WASHINGTON (ABP) — Hurricane Katrina's storm surge continues to muddy the line between church and state, as administration officials and some members of Congress are proposing aid to religious institutions in the disaster's wake.
A group of senators — including some who are normally opponents of public funds for private schools — introduced a bill Oct. 20 that would provide tuition grants to private and religious schools that have taken in students evacuated from their own schools in New Orleans and other affected parts of the region.
That came on the heels of an Oct. 18 announcement from a White House official that private religious schools and some religious charities in the region will be eligible for reconstruction grants from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Both moves follow other suggestions of reimbursement and payments to religious institutions affected by the disaster or involved in relief efforts.
“Tonight, Sen. [Ted] Kennedy and I introduced legislation that provides immediate relief for students, schools, and institutions of higher education affected by Hurricane Katrina,” said Sen. Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.), chairman of the Senate Education Committee, in a statement. “This is a first step in providing the necessary assistance towards getting families and communities back to school and back on their feet.”
The bill authorizes a $2.4 billion relief package that would include $6,000-per-student grants to private schools that have taken in evacuee children. The vast majority of private schools in Louisiana and other regions of the Gulf Coast affected by Katrina are church-affiliated schools, many of them Catholic.
Kennedy, of Massachusetts, is the committee's ranking Democratic member, and normally an opponent of private-school vouchers. A statement released by his press office said the tuition grants were not a national voucher program but simply a way to address a dire emergency.
“This bill puts the interests of the children victimized by Katrina ahead of politics and ideological battles,” the statement read. “It puts in place an efficient and temporary system to get the necessary aid to the schools without further delay.”
But groups strongly opposed to vouchers, such as Americans United for Separation of Church and State, immediately criticized the plan. “The bill does not use the word 'voucher,' but that's what this really is,” said Barry Lynn, president of the Washington-based group. “I know the hurricane damage in the Gulf region has been severe, but the Constitution does not have an exemption for natural disasters. Taxpayers should not be forced to pay for tuition at religious schools.”
While the Supreme Court said in 2002 that voucher programs involving religious schools are constitutional, President Bush and other advocates have met with little success in instituting a federal voucher program. Only a handful of states and municipalities offer governmentally funded voucher programs, including an experimental federal program in the District of Columbia.
The Oct. 18 announcement that FEMA would offer direct reconstruction grants to some religiously affiliated institutions drew similar criticisms from church-state groups. A series of federal court decisions suggest that government aid for the building of religious buildings is unconstitutional. But White House official Jim Towey said the grants would not be given for use in reconstructing buildings that are used for worship or other pervasively religious purposes.
Earlier, FEMA offered to reimburse churches for expenses associated with housing and feeding evacuated residents of New Orleans.