jonah Dov Pesner, director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, released the following statement on behalf of the Union for Reform Judaism, the Central Conference on American Rabbis and the wider Reform Movement institutions:
“We are deeply disappointed in the Supreme Court’s decision to invalidate Montana’s prohibition on state funding of private religious schools. We joined an amicus brief in support of Montana’s prohibition on financial support for religious education, because not only do tuition tax credits and other types of school vouchers divert desperately needed funding from public schools, these programs also violate separation of church and state when such funding is directed towards religious schools.
“Government funding to religious schools requires taxpayers to support religious institutions and beliefs that may violate their own, something the First Amendment was intended to avoid. Conversely, such government funding is bad for religion, for with government funding comes government rules, regulations, monitoring and interference. Religious education must always be the responsibility of the family and faith community, not the government.
“Rather than implementing private school voucher programs, the government should invest in public schools to make them safer, stronger, and more equitable. All of America’s children deserve a first-rate education.”
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The Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism is the Washington office of the Union for Reform Judaism, whose nearly 850 congregations across North America encompass 1.5 million Reform Jews, and the Central Conference of American Rabbis, whose membership includes more than 2,000 Reform rabbis. Visit http://www.RAC.org for more.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
So funny that Donald Trump cheated on the SAT.
I wonder how many wealthy and privileged people did that. It would actually explain a lot. It would explain how it is that so many of our privileged elite attended prestigious and expensive private universities but apparently learned absolutely nothing.
We have a cottage industry in bashing public education in this country. Maybe we should be looking at the students private schools are turning out. I’m not impressed.
Just as we look to outside factors as influential in the lives of public school children, I think we have to do the same for students who attend private schools. I’m sure in some instances the influence of the school environment weighs more heavily in the case of some students, especially those who boarded but there was no doubt that they were there because of parental expectations. Since I live in a community that can afford to send children to private schools, I have seen the effects, both negative and positive, on the lives of students who attended a wide range of private institutions.
In my own experience in college, the girls who went to boarding school could out swear any public school student although the difference did diminish over time. They lost the need to pepper their speech with profanity and we public school graduates relished the chance to expand our vocabularies into forbidden territory. Of course this little reminiscence is more a reflection on me than a commentary on private school students. I grew up in the “washing one’s mouth out with soap” generation. My father (of four girls) never swore within our hearing. (In case you didn’t notice, this little anecdote is totally irrelevant to the discussion.)
Oh that made me laugh. When I coached high school girls I was shocked by how much they cussed–these girls were from elite society–as compared to boys. And I can cuss with the best of ’em. One of my favorite memories was when one girl went on a rant during the a game, her parents were horrified, and the next thing out of her mouth was, “Greg taught us that!” Thanks for jogging that memory!
You’re welcome. 🙂
“Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between Man & his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legitimate powers of government reach actions only, & not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should ʺmake no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,ʺ thus building a wall of separation between Church & State. Adhering to this expression of the supreme will of the nation in behalf of the rights of conscience, I shall see with sincere satisfaction the progress of those sentiments which tend to restore to man all his natural rights, convinced he has no natural right in opposition to his social duties”
Thomas Jefferson.
I am a Christian and giving public funds to religious schools is OUTRAGEOUS!
**All:* Here is a snippet and link from Aeon magazine regarding how privatization weakens public bonds. CBK
“Only a public agent can speak in our name. So mass privatisation doesn’t simply shift decision-making away from public institutions to unaccountable, private entities; it also undermines shared civic responsibility and the very existence of collective political will.”
https://aeon.co/essays/privatisation-is-bad-economics-and-worse-politics?utm_source=Aeon+Newsletter&utm_campaign=fb1b26422b-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2020_06_22_12_21&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_411a82e59d-fb1b26422b-70395829
weakening public bonds: three words to describe so much