Court OKs AmeriCorps, Catholic School Link

Las Vegas Sun/AP ^ | 8 Mar 05

[xzins]

Today: March 08, 2005 at 15:26:21 PST

Court OKs AmeriCorps, Catholic School Link

ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON (AP) - A federal appeals court Tuesday endorsed the use of federal AmeriCorps money to place young teachers in religious schools, reversing a lower court judge who said the program crossed the constitutional line separating church and state.

The government is not promoting religion and AmeriCorps creates no incentives for participants to teach religion, Appeals Court Judge A. Raymond Randolph wrote in a 3-0 decision.

The AmeriCorps program trains participants, offers them $4,725 in financial aid and has them teach some of the nation's neediest children, in both secular and religious schools. There, the participants fulfill a service requirement of 1,700 hours by teaching secular subjects, though they may also teach religious courses.

In the religious schools, the participants "may count only the time they spend engaged in nonreligious activities toward their service hours requirement," the appeals court said. "And if they do teach religious subjects, they are prohibited from wearing the AmeriCorps logo when they are doing so."

As of 2001, the latest year for which figures are available, religious schools accounted for 328 of the 1,608 schools employing AmeriCorps participants as teachers.

AmeriCorps participants have been teaching secular subjects for 10 years, both in public and religious schools, said David Eisner, CEO of AmeriCorps' parent agency.

The American Jewish Congress, which brought the case, argued that federal money was being used improperly to pay for teaching Christian values.

Marc Stern, general counsel for the AJC, said the AmeriCorps case falls somewhere between a law favoring religion and the Supreme Court-approved voucher program, in which all schools were eligible and children were chosen on a first-come, first-serve basis.

"The unanswered question here about the AmeriCorps program is: How did the government choose from lots of people who wanted the money, some of whom were religious?" Stern said after the appeals court ruling. The AJC is considering whether to seek Supreme Court review.

The AJC also objected to AmeriCorps paying $400 per participant to the sponsors of the program for administrative costs. The sponsors include the University of Notre Dame, which was sued along with AmeriCorps' parent agency.

The appeals court said $400 is much less than the actual administrative costs. In the case of Notre Dame, it paid only 8 percent of the salaries of those who trained the AmeriCorps participants.

In a ruling last July, U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler said the line between the secular and nonsecular activities had become "completely blurred."

Kessler said the government did not monitor the programs adequately on the question of separation. The appeals court disagreed, saying the AJC failed to make a case for ineffective monitoring.

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On the Net:

U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit Opinion:

http://pacer.cadc.uscourts.gov/docs/common/opinions/200503/04-5317a.pdf

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[TheHound]

AmeriCorps participants have been teaching secular subjects for 10 years, both in public and religious schools, said David Eisner, CEO of AmeriCorps' parent agency.

Wasn't AmeriCorps a Clinton invention - Oh now I see, there was no challenge during the Clinton years because they only taught "Sex Ed" and Atheism in Religous schools during his term. But now that they are allowed to teach religon on their own time - "there is a complete bluring of the separation of church and state".

[rdb3]

Marc Stern, general counsel for the AJC, said the AmeriCorps case falls somewhere between a law favoring religion and the Supreme Court-approved voucher program, in which all schools were eligible and children were chosen on a first-come, first-serve basis.

"The unanswered question here about the AmeriCorps program is: How did the government choose from lots of people who wanted the money, some of whom were religious?" Stern said after the appeals court ruling. The AJC is considering whether to seek Supreme Court review.

The AJC also objected to AmeriCorps paying $400 per participant to the sponsors of the program for administrative costs. The sponsors include the University of Notre Dame, which was sued along with AmeriCorps' parent agency.

The appeals court said $400 is much less than the actual administrative costs. In the case of Notre Dame, it paid only 8 percent of the salaries of those who trained the AmeriCorps participants.

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xzins, isn't this the "poison pill" that many detractors on both the left and right missed under NCLB?

Look it, the question that the attorney from the AJC asked was answered in the preceding paragraph! "First come, first served" basis, right? Nothing religious was stated or needed here.

This is what I've been waiting for. Looks like it's here!

[Teplukin]

I am not saying yeah or nay. But I would suggest that all us Freepers be vigilant to ensure that Catholicism is not given "pride of place": among religious faiths by the Federal Government.

Catholicism has dangerous liberal tendencies. By way of example, I'd have you check out Massachusetts which is both the most Catholic and most politically incorrect state in our country. I think a more politically acceptable religious faith would be Mormonism, most of whose practitioners are Republican.

[xzins]

I understand the idea of 1st come 1st served to mean that no religious identification is taking place.

Is that what you understand?

[SuziQ]

Excellent news. The only schools that are truly educating kids in the inner cities are the religious schools in general and Catholic schools in particular. Comparing drop out rates of minority students from the public schools to Catholic schools, it's clear which institution is about truly educating these kids to give them the best start on their journey either to college or the world of work.

Those who are bothered by the fact that their might be a cross on the wall are not worried at all about the level of education the kids may be getting, just the 'undercurrent' of the institution. They obviously don't care whether the students get educated at all, as long as their impressionable minds aren't 'corrupted' by religious ideas.

[SuziQ]

I'd have you check out Massachusetts which is both the most Catholic and most politically incorrect state in our country.

Don't judge the Catholic Church by her practicioners in MA. Northeast Catholics are more Democrat than Catholic for the most part. It's really strange, but they have some of the wierdest ideas about what the Church teaches, helped along by ethnic cultural traditions that they've blended in with what they learned from the nuns in elementary school, which may, or may not have comported with Church teachings.

[TheHound]

So now you went a did it. You are either some stupid troll or a just plain stupid. If Satanist were Republican, I should support them? As I happen to be a Catholic and one who considers Mormons, cult followers of a nut case.

[Teplukin]

As I happen to be a Catholic and one who considers Mormons, cult followers of a nut case.

Excuse me, but that is a very narrow minded & parochial thing to say about Mormons.

[TheHound]

I have probably invested upwards to thirty hours investigating the Mormon "church". My response might be narrow but my mind is not.