Parents are the First Teachers: U.S. Supreme Court Hears Important School Choice Case

The current overly federalized approach to the provision of education in the United States is failing. Statistics and experience confirm the obvious. It is time for a change and parental (school) choice is that change. It means affirming again, as a matter of public policy and legislation, that Parents are the ones who should be able to make the choice of how to best extend their own teaching mission outside of the home. The family is the first government and the first school house. We have forgotten that objective truth as a Nation and we are reaping the bad consequences. Arizona Christian School Tuition Organization v. Kathleen M. Winn could help change all of that.

P>WASHINGTON, DC (Catholic Online) - On Wednesday morning, November 3, 2010, the United States Supreme Court heard oral arguments in  Arizona Christian School Tuition Organization v. Kathleen M. Winn. The Court was asked to consider the constitutionality of an Arizona law which gives residents a State tax credit when they donate to what are called "School Tuition organizations." These organizations in turn provide assistance to students. Arizona has at least 55 of these "School Tuition Organizations". They have distributed $50 million to 27,000 students. These grants have enabled needy students to attend 370 private schools in grades K-12. This includes religious schools, if the parents so choose.

The Catholic Church operated two such scholarship organizations. In an interview earlier this year, Ron Johnson, the Executive Director of the Arizona Catholic Conference called parental choice in education "one of our largest priorities." He noted that similar organizations exist for other religiously affiliated schools. In fact, under the State program any religious or private entity can establish such a scholarship organization in order to distribute such funds. The Arizona program began in 1997. It has successfully overcome repeated efforts by the ACLU to strike it down.

The ACLU has argued that since religiously based schools are even involved in the program, this fact alone somehow violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. This sets the establishment clause on its head. It was intended to prevent the State from forcing adherence to one State religion. In that sense it was meant to be an "anti-establishment" clause. The ACLU seeks to prevent religious people and institutions from participating fully in society. Advocates of the program point out that the government does not collect or distribute the scholarship funds. Rather, it is handled entirely by individuals and private organizations. Further, no one religion is favored over another. Religious schools are simply a part of the program, along with many other options.

In 2009, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals held that the program was unconstitutional.  Attorneys for the state of Arizona and several other parties then asked the US Supreme Court to review the case. Their request was granted and the matter was heard on Wednesday. The issue which the Court will consider is referred to as "School Choice" or "Parental Choice" in popular political language. I prefer the latter term because it emphasizes that Parents are the ones who should make the educational decision for their children. They are the first teachers of their children.

Some who oppose parental choice or school choice are entrenched in the current federalized educational bureaucracy. However, increasingly people of every walk of life admit the obvious, our educational system is broken. I am an ardent supporter of "Parental Choice in Education". However, I am not against government. Rather, I insist that government begins in the family. Any good governance must recognize the first government of the family and follow the social ordering and good governance principle of subsidiarity. That principle reminds us that good government is bottom up, not top down, deferring first to the smallest governing unit; not usurping but empowering and helping families.

The current overly federalized approach to the provision of education in the United States is failing. Statistics and experience confirm the obvious. It is time for a change and parental (school) choice is that change. It means affirming again, as a matter of public policy and legislation, that Parents are the ones who should be able to make the choice of how to best extend their own teaching mission outside of the home. Education outside of the home is an extension of the parental role. Those who provide it should recognize and defer to the parents' primary role in the educational mission. The children being educated are not, in the words of the US Supreme Courts' Wisconsin v Yoder decision "....mere creatures of the State". The family is the first government and the first school house. We have forgotten that objective truth as a Nation and we are reaping the bad consequences.

In his Apostolic Exhortation on the family, "Familiaris Consortio", the Venerable John Paul wrote: "The right and duty of parents to give education is essential, since it is connected with the transmission of human life; it is original and primary with regard to the educational role of others, on account of the uniqueness of the loving relationship between parents and children; it is irreplaceable and inalienable, and therefore incapable of being entirely delegated to others or usurped by others..."

In his "Letter to Families" the late Pope wrote "Parents are the first and most important educators of their own children, and they also possess a fundamental competence in this area; they are educators because they are parents. They share their educational mission with other individuals or institutions, such as the Church and the State. But the mission of education must always be carried out in accordance with a proper application of the Principle of Subsidiarity."

"This implies the legitimacy and indeed the need of giving assistance to the parents, but finds its intrinsic and absolute limit in their prevailing right and actual capabilities. The principle of subsidiarity is thus at the service of parental love, meeting the good of the family unit. For parents by themselves are not capable of satisfying every requirement of the whole process of raising children; especially in matters concerning their schooling and the entire gamut of socialization."

He also underscored the vital application of the principle of subsidiarity and its application to the education of children in a just society writing, "Subsidiarity thus complements paternal and maternal love and confirms its fundamental nature, inasmuch as all other participants in the process of education are only able to carry out their responsibilities in the name of the parents, with their consent and, to a certain degree, with their authorization."

Parents are the first teachers and the family is the first schoolhouse. Parental choice in education is right for our children, right for our parents and right for our Nation.

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