A Christian college that calls itself “the oldest institution affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention” is partnering with powerhouse legal group Alliance Defending Freedom to create Union Academy, a Christian college preparatory school approved by a Tennessee school board last month.
Union University, founded in 1823 and based in Jackson, Tenn., is sponsoring Union Academy, a taxpayer-funded Christian charter school that was approved by the Jackson-Madison County School System Board April 28 and could open in the fall.
Union Academy is the third effort by ADF to make U.S. taxpayers support a Christian public school after running into legal roadblocks in Oklahoma and Colorado. ADF, which was founded by James Dobson and other Christian conservatives, hailed the Tennessee board’s decision in a press release:
Tennessee parents and children are better off with more educational choices, not fewer. The Jackson-Madison County School System Board was right to approve Union Academy’s request to operate as a charter school and should be commended for refusing to engage in unconstitutional discrimination based upon the school’s religious character. Alliance Defending Freedom wholeheartedly supports Union Academy in its endeavor to become the nation’s first religious charter school, opening up educational options and freedom for more Tennessee families.
Efforts to launch Union Academy are happening as Tennessee officials reckon with a dozen poorly performing virtual schools serving 8,000 students. These schools face possible closure, reported The Nashville Banner.
ADF previously supported the founding of St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School in Oklahoma, but that effort conflicted with the state’s constitutional ban against funding religious public schools and the U.S. Supreme Court deadlocked on the case, leaving the state ban in place.
Oklahoma activists are trying again with the proposed Ben Gamla Jewish Charter School, which would incorporate Jewish Scriptures, faith and values in its teaching.
ADF also backed Riverstone Academy, a public Christian school that was surreptitiously founded in Pueblo, Colo., south of Colorado Springs, last August, without revealing its Christian orientation.
Riverstone sued the state for religious discrimination after being cited for numerous health and safety violations, reported Chalkbeat Colorado. Activists hoped the case would go to the Supreme Court, but Riverstone dropped its suit May 22.
In Tennessee, the Jackson-Madison County School System Board approached Union University about backing Union Academy and the college “jumped all over this” opportunity, reported The Christian Post, which noted some Baptist leaders oppose public funding for religious schools.
Richard Land
“If the Supreme Court finds a Roman Catholic, publicly funded charter school does not violate the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause, the result will be revolutionary and I believe catastrophic,” wrote retired Southern Baptist Convention leader Richard Land last year about the efforts to launch St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School.
“Within a remarkably short time, most of the states that have charter public schools (and most states do) will be flooded with applications for Catholic, Orthodox, Episcopal, Presbyterian, Methodist, Baptist, Pentecostal, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, etc. public charter schools,” Land wrote.
ADF’s three attempts to create taxpayer-funded Christian public schools are part of a larger “school choice” movement that has promoted voucher programs for private schools. Voucher programs have exploded in number since 1990 but evidence of their success is questioned.
“A big, powerful network of billionaires is helping fund a rapid expansion of ‘educational choice’ voucher programs that use public dollars to send students to private schools, even though a growing body of evidence shows voucher programs harm educational outcomes,” wrote author Josh Cowen in The Privateers: How Billionaires Created a Culture War and Sold School Vouchers.
Last year, Union University purchased the property of Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary in Cordova, Tenn., and will rebrand it as Union University Memphis. Mid-America relocated to Arlington, Tenn.
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