Teachers' Unions Condemn Supreme Court Decision Upholding Religious Freedom and School Choice - The Minnesota Sun

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

76% :"[W]ith its radical ruling in Carson v. Makin, SCOTUS again undermined public schools & the students they serve in favor of funding private religious schools that serve only a few & often discriminate against students & employees," NEA President Becky Pringle said.
66% : Union officials denounced the ruling as one that "attacks public schools," "erodes democracy," "harms students," and undermines "the separation of church and state."
65% :The Court ruled, 6-3, in Carson v. Makin, that a Maine law that governs the state's tuition program's exclusion of religious schools, while accepting other private schools, is a violation of the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment and is, therefore, unconstitutional.
59% : National and state teachers' unions condemned the Supreme Court's decision Tuesday ruling that a Maine tuition assistance program barring families from using the taxpayer funds for religious schools is in violation of the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment.
56% : They siphon limited funding away from public schools to fund the education of a few students at private schools that are not accountable to taxpayers."
51% : But once a State decides to do so, it cannot disqualify some private schools solely because they are religious,'" he noted.
50% : In a press statement, Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) said that, with this ruling, the Court "has decided that taxpayers must pay for the private religious education of others.""Remarkably and stunningly, even for this right-wing majority, this decision completely vitiates the establishment clause of the U.S. Constitution and, with it, the separation of church and state, a core constitutional principle that has bound this country together since its founding," Weingarten stated, adding:The majority not only attacks public schools and public education but threatens religious institutions and organizations by opening them up to state control and state interference.
50% : "Maine chose to allow some parents to direct state tuition payments to private schools; that decision was not 'forced upon' it."
49% :Roberts continued:The State pays tuition for certain students at private schools -- so long as the schools are not religious.
45% : The Nevada State Education Association (NSEA) claimed, "Public dollars should fund public schools that serve all students.
45% : Roberts pushed back against the dissenting views that the Court is forcing school districts to fund religious schools by pointing out the state of Maine - with its rural school districts that have no public secondary schools - need not resort to funding private secular schools.
41% : It is wrong to force taxpayers to fund a school that discriminates against our most vulnerable students when the school is supposed to substitute for public education.
30% : "Voucher programs undermine public education.

*Our bias meter rating uses data science including sentiment analysis, machine learning and our proprietary algorithm for determining biases in news articles. Bias scores are on a scale of -100% to 100% with higher negative scores being more liberal and higher positive scores being more conservative, and 0% being neutral. The rating is an independent analysis and is not affiliated nor sponsored by the news source or any other organization.