Editorial: School vouchers ruling leaves door open to us

Two weeks ago, the United States Supreme Court issued a divided ruling that supported a controversial school voucher program in Cleveland. Experts have called the decision one of most important constitutional decisions in the last 30 years. We tend to agree.

The issue of school vouchers is particularly relevant here in New York, where public schools are in as bad of shape as they are in Cleveland (or most U.S. cities for that matter).

If there were a voucher program in New York, you would not be forced to send your 8-year-old daughter to one of Highbridge’s miserable community elementary schools. Instead, you could send her to Sacred Heart where she will almost certainly get a better education.

Last month on this page we expressed our support for the takeover of New York’s public schools. We said that, at this point, any change in the way our schools are run would be a good change. In the same spirit, we believe that offering parents a choice as to where their children go to school is an improvement.

We are fortunate here in New York that there are many, many schools in a relatively small geographic area. It is unfortunate that parents cannot take advantage of that variety.

The controversy over the idea of vouchers lies in the opportunity to breach the separation of church and state. Opponents of vouchers are afraid that parents will redeem their vouchers at religious schools. They don’t want tax dollars used to support a religious program, either through direct subsidies or tuition payments. Indeed, something like 96 percent of private schools have religious affiliations.

We believe it is important to maintain the separation of church and state, but we also believe our children’s education is paramount. Generations have passed through New York’s public schools while no progress has been made in the education they received. It is silly to waste more time.

The reason the Supreme Court’s decision is important is because it keeps the door open for future voucher systems. It will certainly be an uphill fight, but at least there can now be a fight.

Only three states currently allow vouchers — Ohio, Wisconsin and Florida. Voters in California and Michigan both rejected vouchers in statewide referendums. The American Civil Liberties Union and the National Education Association both oppose vouchers. Democrats, too, generally oppose vouchers and although we have a Republican president, it will be difficult to mount a strong national campaign. That, however, is a problem for another day.

Here in New York we should focus on Mayor Bloomberg’s attempts to repair our schools. If he fails, at least we’ll have another idea to consider.