Religious schools could get public funding pending Supreme Court decision

The U.S. Supreme Court, with a conservative supermajority, will begin hearing arguments Wednesday in an education case involving voucher programs and could rule to require public funding for religious schools.

The case, Carson v. Makin, out of Maine, involves a family in a small town without a high school that gives vouchers to families.  The Carsons wanted their daughter to attend a religious high school, but their town restricted the voucher to public schools.

Legal experts believe the decision in this case will lead to church-sponsored charter schools operating with public funds in many cities, the Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday. The decision could indicate whether the Supreme Court is open to striking down “Blaine amendments” to 36 state constitutions — including California’s — that bar the use of public money for religious schools. Maine does not have a Blaine amendment.

The Maine case follows the Supreme Court’s ruling in Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue, which said states can’t ban religious schools from choice programs simply because they’re religious. The ruling didn’t, however, say whether states could exclude them because they might spend the money on religious instruction.

California doesn’t have a voucher program, or education savings accounts, as they’re often called. But a group in favor of them has begun collecting signatures to qualify a November 2022 ballot measure that would give every family tuition — $14,000 initially — to put in an education savings account that could be used to attend a participating district, charter or accredited private or religious school.