A federal court ruled that a Cleveland school voucher program is unconstitutional because it allows government funds to go to religious schools. A panel of three judges of the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati noted that 96 percent of the 4,000 voucher recipients in Cleveland chose to attend religious schools, according to The Washington Post. Church-supported schools introduce religious beliefs in the classroom, making them ineligible for federal funds, the panel ruled. ...The vouchers amount to giving government funds to religious schools, the court said. "To approve this program would approve the actual diversion of government aid to religious institutions in endorsement of religious education," the majority wrote. The opinion included the mission statements and policies of Cleveland area religious schools, including one that required students to pledge allegiance to the Christian flag and another that said its top priority is to develop "devotion to God as our Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier," according to the Post. ...Judge James L. Ryan disagreed with the ruling in a sharp dissent. "Imagine, religious schools are truly religious!" he wrote. "Is the point being made here that religious schools may participate in a voucher program providing they are not too religious?"
Parents who send their children to religious schools are aware that religious beliefs are taught there, he said. The voucher program will continue while state attorneys seek a hearing before the full circuit court or an appeal to the Supreme Court, the Post reported. There are five publicly funded school voucher programs around the country. Voluntary prayers can’t be held at graduation ceremonies, the
11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled.
The court, meeting in Atlanta, overturned a ruling that the First Amendment allows student-led prayers, the Associated Press said. The case involved a Duval County, Fla., school system policy that allowed graduating students to decide by vote whether they wanted a student-led prayer during the ceremony. The policy "coerces objecting students to participate in prayer," because they have to attend the ceremony, Chief Justice Joseph Hatchett wrote in
the majority opinion.

Reprinted with permission from Religion Today, http://www.ReligionToday.com."

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