In an Unprecedented Move, Ohio Is Funding the Construction of Private Religious Schools

[Nevilledog]

https://www.propublica.org/article/ohio-taxpayer-money-funding-private-religious-schools


The state of Ohio is giving taxpayer money to private, religious schools to help them build new buildings and expand their campuses, which is nearly unprecedented in modern U.S. history.

While many states have recently enacted sweeping school voucher programs that give parents taxpayer money to spend on private school tuition for their kids, Ohio has cut out the middleman. Under a bill passed by its Legislature this summer, the state is now providing millions of dollars in grants directly to religious schools, most of them Catholic, to renovate buildings, build classrooms, improve playgrounds and more.

The goal in providing the grants, according to the measure’s chief architect, Matt Huffman, is to increase the capacity of private schools in part so that they can sooner absorb more voucher students.

“The capacity issue is the next big issue on the horizon” for voucher efforts, Huffman, the Ohio Senate president and a Republican, told the Columbus Dispatch.

*snip*

[SamKnause]

1. Fuck that shit !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Our tax dollars are not suppose to support any religion.

I don't want to live in a theocracy !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Fuck this shit !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Damn, what the fuck is wrong with this country ???

[Freethinker65]

2. If I was an Ohio taxpayer, I would want an itemized accounting of where the money goes available.

I would also like to compare the public money spent on private schools to money spent on maintaining and modernizing public schools per student.

I trust public money for private projects such as improving football fields and other extracurricular athletic expenses (weight training/locker rooms, etc) are prohibited? This is, afterall, supposedly about academics..

[SamKnause]

3. K&R.

[JT45242]

4. Was a teacher in Ohio for 20 years -- this is not surprising at all (also illegal)

It completely violates the establishment clause of the first amendment. (required to take Catholic catechism classes)

It violates equal protections and due process of the 14th amendment since Catholic schools can discriminate based on not only religion but also protected categories like disabilities. They can steal precious resources from public schools while leaving behind the more expensive (on a per pupil basis) students with special needs.

It used to be that title funds (like set asides for textbooks passed through to the catholic schools) -- however, when the Catholic school replaced a textbook they were required by law to the return the physical books to the corresponding public school. I remember how shocked my principal was when I said that rather than recycle or throw those textbooks away as had been done in the past that we might be able to sell them to a used textbook dealer. We got between $2-5 per textbook. It was only a couple grand, but at least we were able to salvage a little money out of the transaction.

They want to strip money from public education to make an army of followers for their christofascist takeover of the country. Then the students left behind in the public schools will recive such poor education that they will have no choice but to take low paying poverty wage jobs because they will be lacking in skills needed for escaping the cycles of pverty.

[Clouds Passing]

5. Take away their federal educations dollars

[SheltieLover]

6. The not-so-great of repuglican hellhole TN is always flirting with refusing to take Fed ED $ so they don't have to

follow Federal Ed requirements. But they just can't seem to force themselves to turn their back on all that money...

[Timeflyer]

7. Republican state politicians love to give tax dollars to school privatizers,

because conservative billionaire donors may return some of that money to those politicians, who make the voucher programs that keep the grift going until--public education is destroyed. Hurray for capitalism!