Church Schools & Public Money : The Politics of Parochiaid

"Parochiaid" - any form of direct or indirect aid to parochial and other nonpublic elementary and secondary schools - has given rise to the most enduring, bitter, and important controversy in the history of American education and church-state relations.Edd Doerr and Albert J. Menendez, examining and critiquing the attitudes and activities of federal, state, and local government regarding parochiaid, offer a searing indictment of the resurgent drive to support sectarian schools wtih tax dollars. Concentrating on the last five decades, during which the parochiaid lobbies have gained in influence, the authors reveal that lawmakers in forty-two states have increased tax support of church schools to more than $1 billion per year - despite the fact that voters have rejected such aid in seventeen of eighteen statewide referenda held since 1966. Church Schools and Public Money includes a state-by-state survey of the most generous giveaways; revealing statistics on nonpublic school enrollments; and an examination of the biases taught by sectarian schools, particularly those operated by Protestant fundamentalists.The authors skillfully summarize the case against parochiaid and uncover the faulty reasoning of its advocates. According to Doerr and Menendez, the sectarian special interests and their political allies threaten democratic public education and the constitutional separation of church and state.