As proponents of Christian education have been finding legal ways to get taxpayer money, which is more typically used for public schools, Ohio has set up a universal voucher program that gives any family in the state tuition to nonpublic schools.
The idea is if the state has a program that is generally accessible to the public, then all similarly situated organizations have the right to access those programs; an organization cannot be discriminated against simply because it is religious.
The nonprofit Americans United for Separation of Church and State (AU), however, argues that when taxpayer money is "forcibly taken from them and devoted to religions instruction of a faith to which those taxpayers do not subscribe," then it becomes unconstitutional and unprecedented in scope.
According to Senate GOP Spokesperson John Fortney, "This is laughable and a lie that the Left is using to yet again vilify parents who send their students to a school of their choice."
Troy McIntosh, executive director of the Ohio Christian Education Network, says the AU does not know what it is talking about.
"The accusations that this program is not constitutional ignores Supreme Court case law," he notes. "At least three times in the last five years, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that programs like this are constitutional."
If programs like this did not include religious schools and organizations, McIntosh says that would be unconstitutional.
"If Ohio had put together this program where they were going to fund community projects with capital funds, for nonprofits, then they would not have been permitted to exclude religious schools on First Amendment grounds," he explains.
He reiterates that Americans United for Separation of Church and State does not understand what current U.S. case law is.
