US bishops’ conference supports school choice bill
Caroline MolloyTrenton, New Jersey, Bishop David M. O’Connell of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) endorsed on Jan. 30 the Educational Choice for Children Act, a bill that would provide families in all 50 states access to the school of their choice and give students opportunities for scholarships through individual or corporate philanthropy.
Bishop O’Connell, chairman of the USCCB’s Committee on Catholic Education, wrote a letter the Thursday of Catholic Schools Week to Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-Louisiana) and Rep. Adrian Smith (R-Nebraska), the sponsors of the bill.
“The Catholic Church teaches that parents are the first and primary teachers of their children and therefore have the right to select the best educational environment for their children,” he wrote. “Whether that is in a public, homeschool or private school, parents know the needs of their children.”
The Bishop explained that parental rights in education have been US law since 1925, noting that all “common schools” at the time had religious instruction.
“After being required to attend common schools with Protestant religious instruction as a part of the daily curriculum, the United States Supreme Court ruled that Catholic families have a right to send their children to Catholic schools and cannot be forced to attend a government school,” he wrote.
Bishop O’Connell noted that the Educational Choice for Children Act protects this right by providing the financial resources parents need “to select the education environment that aligns to their values and works best for their children.”
The Bishop wrote that “Blaine Amendments” are an obstacle to school choice, noting that 37 states still have such amendments in their constitutions. He explained that the amendments prohibit public funding of religious schools and that they are named “after the nakedly anti-Catholic attempt by Sen. Blaine to amend the U.S. Constitution in 1875 to deny support to ‘sectarian’ schools.”
