All of the actions which have lead to the Espinoza vs Montana Department of Revenue case started when the Blaine Amendment was founded in the anti-Catholic 19th century. This amendment prevented governments from funding Catholic and other religious schools. In 2015, the state of Montana decided to pass a scholarship program that allowed Montanans who donated to private schooling organizations up to $150 in state tax credits for their choice of any private K-12 education. Families were using this money towards religious schools and when the Department of Revenue caught on, they immediately shut them down due to the violation of the Blaine Amendment and the possibility of "draining the funds for publics schools and opening the floodgates to religious school"(Fox news). Other people like Kendra Espinoza argued that states that being illegible for the program just because their goes to a religious school is "blatant discrimination". This case had also caught the attention of President Trump which he states that "the government should never stand between the people and god". So far, after the oral arguments on Wednesday, the supreme court seems to be closely split. If this case was to result in a win for Espinoza, this could lead to others states instituting similar programs in the near future. For more information go to https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/21/us/politics/supreme-court-religion-school-vouchers.html?searchResultPosition=7
Which side do you think has the most just argument in this trial?
How do you think this ties to the separation of church and state?
Do you think the Blaine amendment is something that should be abolished?
Do you think your parents should contribute tax dollars towards public school education in your town.
I believe that shutting down funding to religious schools is the justest decision in this trial. Any detached school should not receive funds. Having money funded by the government “would be a virtual earthquake in the public education system” (Green). Some students of public schools would separate into their religious schools, causing segregated schooling systems. Students remaining in their schools would eventually be driven out because the government would no longer give money to such little schools. With public schools drained out, the government would necessarily be funding churches. Funding religious schools would wipe out public schooling systems; therefore, it is not a great idea.
ReplyDeleteThis trail connects to the separation of church and state in the early English colonies due to the Blaine Amendment. Similarly to how the church can not influence the government, the government can not fund religious schools. If the government had to pay for religious schools, there could be disputes about how much tax money should go to each school. These potential problems could cause religion to influence the government.
The Blaine Amendment is something that should stay the same. Abolishing the Blaine Amendment could destroy our public schooling systems. Only having individual religious schools could cause all sorts of problems, one of which is religion having an impact on the government.
I believe that my parents should contribute some tax money to public schools in our town. I think having secure public services and schools will build a good community as well as a nice place to live.
I agree with Rhys, shutting down the funding of religious schools is the most just argument. Continuing to fund religious schools is dividing and destroying public school systems. If this were to continue it would only get worse, driving out students, as their needs would seem too small to satisfy, now that the government is preoccupied.
ReplyDeleteThe separation of church and state ties to this argument, due to the Blaine Amendment that was past early on. An amendment stating that there was no choice in terms of religious schooling, the government didn’t provide or help fund the schools, as they were not connected in any way. Changing this would cause a variety of problems, as the government wouldn’t be able to fund all of these schools.
No, abolishing the Blaine Amendment would destroy all public schooling systems, and interfere with the governments money. The religious schools would start to influence the government, and cause immense problems in all public schools. The government would no longer be able to meet the basic needs of public schools.
I think it should depend on the needs of the town. Depending on the level of security and needs of the school should impact the tax money that parents need to pay. If the school is struggling they should involve families and parents to help support the school, but if not then the government should continue to supply their needs by themselves.
I agree with Rhys in that the correct decision to make in this trial is shutting down government funding to religious schools. The government is only obliged to fund public schools, whereas these religious schools are, in fact, private schools. If the government did start to fund religious schools, more and more people would leave the public schools in favor of religious schools. The government would then be essentially giving money to churches, which completely goes against separation of church and state.
ReplyDeleteSeparation of church in state, as I said before, ties into this. This is because if the government does give money to religious schools, they are essentially giving money to the church, which is the opposite of separation of church and state.
Abolishing the Blaine amendment is a terrible idea. For one, it would completely obliterate the public school systems. Second, religion would start to influence the government, causing it to pay less attention to public schools, which would also hurt them.
I think that parents should donate tax dollars to public schools if they have enough to do so. It should be based off of which tax bracket one is in. It is always good to improve education, unless it is harming people, in which case, it should stop.
1. I believe that the most just decision in this trial would be to prevent the funding of religious schools. If all religious schools were funded by the government, less money would be available to contribute to public schools. Also students would be driven out of public schools resulting in the government to lose attention in those small schools which would seriously hurt the remaining students.
ReplyDelete2. This ties to the separation of church and states because of the Blaine Amendment. The Blaine amendment prevented governments from funding religious schools which connects to the separation of church and state that stopped the church from influencing the government and the other way around. In addition Espinoza wants religious schools to be funded by the government which is like funding churches and the separation of church and state contrasts.
3. I agree with Rhys that the Blaine amendment shouldn’t be abolished. If the Blaine amendment was abolished less money would go to public schools which would hurt them. Furthermore, most kids go to public schools which means that the majority of kids in the US would get a subpar education creating the future of the US to be hurt.
4. I believe that my parents should contribute tax dollars to public school education in my town if it is needed. If the local public schools in my town are struggling financially, my parents should contribute some money to help students get a better education but if the schools are not struggling it should be up to the government to provide the schools with all of their needs.
1. I agree with Rhys that shutting down funding for religious schools is the better and the more backed up side of the trial. Funding for public schools would decrease if religious schools were funded, this would make the quality of education go down for many people. People in public schools who are really religious would start to go to the religious schools. This would separate people and the diversity of religion in schools would go way down. Overall, to answer your question there are more reasons to say no to funding religious schools.
