Consistent with our brief submitted last year to the Wisconsin Supreme Court stressing that government subsidies to parochial schools are unconstitutional, the American Jewish Congress views the recent decision that allows taxpayer money to send students to non-secular institutions as a frightening attempt to dismantle the wall that separates church from state.
The American Jewish Congress, concerned that the ruling jeopardizes fundamental religious liberties protected by this longstanding tradition, vigorously opposes the decision.
In one swift move, the Wisconsin Supreme Court repudiated the constitutional doctrine, consistently upheld by a majority of the high court, that the mere fact that the government funds secular causes does not permit it to equally fund religious ones.
This ruling will no doubt soon confront the U.S. Supreme Court with a fundamental choice–to preserve the principle that the Constitution imposes stringent and special restrictions on government funding of religion–a policy that has allowed religion and religious liberty to flourish–or to embark on an uncharted course and put at risk the religious liberty Americans enjoy.
Beyond its implications for constitutional doctrine, the decision is an unfortunate call to abandon public education. While the voucher system commits the state not to changing public schools but to forsaking them, giving parents an expanding list of schools to choose from will only exacerbate the problem. More and more funds will continue to evade proven public school programs.
Moreover, community-building values traditionally fostered by public education will collapse at the hands of private institutions, secular and non-secular.
We do not have to look far to see how innovation and vision can transform a public school system. The Chicago public schools, under the stewardship of CEO Paul Vallas and board president Gery Chico, have undergone a major transformation. This is an example of how change and improvement can be made within a public school system without resorting to the abandonment of constitutional principles.
