Vouchers take it on the chin again

Date: Mon, 25 Oct 2004 12:24:56 -0500
From: Americans United <corbin.DeleteThis@au.org>
To: Me
Subject: AU @ctivist :: Fed Appeals Court Rules Against Mandatory Funding
of Religious Education

PRESS RELEASE ** PRESS RELEASE ** PRESS RELEASE

For Immediate Release
October 25, 2004

Americans United for Separation of Church and State
www.au.org

AMERICANS UNITED PRAISES FEDERAL APPEALS COURT RULING AGAINST MANDATORY
FUNDING OF RELIGIOUS EDUCATION

Public Funds Should Not Be Used To Finance Religious Schooling, Group Says

A federal appeals court has rejected arguments that a Maine education law
must be expanded to include funding for private religious schools.

Americans United for Separation of Church and State had filed a
friend-of-the-court-brief with the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals,
urging it to reject arguments that the U.S. Constitution requires Maine to
fund private religious schools in the same manner it funds secular schools.

"This is another blow to voucher advocates who argue that the government is
constitutionally required to fund religious schools," said the Rev. Barry
W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church
and State. "The courts have consistently rejected these backdoor voucher
schemes."

The Maine law under challenge provides tuition for students to attend any
school in districts that do not have their own public schools. But the law
bars school districts from paying tuition to any private religious school.
Parents in Minot County who chose to send their children to a Catholic
school sued the state, arguing the law unconstitutionally discriminated
against them because of their religious beliefs.

The 1st Circuit ruled Oct. 22 in Eulitt v. Maine that the state had
legitimate "interests in concentrating limited state funds on its goal of
providing secular education, avoiding entanglement, and allaying concerns
about accountability that undoubtedly would accompany state oversight of
parochial schools' curricula and policies."

The appeals court cited in its decision a 2004 U.S. Supreme Court ruling,
which affirmed that state government may refuse to provide funding to
religious schools to protect church-state separation.

In that decision, Locke v. Davey, the justices ruled that states couldn't
be required to extend scholarship aid to college students training to
become members of the clergy.

Americans United for Separation of Church and State is a religious liberty
watchdog group based in Washington, D.C. Founded in 1947, the organization
educates Americans about the importance of church-state separation in the
safeguarding religious freedom.


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