Archives for category: Separation of church and state
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Florida House Passes Another Voucher Program

By dianeravitch
May 1, 2019 //
17

 

The Florida House of Representatives passed another voucher program, this time directly funded by taxpayers.

The Florida Senate already approved the program. They rejected all Democratic amendments, even one to stop people who had been previously convicted of fraud from opening a charter school!

The state constitution prohibits use of public funds for religious schools, and in the past lawmakers used a “work-around,” like tuition tax credits, to pretend that public funds were not going directly to religious schools. This bill avoids the pretense. Money to pay for religious schools will come out of the public fund for public schools. This will harm the public schools that enroll more than 80% of the state’s students.

In 2012, Florida voters opposed Jeb Bush’s effort to change the state constitution to permit the kind of bill that passed yesterday.

Recent studies agree that students who use vouchers do not make academic gains and are likely to suffer academic losses.

Voucher schools in Florida are unregulated, need not have certified teachers, and are not subject to state standards or tests. They are, as a series in the Orlando Sentinel said, “schools without rules.”

At the same time, the legislature tightly regulates public schools with burdensome mandates, and there is a statewide teacher shortage.

The decision yesterday in the Florida House was not conservative. Conservatives don’t destroy vital public goods. Conservatives conserve. The vote taken was a display of radical extremism, driven by money and ideology.

The vote was not about the best interests of children, most of whom will attend schools with an anti-science, anti-modern Biblical curriculum.

The Republican Party of Florida has no shame.

 

Categories Education Reform, Religion, Separation of church and state

Florida Senate Endorses a Fifth Voucher Program

By dianeravitch
April 26, 2019 //
19

 

Spurred on by Governor Ron DeSantis, Jeb Bush, and Betsy DeVos, the Florida Senate endorsed a fifth private voucher program. 

“The bill would create a new Family Empowerment Scholarship — the state’s fifth voucher program — that could help up to 18,000 students pay private school tuition with state-backed scholarships. The program would target youngsters from low-income families but could be open to more middle class ones, too, with an income limit of nearly $80,000 for a family of four….

“Every parent knows what’s best for their individual child, and at no point should we turn over that responsibility to the government,” said Sen. Manny Diaz, R-Hialeah, one of the bill’s sponsors.”

The new program would be funded with money taken from the state education budget, up to $130 million. Other vouchers programs are “tax credits” given to corporations or individuals. Because this money comes right out of the state budget, it might be subject to legal challenge since it directly violates the state constitution’s prohibition on public money for religious schools.

Republicans are betting that the state courts will ignore the state constitution and the 2012 referendum that went against Jeb Bush’s effort to change that provision of the state constitution.

More than 80% of students using vouchers attend religious schools. Voucher schools “do not have to give students state tests nor meet state standards when it comes to academics, teacher credentials or facilities.”

Florida Republicans continue their  assault on public schools.

Florida is no model for the nation.

On the NAEP, Florida ranks at the national average in 8th grade reading and math. It has large achievement gaps between black and white students. Ignore Florida’s fourth grade scores; they are tainted by the state policy of retaining third grade students who don’t pass the state reading test.

I don’t know whether voucher students are included in NAEP’s sample. The State makes sure they are not included on state tests.

 

Categories Betsy DeVos, Bush, Jeb, Disruption, Florida, Privatization, Separation of church and state

Tennessee: Legal Challenge Expected if Senate Passes Voucher Bill

By dianeravitch
April 25, 2019 //
10

 

Chalkbeat reports the likelihood of a legal challenge to any voucher bill in Tennessee if State Senate passes one as House did yesterday in a contentious proceeding.

Read the details here.

