Funneling taxpayer funds to religious schools through a voucher program compromises religious liberty, according to a brief filed at the Nevada Supreme Court and joined by the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty.
Nevada’s school voucher program allows public dollars to flow to private schools, including religious schools, by diverting money from the state’s designated public education fund, the Distributive School Account. When an eligible student applies for a voucher, money is transferred from the DSA into the Education Savings Account Program, which can be used for certain education expenses, including tuition at private religious schools and religious instructional material for those schools. There are no restrictions on how the private schools may use the public funds after they receive them.
Jennifer Hawks
“Funding religious schools with taxpayer money can violate the consciences of citizens who disagree with their teachings,” said Jennifer Hawks, associate general counsel of the Baptist Joint Committee. “Parents have the right to choose a religious education for their children but not the right to insist that taxpayers pay for it through any type of voucher program.”
The brief asserts that religious liberty is threatened when government gets involved with religion, noting that the principle of separation between church and state “recognizes that governmental support for and funding of religion corrodes true belief, makes religious denominations and houses of worship beholden to the state, and places subtle — or not so subtle — coercive pressure on individuals and groups to conform.”
The Nevada Constitution has a clause specifically prohibiting any public funds from being used “for sectarian purpose.” According to the brief, that No-Aid Clause is “an expression of both the philosophical and political traditions of freedom of conscience.” The brief explains how that protects religious freedom and supports religious pluralism, noting that the success of religion in the United States is in part thanks to adherence to the idea that “individual congregations and worshippers are free to define for themselves the terms of belief and religious practice” without dependence on or interference from the government.
The Nevada Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on July 29, which is the same day it hears another case challenging the voucher program, Schwartz v. Lopez.