Pray that governments would strengthen the ability for parents to direct the education of their children.

Reflect
One of longest running areas of concern for the Catholic Church in the United States has been the right of parents to direct the education of their children. Blaine Amendments—provisions in state laws that prevent religious institutions from receiving public funds—were developed at a time of high anti-Catholic and anti-immigrant sentiment and sought to counter the efforts of Catholics to give their children a Catholic education when the public schools were essentially Protestant. The Catholic Church is clear: parents have the right to direct the education of their children. That may mean something as simple as allowing parents to opt out of instruction that clashes with their religious beliefs. This right may also entail that the government provide parents with the means to educate their children in accordance with their religion. The refusal to provide public economic support to non-public schools that need assistance and that render a service to civil society is to be considered an injustice. “Whenever the State lays claim to an educational monopoly, it oversteps its rights and offends justice. . . . The State cannot without injustice merely tolerate so-called private schools. Such schools render a public service and therefore have a right to financial assistance” (Compendium, 241).

Act
Your voice is needed to help pass a national school choice bill with robust religious liberty protections! Contact your senators and urge them to support the inclusion of transformative school choice provisions with religious liberty protections in the Senate’s budget reconciliation bill. Passing robust school choice provisions will give millions of parents in all 50 states the ability to choose the best educational environment for their children. As the Senate considers their budget reconciliation bill, we urge them to include the most robust scholarship tax credit legislation that would benefit the greatest number of children possible. The Senate must include explicit religious liberty protections and remove poison pill language to ensure that Catholic schools are able to fully participate. We also urge the Senate to maintain $10 billion in annual credits for individual and corporate givers and preserve the 10-year runway of the program. Maintaining all of these provisions is crucial to ensuring that the greatest number of children benefit from educational opportunity.

Join the USCCB in asking your senators to include robust school choice provisions in budget reconciliation.