Oct. 25, 2005 – Proposals to allow families displaced by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita to use federal money to send their children to a school of their choosing, whether it be religious or not, is coming under attack from education organizations, civil liberties groups and other proponents of the separation between church and state. Some accuse voucher supporters of using the hurricane tragedies to promote a political agenda.
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A number of states and local school districts have been experimenting with vouchers for several years, but, as of yet, there is no federal program of the sort. Both the proposed Bush plan and congressional bill, if implemented, would mark the first time such a program would go national.
Bush initially proposed vouchers for displaced students in September. The suggestion drew immediate criticism.
Last week, Senators Edward Kennedy (D-Massachusetts) and Mike Enzi (R-Wyoming) proposed a similar measure that would give parents from the storm-ravaged areas as much as $6,000 to use toward tuition at private schools. Children with disabilities could receive as much as $7,500, according to a Kennedy statement announcing the bill last week
In statements over the past several weeks, a growing chorus of voices has been warning that the Bush administration proposal is a stealth effort to expand the reach of programs that allow parents to use taxpayer money to move their children from underperforming public schools to private ones. They charge that the Kennedy-Enzi bill could be used to the same ends.
Opponents of vouchers argue that the program has two major flaws. First, by taking the money out of the neediest public schools, vouchers further exacerbate a growing national problem. Second, when vouchers are used to put students in privately run religious schools, the separation of church and state enshrined in the Constitution is violated.
In a statement opposing the Kennedy-Enzi measure released Friday, Ralph G. Neas, president of People for the American Way, a liberal organization, warned that since private schools are free from many of the restraints placed on public schools, the federal monies could end up supporting religious discrimination in hiring, another constitutional violation.
"There is a better alternative to help public- and private-school students affected by the hurricane," Neas said. "The Senate can and should use an already-existing mechanism called ‘equitable participation,’ which would hold private schools accountable for the use of public funds, as well as resolve any constitutional questions."
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In a press statement released by the American Civil Liberties Union, the group said, "Supporters of the bills are inappropriately taking advantage of the Hurricane Katrina tragedy to enact a national voucher program under the guise of providing educational relief for displaced children."
