Since news came that the Wisconsin Supreme Court voted in favor of vouchers being used toward tuition in religious schools, cries of doom and gloom have come from many sources.
These sources are predicting everything from the ruin of public schools to the destruction of the often-misunderstood amendment on the separation of church and state. Naysayers predict that the U.S. Supreme Court will never support vouchers to non-public school parents, nor would the court support any kind of tuition tax credits.
Often the excuse of state legislators for not supporting funds for alternative education is that such a bill is unconstitutional. I would be happy to see the Supreme Court tackle some of the current legislation. In the 1925 landmark decision Pierce vs. Society of Sisters, the Supreme Court recognized the right of Catholic schools to exist as a valid alternative for public schools, thereby giving Catholic schools judicial status as public education institutions. These “public schools” offer taxpayers one more dimension: they allow students to learn in a context of religion and moral values.
Parents whose children are in non-public schools or religious schools are taxpayers who deserve to choose which school is best for their children. The United States is the only country in the free world that does not give some support to religious schools.
It is time for America to come of age and have enough security to recognize the richness of an educational system with true options for parents and children.
