Editorial: School Choice Case Headed to the U.S. Supreme Court. Restore Role of Parents

We are not against government. We simply maintain that government begins in the family. Good governance recognizes the first government of the family and follows the social ordering and good governance principle of subsidiarity by deferring to the smallest governing unit; not usurping but empowering and helping families. The current overly federalized approach to education in the United States is failing. It is time for a change and parental (school) choice is the change that is needed.

CHESAPEAKE, VA (Catholic Online) - One of the important public policy issues making its way through the Courts is "school choice" or more accurately, "Parental Choice" - since parents are the ones who should make the educational decision for their children. The unwillingness of those in charge of the Federal Educational Bureaucracy to consider this approach at a time when we all know the educational system is broken exposes the difference between rhetoric and reality. To support "Parental Choice in Education" is to affirm that Parents are the ones who should be able to make the choice of how to best extend their own teaching mission outside of the home. The proper role of Government is to support the first government in the home. Rather than focus on the word "School" - which is then used to arouse a "public" school vs. "private" school debate - we should use the term "Parental Choice". After all, it is Parents who are the first teachers of their children and the family is the first school. This is where the coming policy debate should focus. We are not against government. We simply maintain that government begins in the family. Good governance recognizes the first government of the family and follows the social ordering and good governance principle of subsidiarity by deferring to the smallest governing unit; not usurping but empowering and helping families. The current overly federalized approach to education in the United States is failing. The teaching of the Catholic Church on the primacy of parents in the educational mission is not only clear; it is refreshingly forthright and helpful. If understood properly, and presented by actively involved Catholics, it can provide insights for our National Educational policy. The primacy of marriage - and the family founded upon it - as the first cell of society, the first church, first government, first school, first hospital, first economy, and the first mediating institution of the broader society is at the heart of Catholic Social Thought. A just and efficient philosophy of government should be founded upon the understanding that the family is the first government and that all other government must first be at its service. In his marvelous apostolic exhortation on the family entitled "The Role of the Christian family in the Modern World" (Familiaris Consortio) the Venerable Pope John Paul II affirmed the social and political role of the family and called for the development of a "family politics". The teaching of the Catholic Church on the primacy of parents in the education of their children is fundamental. Catholics should embrace this challenge to develop a "family politics". We desperately need it.  It is time to help people understand that what is really behind the issue of Parental Choice in education - the recognition of the family as the first school and first vital cell of human society. Parents are the first teachers of their children and all education begins in the home. We need to acknowledge the right of parents to choose for their own children where they go to school. That choice should include the full array of options, public, private, parochial, charter and home schools, no matter what their economic status. Education outside of the home is an extension of the parental role and should recognize and defer to the parents primary role in the educational mission. These children are not, in the words of the US Supreme Courts' Wisconsin v Yoder decision "....mere creatures of the State". The family is the first government and the first school house. We have forgotten that objective truth as a Nation and we are reaping the consequences. Here is an insight taken from the Apostolic Exhortation "Familiaris Consortio": "The right and duty of parents to give education is essential, since it is connected with the transmission of human life; it is original and primary with regard to the educational role of others, on account of the uniqueness of the loving relationship between parents and children; it is irreplaceable and inalienable, and therefore incapable of being entirely delegated to others or usurped by others..." In his "Letter to Families" the late Pope wrote "Parents are the first and most important educators of their own children, and they also possess a fundamental competence in this area; they are educators because they are parents. They share their educational mission with other individuals or institutions, such as the Church and the State. But the mission of education must always be carried out in accordance with a proper application of the Principle of Subsidiarity." "This implies the legitimacy and indeed the need of giving assistance to the parents, but finds its intrinsic and absolute limit in their prevailing right and actual capabilities. The principle of subsidiarity is thus at the service of parental love, meeting the good of the family unit. For parents by themselves are not capable of satisfying every requirement of the whole process of raising children; especially in matters concerning their schooling and the entire gamut of socialization. "Subsidiarity thus complements paternal and maternal love and confirms its fundamental nature, inasmuch as all other participants in the process of education are only able to carry out their responsibilities in the name of the parents, with their consent and, to a certain degree, with their authorization." Parental (School) Choice is an idea whose time has come. It is a matter of true social justice, not what is masquerading as social justice in some circles these days. The opposition of some in control of the teachers unions to such a just approach to educational policy and fundamental fairness shows how far some of these mediating associations have strayed from their primary role. They fail to defer to the first mediating institution of the family. Parental choice in education is right for our children, right for our parents and right for our Nation. The newest case comes from the State of Arizona. The US Supreme Court announced on May 24 that it will hear arguments in the case of Garriott v. Winn. The Court is asked to consider the constitutionality of an Arizona law which gives residents a State tax credit when they donate to what are called "School Tuition organizations."

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These organizations in turn provide assistance to students. Arizona has at least 55 of these "School Tuition Organizations". They have distributed $50 million to 27,000 students. These grants have enabled needy students to attend 370 private schools in grades K-12. This includes religious schools, if the parents so choose. The Catholic Church operates two such scholarship organizations. Ron Johnson is the Executive Director of the Arizona Catholic Conference. Speaking for the Church he calls parental choice in education "one of our largest priorities." He also notes that similar organizations exist for other religiously affiliated schools. In fact, under the State program any religious or private entity can establish such a scholarship organization in order to distribute such funds.  The Arizona program began in 1997. It has successfully overcome efforts by the ACLU to strike it down. They have argued that since religiously based schools are involved in the program, it somehow violates the establishment clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. Advocates of the program point out that the government does not collect or distribute the scholarship funds. Rather, it is handled entirely by individuals and private organizations. Further, that no one religion is favored and religious schools are simply a part of the program along with many other options. In 2009, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals held that the program was unconstitutional.  Attorneys for the state of Arizona, and several other parties have asked the US Supreme Court to review the case. They will do so in their fall term. This is an important case and one which we will be following very closely. It is time to restore the rightful role of parents in the education of their children. Pray and act. It is time for a "family politics".

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