Public Funds and Nonpublic Schools

Step One

Read Chapter 10 Public Funds and Nonpublic Schools, pp. 240-254, in your text to answer the following…

Church and State

• How did the First Amendment make funding of private and public schools a non-issue for nearly a century (p. 240)?
• How did Pierce v. Society of Sisters open the door for using public funds for church-related schools (p. 241)?
• List arguments for the use of public funds for non-public schools (p. 241).
• List arguments against the use of public funds for non-public schools (p. 241).
• Summarize the findings from the following court cases:
  • Cochran v. Louisiana State Board of Education (p. 242)
  • Everson v. Board of Education (p. 242)
  • Lemon v. Kurtzman, including the Lemon – Three Prong – Test (p. 243)

Educational Choice

• Identify nine examples of school choice (p. 248).
• Define charter school (p. 249).
• Identify eleven features shared by charter schools (pp. 249-250).
• Define school voucher (p. 251).
• Summarize the following court case and its implications: Louisiana Federation of Teachers et al. v. State of Louisiana et al (p. 254).

Step Two

Access the information about Louisiana’s charter schools and Louisiana Scholarship Program (vouchers) here.

• Identify 2-3 things about Louisiana’s charter schools that you may not have previously known or just find interesting, especially in the context of education finance.
• Identify 2-3 things about Louisiana’s Scholarship Program that you may not have previously known or just find interesting, especially in the context of education finance.
• Briefly discuss your position in regard to the use of public funds for at least one of the following: parochial schools, charter schools, or vouchers.  Justify your position while referencing at least one example of your learning from Step One.

Step Three

Using a reputable database, find and post in Moodle an article about one of the aforementioned topics:

• Church and State Relations
• Educational Choice
  • Charter Schools
  • Voucher System

Provide a summary of the article you have chosen.

Ask one intriguing/interesting/thought-provoking question that comes to mind.