Written by Don Byrd
Religious liberty advocates are joining the dispute over school vouchers in Louisiana. The program was ruled an unconstitutional diversion of funds away from the public school system back in December. In a friend of the court brief filed Friday, organizations including the Interfaith Alliance urged the state’s appeals court to affirm the trial court’s ruling, and gave them an additional reason: the program improperly funds religious exercise. The News Star has more.
“This voucher system has been a disaster,” [attorney Charles Kincade] said. “Millions of tax dollars have been shoveled into religious schools, at the expense of our starving public system. Public money is now being used for religious instruction, including textbooks that proclaim that many Africans are illiterate because they are not Christians.”
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“Although the Constitution gives parents the right to send their children to private, religious schools if they so choose, nothing requires the state to fund these at taxpayer expense,”
You can read the brief here. An Interfaith Alliance press release is here.