Categories Privatization, Religion, Separation of church and state, Tennessee, Vouchers

New York: Effort to Regulate Religious and Private Schools Voided by Court

By dianeravitch
April 19, 2019 //
13

 

In New York, the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community wields power because it votes as a bloc. Governors and mayors do their bidding. Their religious schools receive millions of dollars of state and federal aid for various services, yet they are completely unregulated. The absence of any oversight has enabled the most sectarian of schools to avoid teaching English, science, and other subjects that are considered foundational to basic education. A few graduates of these schools have led a campaign to force the state to set minimal standards for schools receiving public funds.

The New York State Education Department attempted to do so, but stirred up a hornets’ nest. Outstanding independent schools, whose graduates are prepared for Ivy League colleges, sued the state to block oversight, fearful that they too would be supervised by the state.

The yeshivas sued and won in court yesterday because the State Education Department failed to release appropriate regulations for oversight.

Will the state try again?

In New York, separation of church and state means that religious schools get public money with no public accountability.

Categories New York, Religion, Separation of church and state

Tennessee: Showdown Over Vouchers

By dianeravitch
April 11, 2019 //
18

 

Governor Bill Lee has proposed a voucher program. Teachers and parents are outraged. —but not enough of them.

When the bill moved from the House to the Senate,  the number of vouchers were doubled to 30,000.

The money for vouchers will be subtracted from public schools, which educate 90% of the children of Tennessee. Expect more segregation, more bigotry, more children taught by uncertified teachers, more state-sponsored ignorance of science and history. Expect budget cuts in public schools, larger classes, no money for higher salaries, layoffs for teachers, school nurses, librarians, counselors, the arts.

Betsy DeVos visited Tennessee last week to promote vouchers, and she flatly lied about Florida’s test scores, which are mediocre. She claimed that achievement in Florida had gone up because of the $3 billion that the state spends each year on vouchers and charters. Not true. Surely she is well aware of the voucher studies in D.C., Milwaukee, Ohio, Louisiana, and Indiana showing that students who use vouchers do no better or much worse in school than their peers who remain in public schools.

Florida’s performance on NAEP is mediocre, except for fourth grade, where scores are artificially inflated by the state policy of holding back low-scoring third graders.

Quote of the day:

“‘We don’t have the luxury of worrying about a handful of children,” said Knox County teacher Lauren Hobson, speaking to another crowd assembled by the Tennessee Democratic Party. “We have to worry about the 90% of the children across the country left in schools with us.”

“Hobson and other critics believe underfunding is the real battle in public schools.

“‘Our legislators actually have a constitutional duty in Tennessee to maintain and support a public education,” she said. “They have no duty to support private education.’”

Read that last line again. She is right. Republican legislators in Tennessee, Florida, Indiana, and other states are ignoring their constitutional duty “to maintain and support public education,” not private schools.

 

Categories Accountability, Betsy DeVos, Florida, Lies, School Choice, Separation of church and state, Tennessee, Vouchers

Tennessee Decides About Vouchers Today

By dianeravitch
March 28, 2019 //
11

 

Today is V-day in Tennessee. The Shelby County Board of Education (Memphis) opposes the plan, accurately protesting that the plan would divert dollars from their already underfunded schools.

Meanwhile, six charter schools in Memphis have made a deal with the Catholic church to lease space, while pledging not to teach anything contrary to Catholic teaching.

”The Compass Community Schools network signed a lease agreement that contains a clause agreeing not to teach anything that goes against the teachings of the Catholic Church….

“But one First Amendment expert said there are several potential conflicts, including standards that address contraception, and that a public school’s mere act of entering into a legal agreement with a religious entity promising to limit its educational offerings for students is unconstitutional.

“The clause could also cause a chilling effect on both students and staff and create complications of oversight of a public school by a religious organization, said Charles Haynes, founding director of the Religious Freedom Center..

“A public school is a public school,” he said. “It may not in any way be entangled with a religious group that in any way limits what it can and cannot teach. That’s clearly unconstitutional.”

“The issue also raises questions about the promised separation between the Catholic Church and the Compass schools, a network created by Catholic leaders to replace a group of closing parochial schools. “

 

Categories Charter Schools, Education Industry, Memphis, Religion, Separation of church and state, Tennessee

Florida: Invite Your Faith Leaders to Defend Public Schools!

