The definition of public education is changing rapidly and radically in our current political landscape. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the debate over publicly funded school voucher systems, which direct taxpayer funds to parents to offset the cost of tuition at the private schools of their choice. Tina Cheuk and Rand Quinn address how three spheres of influence – the courts, the executive branch, and public opinion — are contributing to a slow dismantlement of the wall between the church and the state.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
ChengA.HendersonM.B.PetersonP.E.WestM. (2019). Public support climbs for teacher pay, school expenditures, charter schools, and universal vouchers. Education Next, 19 (1).
2.
DeVosB. (2018, June28). How we can catch up to other countries in education. Education Week.
3.
DynarskiM.RuiN.WebberA.GutmannB. (2018). Evaluation of the DC Opportunity Scholarship Program: Impacts two years after students applied (NCEE 2018-4010). Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance.
EppleD.RomanoR.E.UrquiolaM. (2017). School vouchers: A survey of the economics literature. Journal of Economic Literature, 55 (2), 441–492.
6.
Everson v. Board of Education, 330 U.W. 1 (1947).
7.
KleinA. (2018, May16). DeVos: State bans on public money to religious schools should go to “ash heap of history.” Education Week.
8.
McCarthyM. (2016). Religious challenges to school voucher and tax benefit/scholarship programs. Peabody Journal of Education, 91 (4), 473–489.
9.
PetersonP.E. (2017, August30). Secret finding from PDK poll: Support for vouchers is rising. Education Next.
10.
Pew Research Center. (2018, August29). The religious typology. A new way to categorize Americans by religion. Washington, DC: Author.
11.
QuinnR.CheukT. (2018). School vouchers in the Trump era: How political ideology and religion shape public opinion. Consortium for Policy Research in Education (CPRE) Policy Brief, #18 -1.
12.
Secretary’s proposed supplemental priorities and definitions for discretionary grant programs. 82 Fed. Reg. 47484 (October12, 2017).
13.
Trinity Lutheran Church of Colombia, Inc. v. Comer, 137 S.Ct. 2012 (2017).
14.
U.S. Department of Education. (2018). Fiscal year 2019 education budget, summary and background Information. Washington, DC: Author.
15.
WalshM. (2018, July11). Kavanaugh has supported public school prayers, religious school vouchers. Education Week.
