This editorial first appeared in the Peninsula Clarion:
One of the sponsors of legislation that would have Alaskans to vote to amend the state constitution to allow public funds to go directly to private or religious schools insists that funding should not be part of the current debate.
If passed by a two-thirds vote in the state House and Senate, the legislation would put a constitutional amendment before Alaska voters to change two parts of the constitution. It would remove language that prohibits public funds being paid directly to private of religious schools. And it would add language the requirement that public money only be spent for a public purpose by stating that requirement would not prevent funds from being used for the “direct educational benefit of students.”
In some respects, we agree with Rep. Wes Keller, a Wasilla Republican. Certainly, a discussion of a school voucher program, which passage of a constitutional amendment would allow, is relevant to the debate.
But before we even get to that discussion, we need to take a step back and understand the profound significance of what is being proposed. The suggestion that the constitution be amended to allow public funds to be allocated to private or religious institutions runs counter to the bedrock principles of American democracy.
Rep. Keller, it seems, should know this — he’s also pushing legislation to require that Alaska public schools teach “American Constitutionalism.”
Providing public funds to private institutions raises numerous legal and ethical questions. How does the public track the way that money is spent? If a private school accepts public money, can it continue to be exclusive in the students it admits? What if a private institution receiving public funds teaches values that run counter to anti-discrimination laws, or teaches a curriculum that does not meet current standards?
Beyond political philosophy and education policy, the proposed constitutional amendment would set up a system that would benefit a small number of Alaskans, arguably to the detriment of the vast majority. That in and of itself should be enough for this legislation to be rejected.
It hardly sounds like government “instituted solely for the good of the people as a whole,” as set forth in the Alaska Constitution’s Declaration of Rights.
Comments (10)
Add comment"Alaska Editorial"
While I happen to agree with the thesis of this editorial, I find the titling of it as an "Alaska Editorial" a bit off-putting.
Morris Communications owns the Juneau Empire and the Peninsula Clarion, so to somehow imply that they speak for all of Alaska is more than a little presumptuous. And previous editorials with the same lofty prefix have clearly been written by the far-right shot-callers in Augusta, Georgia.
Whether I agree with them or not, I don't want someone in Georgia claiming to speak for me. Thank you very much.
Clear the cache...
... Instead of printing new material, JE can just hit the reset button on the comments.
Questions for Rep. Weller
This change would allow public funds for ALL religious institutions, regardless of faith or creed?
Islamist? Seventh Day Adventist? Papa Pilgrim's Baptist School? Catholic? Sun Myung Moon?
And the funding would be equal for ALL lest the State find itself in a religious discrimination law suit?
Have you really thought this through?
Crusade Games
Just think of the awesomenss of having the Chrisitan schools play the Muslim schools in sports like football and hockey. Bring On the Crusade Games!
more than just religious schools
exist in the private schools sector There has been an onslaught of private nonreligious based schools appearing in the education business. It a simple profit motivated idea created by the idea that all private school will make your kid better than public schools. When states allow anyone to open the doors and call themselves a school it does not take long for the con-men to figure out how to get a piece of the pie.
Open your school where the state has no regulations regarding teacher certification, school having to be accredited, or facilities that have no educational standards and you've found your way to the trough of vouchers. Profit potential are plentiful for these schools.
Alaska editorial on constitutional amendment
Don't you have someone that reviews editorials for spelling/typos before publishing? If you do, they should be replaced.
I think the exsperiment has failed...
I remember when they began this whole "taking God out of school" business. Its only taken one generation for this change to do this much damage. We all knew what the end result would be but they had to have it their way. They just couldn't see the end result of having no morality within a society. I remember them saying "you don't have to have God to be a moral person." Where do you think "morality" comes from, ...the same place our laws come from.
Our founders never envisioned a government void of people of faith. There are many such references throughout our founders comments that refer to our nation in a state of collapse should the moral center of this once great nation ever fail to understand the influence God has upon it. Now we have seen first hand what our nation has become, we need our children to understand respect and to have an understanding of the principles that only come from a nation of morally minded people. Respect for "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." The lie that has been spread throughout this country that misreported the so called "separation of Church and State" has born its fruit and it was a real lemon.
Our founders did not want a state run religion (that's all), but they did not intend to have government twist that meaning and begin to choke out religion from every corner of our society. Our nation should be helping our churches to strengthen and regain their natural place within it. What we have seen is a disdain for things pertaining to God, a fear of it as though it were evil its self. If you take away that which protects you from evil, evil will have free reign!
I say we allow our State to begin the process of healing our future citizens through simply giving a helping hand to the one form of education that is the last standing institution that is producing better students than any "public educational system" in the country. You might be old enough to remember when our children didn't think of killing everyone around them. Something changed, it was when our society granted those who believed they could do without God that things began to take on a dark path.
The goods news is that we can choose to stop this destructive way and correct it. This amendment is a good start, let the State help grow the many forms of religious educational facilities that was stripped from us and you will see a responsible group of young adults begin to once again spring forth into society...
If you want a private education for your children....
Then pony up. Don't ask the government to pay for it.
What's being said here?
"The suggestion that the constitution be amended to allow public funds to be allocated to private or religious institutions runs counter to the bedrock principles of American democracy."
Interestingly enough the writer of this dribble then states;
"Rep. Keller, it seems, should know this — he’s also pushing legislation to require that Alaska public schools teach “American Constitutionalism.”
It is the ignorance of the Constitution that inspires articles like this one! The proposed amendment would require the education of students of the principles throughout our founding documents, ...and this is "bad?"
This writer injects the assumption that somehow teaching the very principles wherein our nation was founded is undermining the bedrock principles of American democracy? If this Constitutionally uneducated person would have been the recipient of such teachings while receiving their public education they would not be making such ignorant statements.
Our "Republic" was never meant to be a "democracy." That's why we have a Constitution! The rules (if you will) to govern a free people are not to be striped away by congress nor vote of the people, granted by God and "unalienable." Folks, these are basic principles that a child can understand (and should)...
mpshake
Read the Constituion and count the number of times our Founders used the word "God".
Tick, tick,tick,tick, tick......