Written by Don Byrd
Following a letter from Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, the Arkansas Department of Education has announced a policy shift regarding the funding of faith-based schools. Tax dollars will no longer fund religious activities in the state’s pre-schools. A press release details some of the ministry that was going on at Growing God’s Kingdom in West Fork, a school that was granted more than $1 million in taxpayer funds in the last 7 years, with no guidelines to safeguard religious freedom concerns.
Staff members are required to “share thelove of Jesus” with students, and the school operates with a Christian curriculum that includes a “Bible time” for verses, stories and prayer. The handbook assures parents that staff members will “strive too [sic] ensure that your child feels the love of Jesus Christ while preparing them for Kindergarten.” The preschoolers, it continues, will be taught “the word of God” so that they can “spread the word of God to others.”
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Officials in the state began looking into the matter. In July the state Department of Education announced new rules designed to curb public funding of religious instruction.
There is nothing wrong with religious education, but it should not be funded with public money. Grants like those in Arkansas prompting this decision are even more troubling than school vouchers. Here, religious education was directly subsidized by the government, in conflict with the principle of church-state separation. Ending that practice is the right decision.
