As Republicans aim to inject more religion into public schools, the landscape of private education could change.
Red states are adding chaplains to district health programs, requiring the Ten Commandments in all classrooms and mandating that the Bible be taught in lesson plans – increasingly offering a Christian education at public school prices.
The new measures are being litigated in the courts, but a future in which they are considered legal could mean a significant change in private school enrollment.
“This is all based on these things not being overturned in court and actually being implemented in public schools. If they are actually implemented in schools, I think you will see more progressive and generally non-religious families seeking private education,” said Neil McCluskey, director of the Center for Educational Freedom at the CATO Institute.
Louisiana was sued almost immediately after signing its law mandating the Ten Commandments, with state-mandated signs suspended amid the legal challenge.
Florida and Texas have not faced any lawsuits over their move to allow chaplains to work as school counselors, but someone could be waiting in the wings as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) said he would not allow individuals from the Temple of Satan participate in the program.
Oklahoma has also yet to face a legal challenge over its new requirement to integrate the Bible into school lesson plans, but an effort in the state to establish the nation’s first openly religious school was shot down last month.
Although some say these measures are clearly unconstitutional, experts admit it is an opportune time to push for them.
“If we didn’t have this extreme shift to the right with the U.S. Supreme Court, this would be a very easy issue. [the laws] would be knocked down […] but the current Supreme Court has not shown much hesitation in reversing previous precedent, and therefore all bets are off,” said Kevin Welner, a professor in the College of Education at the University of Colorado at Boulder.
“And clearly that’s what lawmakers are thinking. They’re thinking, ‘Well, sure, there are precedents, but the Supreme Court could easily overturn them,’ and I think the chances are that the court will,” Welner added.
If these laws are upheld and more states follow suit, experts say private school enrollment could be shaken in several ways: Seeking to avoid Christian indoctrination could flee to private institutions.
States that pass these laws are also in favor of the school choice movement, with many establishing education savings accounts (ESAs) that give parents a certain amount of compensation for seeking out education options other than the public school in their area.
Currently, at least five states have implemented universal ESA accounts, and several others have some version of the program in place.
“I think in the context of the growth of taxpayer-funded private schools, in other words, voucher laws […] I guess I will say that with public schools there is an incentive for parents now to take taxpayer money and take their kids out of public schools” and go to private, secular schools, Welner said.
“I think that will be true to some extent. How much of this happens likely depends on how much religion is infused into public schools, but it’s an easier way out because of taxpayer-funded vouchers. The number of people leaving the country due to objections to the infusion of religion in public schools could increase,” he added.
McCluskey notes, however, that “most private schools tend to be religious.”
“And then those that are not religious tend to be the higher-cost independent private schools, so there would be more difficulty if you were looking for non-religious schooling options.” he said. “At least in the short term, if there was a growing demand for private options that are not religious, I think we would see more supply grow.”
There are approximately 30,000 private schools in the United States, with approximately 5.5 million students attending in 2021.
The largest group of private schools are Catholic institutions, at 33.4 percent. Secular schools come in second at 25.5 percent, and the remainder are religious but not Catholic.
“I think you would see some people attending public schools who went to private schools,” McCluskey said. “That said, I don’t think you would see a huge exodus because a lot of private school students, at least those I hear from, […] they want a strongly religious education. So not only is there some prayer and some Bible reading, but it permeates everything.”
Christian schools, for their part, say they are encouraged to see some religion back in public schools, but emphasize that their approach is completely different.
“While I believe that people need to be shaped by an objective standard of law, like the Ten Commandments, unless we directly engage students to help anchor them in the world God created, then all they learn is content, propositional information or ideas,” said Michael Phillips, principal of Smith Prep, a Christian school in Florida.
“And I don’t believe that education, and I don’t believe that most Christian educators believe that propositional information is the end of education. So just introducing those elements into a public school, for example, doesn’t mean the public school is doing the right thing with that information if all they’re doing is giving them information to regurgitate,” Phillips added.
This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story
