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Maine Choice Battle

School choice continues to be an issue in Maine.

Jan 1, 2007

Some argue that you can not have true choice in education until children are allowed to select from all schools. Others argue that religious schools can not be included.

Maine Supreme Court

The Maine Supreme Court refused to hear a case recently which allows an old ruling to stand. That ruling prohibits tuition to be paid to parochial schools when there is no high school in the town of residence.

Example

Let's pretend that you are a parent of a high school student and there is no high school in your district. The State of Maine will pay your tuition for you to attend a private or public school in-state or even out-of-state. However, if the nearest school is a parochial school, Maine will not pay for the tuition.

1983 Ruling

It was a tradition for the state to pay tuition to private and parochial schools until 1983 when the state attorney general said the program violated the U.S. Constitution's Establishment Clause. Parents are contesting this ruling using Cleveland as a precedent. Inner-city students in Cleveland are allowed to attend parochial schools and tuition is paid. Milwaukee has had a successful voucher system for over 16 years. Edmonton, Canada has a system that allows for true parental choice.

Separation of Church and State

This separation issue is rather interesting. Other free countries do not seem to have the same view as the United States. Some free nations will pay for tuition for all subject areas except religious instruction. For example, if 90% of the day is spent on non-religious instruction, the tuition will be paid at 90% by the state to the religious school. The rationale is that parents of students attending parochial schools pay taxes and their children should benefit from an education with those taxes.

What about colleges? The U.S. has a large number of private and religious-based colleges. Notre Dame, St. John's, Bethel, Macalester, Pepperdine, Creighton, Georgetown, Brigham Young, Centre, and Willamette all have a religious base. State and federal funding in the form of loans and grants go to these institutions without the "church and state" issue getting in the way. In fact, funding for college may be two to three times more money than at the high school level.

The Maine ruling closes the door to Maine parents but other states, like Florida, are also fighting this battle. The wheels of change move very slowly in education.

Read previous articles on Educational Issues.

The copyright of the article Maine Choice Battle in Educational Issues is owned by Barbara Pytel. Permission to republish Maine Choice Battle in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.