Summary of a panel discussion on the voucher system. (MLF)

Private education is crucial to the vitality of this nation, and public policy should strengthen rather than diminish it. In spite of chronic complications, the nonpublic school movement has remained vigorous and strong. Over 5.3 million young people--10 percent of all elementary and secondary students--are enrolled in nonpublic institutions.…

This study examined Chief Justice William Rehnquist's position on four recent Supreme Court cases related to parochaid as well as four other Supreme Court rulings dealing with economic or racial discrimination. The presentation of this study's research should present one perspective on how and why the Establishment Clause is being rewritten and…

Negotiated Tuition is a program, appropriate to private schools, in which a school representative discusses in an interview with parents what the school provides, what the per pupil costs are, and what the parents feel they can afford to pay in tuition. It is assumed that parents enroll their children in nonpublic schools because they believe it…

This paper examines the legal questions involved in public financial support and resulting public control of private schools in both Canada and the U.S. Three factors are responsible for increased public interest in private schools in recent years, the paper states: increased educational costs, concern over the concept of equal education, and…

This short paper is part of a collection of 54 papers from the 48th annual conference of the Education Law Association held in November 2002. It discusses educational voucher programs. It states that proponents of voucher programs, having scored a major victory in the U.S. Supreme Court with "Zelman v. Simmons-Harris" (2002), will…

An overview of several countries' experiences in financing private elementary and secondary education is provided in this paper. The first section presents some general observations about government finance of private schools. These observations are drawn from experience in Australia, Canada, the Federal Republic of Germany, and the Netherlands.…

This paper analyzes current court cases that address the relationships among church, state, and education, describing how government and religion have been intertwined through most of history. With the rise of democracies, however, and the recognition of abuses perpetrated by religio-government alliances, the separation of church and state became…

Major issues confronting private schools for exceptional children are identified by Charles J. O'Malley, a U.S. Department of Education official. These issues include: identifying the private education community, federal and state cutbacks in education funding, the federal role in education and the continued existence of the Department of…

After a brief synopsis of the 1974 legal activity centering on the church-state relationship, the speaker examines three particular cases: the United States Supreme Court decision in Wheeler v. Barrera, a Missouri district court decision in Luetkemeyer v. Kaufmann, and the Supreme Court decision in Franchise Tax Board of California v. United…

This paper examines the Cleveland Scholarship and Tuition Program (CSTP), a program initiated in 1996 that was the first in the U.S. to offer state-funded scholarships that can be redeemed at both secular and parochial schools. To gather information about the program, a telephone survey of 2,020 CSTP applicants, 1,006 of which did not enroll in…

This paper gives an account of the thoughts of Cornelius Van Til on the contemporary Christian school movement. An account of the historical development of Christian compromise is given, followed by a critique of the compromise among contemporary Christian educators. Van Til claims that any educational position which falls short of being founded…

This paper discusses Supreme Court decisions that have affected the ability of children with disabilities in private schools to receive publicly funded services. First, the court case of Aguilar vs. Felton, which found that Title 1 services provided to educationally deprived children in parochial schools violated the Establishment Clause, is…

The pace is intensive in church-state legislative activity and litigation and shows every sign of increasing. Moreover, there is a blatant disrespect for Supreme Court decisions by some State legislatures, creating in substance statutes which clearly violate constitutional permissiveness. However, the Supreme Court has begun to define more clearly…

The impact of the Chapter 2 block grant on large cities and districts was assessed through a comparison of school district funding and spending in the two years before and the two years after block grant implementation. In terms of fiscal effects and patterns, it was found that: (1) the 28 districts studied experienced smaller cuts in the two…