Should religious schools be an option? Should they receive public funding? Are they bad for community cohesion? What should we make of the charge that they indoctrinate? How should they be regulated? People disagree on the answers to these questions. Some maintain that religious schools should not be permitted. If parents want to raise their…

National tensions are increasing over religious freedom, education, and the relation of government and its taxing power to religious institutions. Presidents Ronald Reagan and George Bush, sectarian special interests and others have stepped up their efforts to compel all citizens to contribute involuntarily through taxes to the support of…

In deciding on the constitutionality of a variety of practices involving schools, courts have been increasingly called upon to balance the two First Amendment religious guarantees--that Congress shall not make any laws respecting the establishment nor prohibiting the free exercise of religion. This fifth chapter in a book on school law discusses…

Tuition tax credits for private elementary and secondary schools would be bad law, bad economics, and bad public policy. These points are made in this twenty-first chapter of a book on school law. Legal arguments against tax credits are based on a number of court decisions concerning church-state separation, particularly the Supreme Court decision…

Focusing on current legal issues in church, state, and school relations, this book examines four critical areas in the controversies surrounding the respective rights of public education and religious education; it then addresses the issues of state aid to and governmental regulation of parochial schools. Court opinions about religious observances…

A documented history of the political and social scene in which Australian schools operated from 1962-1984 is presented. The scope includes the goals and philosophy of schooling, the types of "religious" education, the philosophical bases for right of choice without economic discrimination, equity in funding, the social and economic…

The chapters in this book originated as papers for a conference, School Choice and Educational Change, held in March 2000 at Michigan State University. An introductory chapter provides a comparative analysis of the lessons learned from international experience with school-choice policies, based on a review of case studies in several countries. The…

This book closely examines the functioning of the Education Committee of the Sixth Illinois Constitutional Convention. As an administrative assistant to the committee throughout the convention, the author was able to gather detailed information about the committee's activities through personal observation and interviews with committee members.…

Nine chapters focus on major areas and issues in educational finance. Chapter 1, "Turning-Point Election Periods in the Politics of Education" by Laurence Innaccone, reports on research on changes in the national political context. John F. Jennings in chapter 2, "Politics of Federal Aid," discusses social, economic, and…

This book looks at the privatization of education as an ideological construct. In exploring and assessing the concept of privatized education, it focuses on the debate over private choice and school vouchers. It also looks at the development of private curriculums and educational materials created by corporations, various scholarship-funding…

This book examines the role of religion in U.S. education. The book argues that public schools and universities must take religion seriously. Written from the perspective of a philosopher and generalist, the volume asserts that people need to have a better understanding of the deep assumptions that shape their thinking about religion and education…

An overview of the process of university participation in state politics is provided, including the way in which a university interacts with the governor's office and the way it competes with other universities and other agencies for budget dollars. The following 23 articles are included: "The Influence of State Constitutional Conventions on the…

The nonpublic schools of New York State spare the taxpayers the cost of educating, at public school rates, 15.5% of the state's elementary and secondary school population. The future looks good for these schools in that enrollment trend data indicates a stable enrollment with some possible increases. However, a stabilized enrollment means…

This collection presents a sampling of opinions of both proponents and opponents in the school choice debate from a variety of professional perspectives, including academics, bureaucrats, politicians, union leaders, economists, lawyers, parents, and activists. The following essays are included: (1) "School Choice Promotes Educational…

Chapter 6 of a book on school law, this chapter deals with the financial support of schools. According to the author, the constitutionality of state support programs continued to be a major issue in school finance litigation during the past year. The number of cases involving financial aspects of programs for children with special needs increased,…