Possible Break for Religious Schools

[MicrosoftFan]

I'll support this if it means Charters and Religous schools have to follow the same standards and rules as public schools.

Charter schools are an evil virus of satan.

[Wesley Mouch]

Do conservatives actually pay attention to how charter schools in the city of Detroit actually do compared to their public counterparts? Hate to break it to you but they are the exact same except these for profit businesses are keeping a larger chunk of the funding for themselves and short changing the students. ...snip...

You might also mention that Detroit/Michigan is one of the few places where Charters aren't clearly better than Public. Most other places, the difference is palpable.

Why this is? That's a question worth debate. Something is going on here that isn't true elsewhere.

[Zacha341]

^^^ For sure in Detroit charters are very varied in regards to quality and programs offered. It's to the point that DPSCD is offering charter school enrollment fairs for staff and students who are transitioning out of some the charters.

[BankruptcyGuy]

The case in question wasn't really that close. Can the state open a program to all, and then exclude some who are members of a church? The answer was clearly no.

The ramifications of this case are quite broad. When SCOTUS handles a particular case like this, there are often several other similar cases with slightly different fact patterns. After announcing the decision in one, they remand the others for consideration by the lower courts.

A companion case to Trinity Lutheran was a high school scholarship program in Colorado that was available to everyone, unless you were attending a parochial school. The CO Supreme Court found the law acceptable, but SCOTUS reversed and remanded for further consideration in light of Trinity Lutheran. Constitutional scholars can disagree, but I don't think this bodes well for Blaine Amendments across the country. Michigan has one, and even a cursory look at its history shows that it was borne of anti-Catholic bigotry.

Michigan also has a case that's before the U.S. District Court now. The state allocated $2.5 million for all schools to comply with safety rules. The public school entities sued, claiming that no money can go to parochial schools for any reason. It's highly unlikely that they prevail.

Will this result in a broader overhaul of public schools? Will parents, in the end, truly be able to choose any type of school for their child? Is that a good idea? Those are all the questions that legislatures will grapple with in the coming year.

[1953]

But, again, it would seem that all a state has to do to get around this issue is give money directly to a public school system, which is then able to restrict where the money flows.

[Meddle]

The case in question wasn't really that close. Can the state open a program to all, and then exclude some who are members of a church? The answer was clearly ...

... YES. Religious institutions must NOT be funded by Government. Period.

[noise]

The U.S. has got to be the only first world country in history that is hell-bent on destroying public education. It's really unbelievable.

The sad truth. But there's money to be made, so who cares?

[Tig3rzhark]

And you wonder why I'm against school vouchers: