Blaine Amendment has outlived its usefulness
It's time to consider state funding of some aspects of religious school education
Jonathan Tobin, editor of JNS.org writes -
Why aren’t Jews supporting a court challenge to Montana’s striking down of tax credits for parochial education rooted in 19th-century prejudice?
The time of Jews' fears of mingling of church and state has come to an end.
We reported on the Montana case last week. Its implications for Jewish education are wide and deep.
(January 23, 2020 / JNS) The majority of American Jews who
identify as politically liberal and are largely secular may not think they have
much in common with the parents who send their children to the Stillwater
Christian School in remote Kalispell, Mont. Stillwater Christian is an avowedly
evangelical establishment located in a town in the remote northwestern part of
the state nestled among national forests and parks.
But like many families throughout the country that look to
private and parochial schools to provide an alternative to public schools that
are either failing or don’t provide a curriculum that supports their values,
many of the parents at Stillwater Christian struggle to pay the tuitions that
nonpublic institutions are forced to charge. That’s why people like Karen
Espinoza, a single mother of two daughters who holds two low-income jobs to
make ends meet, cheered when the Montana State Legislature passed a 2015 law
that gave tax credits to donors who funded private schools. The legislation,
similar to other education tax-credit schemes in 17 other states, enabled
scholarship programs that kept Espinoza’s children in the school she feels is
best for them.
The thought provoking article can be read in its entirety
here.
What do you think?
The Alisa Fund for Jewish Education accepts contributions. Checks may be mailed to the Jewish Community Foundation, 901 Route 10, Whippany, NJ 07981.