By dianeravitch
March 17, 2019 //
10

If you are a parent or educator in Florida, please let your faith leader know about a new organization that is forming to stop the privatization of public schools. The initiative is led by Charles Foster Johnson, who has brought together similar groups in other states. The first meeting is March 26.

Rev. Johnson is a great friend of public schools who believes in separation of church and state. He is an active member of the Network for Public Education.

He writes below about the launch of a new pro-public education group and an event that is coming up at the Florida Capitol on March 26.

Rev. Johnson writes:

“The group is called Pastors for Florida Children and it is comprised of ministers and lay-leaders of all faiths across the state.   

“There will be an organizational meeting on Tuesday afternoon March 26 at approx. 1:30 p.m. and then a press conference and prayer circle at the Capitol at 3:30 p.m. Again this legislative session, our public schools are taking a beating in Tallahassee and I hope you agree that a group like this has the potential to be incredibly powerful!  Similar groups in other states have made a big difference for public schools.

“If you can attend, I will forward your name and contact information to the organizers so they can contact you with the details. 

“Can we count on you for March 26th?

“Please Reply with RSVP for lunch count or questions to charlie@charlesfosterjohnson.com or suzii.paynter@gmail.com

 

“Sincerely,

Rev. Charles Foster Johnson

Executive Director, Pastors for Children”

 

Follow Pastors for Children   http://pastorsfortexaschildren.com/

Categories Florida, Religion, Separation of church and state

Kentucky: Vouchers are Dead This Year, Killed by Pastors, Parents, and Teachers

By dianeravitch
March 14, 2019 //
23

The Kentucky Legislature will not enact a voucher bill this session!

Here is one reason why: Pastors for Kentucky Children stood strongly against the bill and in favor of public schools. Reverend Sharon Felton led the way in Kentucky. Please read her wonderful letter in support of public schools and the principle of separation of church and state.

She writes:

Pastors for Kentucky Children is a grassroots movement of pastors and lay people who want to support, encourage and advocate for our local public schools. Our teachers, administrators and staff are on the front lines when it comes to caring for our children and we are praying that you and your colleagues will give them all the resources they need to fulfill this calling. We implore state legislators to vote down scholarship tax credits, or any legislation that funnels money away from public schools. Public schools are our future, our public trust. Public schools educate and serve all students. Imagine what they could do if they were fully funded! If they had enough counselors, librarians, teachers, technology, and on and on! Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could stop collecting box tops to provide for our schools?

Our children deserve the highest-quality, free public education. They deserve to have the best faculty, facilities and future our state has to offer.

We are opposed to scholarship tax credits because they violate the separation of church and state. As clergy, we do not want government money or interference in our religious schools. There is not a church, temple, synagogue or mosque that wants government to fund our educational programs. Taxpayers, in turn, do not want their money going to pay for these religious education alternatives. Public money must stay with public schools. Private schools have flourished for decades without public money, they will continue to do so.

The group that started the Pastors for Children movement on behalf of public schools is Pastors for Texas Children, led by Charles Foster Johnson, which stopped vouchers in Texas one legislative session after another, and inspired similar groups in other states, where pastors don’t want to be dependent on government funding, knowing that where money flows, control eventually follows.

Here is another reason for the defeat of vouchers: Teachers walked out of their schools, rallied at the state capitol, and stopped the momentum towards vouchers.

Parents in SOS Kentucky and “Dear JCPS” spoke out against vouchers.

No vouchers in Kentucky this session. As public awareness builds in support of public schools that 90% of children attend, vouchers will stay dead.

 

 

 

Categories Kentucky, Parents, Resistance, Separation of church and state, Vouchers

Our Ally, Charles Foster Johnson, Was Named “Baptist of the Year”

By dianeravitch
December 31, 2018 //
17

Charles Foster Johnson, one of our best allies in the fight against vouchers and for adequate funding for public schools, was named “Baptist of the Year.”

