Parochaid: Looking for a Loophole

Most attention in the recent election centered on the presidential, congressional, and state races, but voters in many states were presented with referendums on other issues: abortion, legalization of marijuana, and parochaid (see preceding story).

For voters in at least three states, parochaid—public tax support for private, church-related schools—was a question, and the answer was a resounding no. Maryland, Oregon, and Idaho voters rejected all ballot proposals that dealt directly or indirectly with the issue. Other states, meanwhile, have parochaid pending at various court levels, while several have had parochaid plans tested and rejected by the U. S. Supreme Court.

Despite the seeming rejection of parochaid, its supporters are as encouraged by the election results as its opponents. They point to the overwhelming reelection of President Nixon, who took a strong stand in support of parochaid during the campaign. But opponents, including Americans United for Separation of Church and State, a Protestant lobbying group, call the state results proof that voters are rejecting all forms of parochaid and are calling for maintenance of church-state separation.

In Maryland, a proposed state law to use a complicated voucher (tax credit) plan to divert $12 million annually to parochial and private schools was rejected by a 61,000-vote margin. Leading newspapers, union officials, state politicians, and other groups led the fight to get the proposal accepted. Opposing was the Maryland Committee for Public Education and Religious Liberty (PEARL) and a coalition of educational, religious, and civic groups. Under the plan, parents earning under $12,000 a year and sending children to parochial or private schools would receive “tuition grants” ranging from $75 to $200 per student.

In Oregon and Idaho, the ballot dealt less directly with parochaid. A plan to amend Oregon’s constitution to conform to the federal constitution’s “establishment of religion” clause was rejected by 60 per cent of the voters. The amendment’s supporters claim the public was never made aware that the change was meant simply to be a constitutional guarantee of freedom of religion, a guarantee already provided in the federal document. At present the state’s clause says no public money can be used for benefits to non-public schools. The change would have read: “The legislative assembly will make no law respecting the establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.…” Opponents feared the change would open the door for taxfunded benefits to flow to the private schools as now allowed under the federal clause. In Idaho, voters turned down similar constitutional changes that would have allowed tax-supported busing of non-public school students.

In New York, a state that has been the scene of a long parochaid struggle, a straw poll by the New York Daily News on election eve showed seventy per cent of state voters approving either direct aid or tax-credit aid for church-related schools. The poll, which carried no official weight, showed 32 per cent favoring direct subsidies and another 38 per cent favoring the less direct tax-credit-for-tuition system. (A tax-credit proposal was presented to Congress last month by the House Ways and Means Committee.) Under this system—favored by President Nixon and Senator George McGovern—parents would receive tax credits of up to $200 per child for tuition paid to any private nonprofit elementary or secondary school.

A New York parochaid law enacted by the state two years ago has already been ruled unconstitutional by a federal court, though the U. S. Supreme Court agreed last month to review the decision. Under the controversial plan, non-public schools were given money to cover costs of maintaining attendance records, administering state regents’ examinations, and conducting other services required of all schools by the state education authority. The schools received $28 million in 1970 and $14 million in 1971 before payments were cut off by the court action, initiated by the New York PEARL committee.

A second state proposal—this time providing tax-credit support—was approved by a lower federal court recently. PEARL filed an appeal to the Supreme Court last month.

THE POLITICS OF BIRTH

Prominent Church of England clergyman Henry Cooper of London told his denomination’s General Synod that he will resign from the priesthood if women are ordained as priests. He dropped his remark during a general debate requiring no decision, but one in which a majority of participants showed they were for eventual ordination of women.

The ministry is God’s gift to the Church, declared Cooper, and he certainly chose no women. Besides, chimed in lay delegate O. H. W. Clark, God chose to be born a man.

Missouri’s anti-parochaid law was upheld by the Supreme Court last April when it approved a lower-court ruling that barred state aid for religious purposes and institutions. A group of Roman Catholic parents with children in parochial schools had challenged the law, claiming that state denial of tax funds to them abridges their right to free exercise of their religion.

Illinois’s three parochaid laws faced court tests earlier this year. Two were approved by a circuit court while the judge “regrettably” denied the third. The two approved measures gave approximately $25 million to non-public schools for the purchase of textbooks, auxiliary services, and innovative educational programs. The third—a $4.5 million measure providing assistance to children of low-income parents—failed to pass one of three Supreme Court tests for aid and was rejected. Appeals on all three are expected. (The test that the third law failed is whether the law works for the advancement of religion, something the court says cannot be done.)

Pennsylvania has seen several parochaid laws knocked down by court rulings. The latest—a plan to pay parents $75 for each elementary and $150 for each secondary school student in non-public schools—is stalled while awaiting a Supreme Court ruling. Meanwhile, Governor Milton J. Shapp wants the state legislature to rewrite a parochial school bus bill so that federal revenue-sharing funds can be used to provide free transportation to parochial students. They are currently transported on public school buses if they live on established routes. The new funding would give parochial students the same free transportation service that public school students receive.

Ohio’s parochaid law was also rejected by the Supreme Court, upholding earlier lower-court decisions. The law would have provided tax-credit support for parents.

Two Washington state laws have been challenged in the state supreme court. One provides grants to individual students to help pay tuition and related costs. The second provides tuition assistance to church-related, privately owned colleges.

A New Hampshire federal district court also ruled recently that an agreement between a Catholic school and a state school district was unconstitutional. Under the agreement, teachers of “secular subjects” in the Nashua school district were allowed to teach in parochial schools, while their salaries were paid from public funds. The court said it felt that the partnership took church and state beyond the realm of association or even entanglement—that the public and parochial facilities had in effect been merged.

Parochaid laws in Vermont and local plans in New Jersey were also blocked by court action.

Catholics credit Nixon’s parochaid and anti-abortion stands with helping swing the normally Democratic Roman Catholic vote into his column.

However, the President is now faced with shepherding the Ways and Means Committee bill through both houses of a congress cautioned by the recent court rulings and voter decisions.

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