Arizona, like several other states, lets people get tax credits if they give money to organizations that in turn give scholarships for children who wish to attend a private school.
In fact, Arizona kids can get financial help this way, even if they want to attend a religious school.
The ACLU and the public school establishment didn’t like this, so a legal challenge ensued, with the claim that helping a kid attend school at St. Ignatius somehow sends us down the road to a theocracy.
Today the U.S. Supreme Court rejected that idea, giving the Arizona program a green light to go. (Ruling in PDF.)
As a result, kids in Arizona have more options in where they can get an education. And as Justice Kennedy noted, perhaps taxpayers will save some money too. Not only do many private schools spend less than government-run schools, but if a kid actually learns something because of being able to attend a private school, we all avoid wasting money on his education.
Should Michigan embrace such a plan and join Arizona, Pennsylvania, and other states? I’d like to see it happen, but some religious bigotry prevents it from happening. The state labors under its own version of a Blaine Amendment, a law enacted in many states by Protestants who wanted to keep Catholics from having any influence in the government-run schools, which in the day were controlled by Protestants.
Ironically, Protestants, at least of the theologically conservative variety, soon complained that they were facing discrimination in public schools. Meanwhile, thousands of Michigan children are denied by their economic status and bigotry from having more opportunities in their schooling.
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