Congratulations,Charlie!

Charles organized Pastors for Texas Kids to advocate for children in public schools and for separation of church and state. He has helped to organize similar groups in other states because he has a deep commitment to the common good.

EthicsDaily.com’s board of directors is pleased to announce that Charles Foster Johnson is the 2018 Baptist of the Year.

Johnson, a pastor who has become a tireless advocate for public education, is the executive director of Pastors for Texas Children.

The organization, founded by Johnson in 2013, is a statewide ecumenical group mobilizing the faith community for public education support and advocacy.

In Texas, Kentucky, Arizona, West Virginia, Tennessee, Oklahoma and other states, adequately funding public education has become a significant political – and campaigning – issue.

Johnson and his supporters deserve much credit for mobilizing Christians to support and advocate for public education.

Their efforts paid off with both Democratic and Republican officeholders recommitting themselves to making public education funding a top priority in upcoming legislative sessions.

“With his deep, infectious voice and his black cowboy boots, he never meets a stranger and never backs down from a challenge,” said Sharon Felton, minister to youth and students at Faith Baptist Church in Georgetown, Kentucky, and the head of Pastors for Kentucky Children. “But what makes Charlie one of my favorite Baptists is his gentle and kind heart.”

Felton says Johnson’s personality is “larger than life,” and anyone who knows him will agree.

In an interview with EthicsDaily early this year, Johnson reminded Baptists about the importance of educating all children for the common good.

“People of faith embrace public education as a provision of God’s common good,” he said, “as a basic, core, fundamental, social justice expression in society.”

“When Oklahoma pastors noticed their local public schools falling apart due to a severe lack of funding, we turned to our neighbors to the south in Texas for guidance and help,” said Pastors for Oklahoma Kids Executive Director Clark Frailey. “Charles Johnson answered the call and spoke at what would ultimately become our first organizing meeting.”

Johnson worked with the leaders of Pastors for Oklahoma Kids when thousands of Oklahoma teachers walked out of the classroom to protest a decade-long trend of defunding public education.

Their efforts gave great support to teachers and helped frame the conversation for people of faith.

Johnson, also the founder and co-pastor of Bread, a faith community in Fort Worth, Texas, knows a thing or two about organizing.

He brought a stellar career of pastoring churches in Texas, Mississippi and Kentucky with him to his current advocacy work.

Categories Education Reform, Religion, Separation of church and state, Texas

New York: SUNY Gives Charters to Faith-Based Schools, Despite State Constitution Ban

By dianeravitch
December 18, 2018 //
28

Hey, Yeshivas and Muslim religious schools. Stop struggling to raise money. Rename yourself and get a charter from the State University of New York Charter Committee. Then the public will pay for your religious activities. True, the state constitution bans public money for religious schools, but so what?

The SUNY charter board (appointed by Governor Cuomo) awarded charters to the Brilla Network, which teaches Catholic virtues and values. They call themselves “virtue-based” charter schoools. They are moving into the vacuum created by the closure of Catholic schools.

Here is the mission statement of Seton Partners:

Here is the charter chain they run. They plan to grow.

SETON EDUCATION PARTNERS is committed to expanding opportunities for underserved children in America to receive an academically excellent and vibrantly Catholic education. As a national non-profit and an instrument of the Church, Seton partners with (arch)dioceses and others across the country to implement innovative and sustainable new models that bridge the best of Catholic education’s rich tradition with new possibilities. Seton was born of the belief that a tremendous opportunity exists to revitalize urban Catholic schools in America and strengthen the education they provide. The challenges are significant, to be sure, but with an entrepreneurial and innovative spirit, much can and should be done, not only to preserve this national treasure but also to build on its foundation for the benefit of thousands of children in America’s most underserved neighborhoods.

Step right up and charter your religious school!

Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, New York, Privatization, Religion, Separation of church and state
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