ReplyDelete2. This case relates to the separation of church and state because of how the Blaine Amendment relates to the case. The Blaine Amendment states that the government can not fund religious school, this is clearly similar to how church and state has to stay separate. This is another reason why this case should end up not funding religious schools, because it is breaking the Church and State Amendment.
3. The Blaine Amendment should not be changed, or abolished. This amendment is protecting public schools, so that they can keep getting the same amount of money, not getting some of it taken away. Having this amendment abolished would make a path to break the separation of church and state.
4. I think that my parents and everyone else's parents should pay money in taxes to public schools. This will help the education of many others, and will overall make the town you live in better. You paying taxes is also helping people who could afford to pay for a private or religious school a good education.
1. I agree with Rhys that the right decision is to prohibit government funding for any sort of private education. The entire point of public education is that it is funded by taxes and therefore accessible for every student. Private education is directly paid for by families, which is why it is not paid for by taxes. If the Supreme Court rules in favor of funding private schools with taxpayer dollars, then this will only lead to more instances like this. It will also eventually destroy the quality of the public school system by diminishing the percentage of taxpayer dollars which are allocated to the system because more taxes would instead be allocated to private schools.
ReplyDelete2. This relates to separation of church and state because the United States has no official religion. Allowing the government to fund religious schools with taxpayer dollars means that the government is once again intertwined with religion. In that case, the United States no longer honors a separation of church and state. For these reasons, it is immensely disappointing that the President of the United States is supporting the use of taxpayer dollars to fund private schools.
3. The Blaine Amendment should definitely not be abolished. It is essential to protecting both the prosperity of the public school system of the United States and the country’s stance on separation of church and state. Once again, the point of the public school system is that only public schools are funded by taxpayer dollars. If religious private schools were also to be funded by taxpayer dollars, then the true public school system would suffer.
4. Yes, my parents should have to contribute tax money to public schools in our town, even though I attend a private school. One idea behind taxes is that each person is paying for many services, and not all of them may directly benefit that person. However, for the tax system to work, each person has to pay for services that both benefit them and other groups of people. The same idea goes for the public school system. Parents of private school children should stay required to pay for public education.
1. I agree with Rhys, preventing the Government from funding any religious school is the best idea. If this continues the whole system difference between public schools and private schools will be altered. The idea is that public education is funded by the Government, while private schools are paid for by the parents of students making the diversity within the schools different. Also, from here things could only get worse. Continuing this would cause kids to feel less wanted when it seems like the Government can't satisfy their miner needs.
ReplyDelete2. The separation of church and state relates to this argument due to the Blaine Amendment. This Amendment stated that the Government would never offer any sorts of funding or help towards religious schooling. If this were to happen the Amendment would be completely altered and many problems would come into place.
3. The Blaine Amendment should definetly not be changed or abolished. It is essential that the amendment remains the same so that all public schooling systems aren't destroyed and ruined. If this were to happen the Governments money would be at hand. Many things could go wrong, so I believe it is best to keep the amendment the same with no changes.
4. I believe that whether our parents contribute taxes to the public schooling system within our town should be completely based off the needs of the town. If the town is struggling than I think my parents, and other parents should offer help and guidance to pick the school back up, but in some cases I think this won't be needed.
1. I think that the Department of Revenue has the justest case in this trial. Montana, a state which has Blaine amendment language in its laws has been bypassing that by allowing people to indirectly fund Catholic schools with government tax credits. I agree with Rhys that government funds should not go to these religious schools as they are private schools and that would drastically change the public education system.
ReplyDelete2. This relates to the separation of church and state because the United States has no official religion. Allowing the government to fund religious schools with taxpayer dollars means that the government is once again intertwined with religion. In that case, the United States no longer honors a separation of church and state. For these reasons, it is immensely disappointing that the President of the United States is supporting the use of taxpayer dollars to fund private schools. If the government allowed its funds to be given to Catholic schools it would appear as if the government was aligning itself with Catholicism and creating a connection between the church and state.
3. I think that the Blaine Amendment is an important piece of law that should not be abolished. It protects both the separation of church and state and the public education system in the United States. Public education is funded solely by taxpayer dollars, and if any that money was to be taken away from public schools and given to private religious schools the quality of education would decrease, creating more inequality.
4. I believe that my parents should contribute taxes to public education in my town, even though it doesn't directly benefit them. People need to pay taxes to the state to ensure that public services are available to them and others, even if they don't take advantage of them.
1. I agree with Rhys that the best decision in this trial is to prevent funding towards religious schools. Religious schools are like a private education. If the government funds religious schools than it will drive kids out of public schools and there will be a lot less kids in public schools. Also, the government won't have as much money to fund public schools.
ReplyDelete2. This ties to the separation of church and state because of the Blaine Amendment. The Blaine Amendment says that the government is forbidden from funding religious schools. That would go against separation of church and state as the whole point is to keep government and religion separate. Funding a religious school is like funding a church.
3. I don't think the Blaine Amendment should be abolished. I think that if it were to abolish it, it could destroy public school systems. I also think that the government could end up being influenced by religion, which wouldn't be fair to all people.
4. I feel like if it is needed than yes my parents should contribute taxes to the public education system in my town. But if the schools aren't in need of any or if we aren't associated with the schools in any way I think my parents should get a partial tax deduction.
I agree with Rhys that religious schools should not receive funding from the government. In the United States, we have separation between religion and the government. Having the government use taxes to support religious schools would be going against this principle. Also, catholic schools are not attached to the government, which means that they also shouldn’t be government funded. Just because someone is catholic does not mean they need to go to a catholic school, and there is no “blatant discrimination” involved in this scenario.
ReplyDeleteThis ties into separation between church and state because it involves people wanting the government to use taxes to pay for religious schools. Catholic schools are not in any way connected to the government, which means they also shouldn’t be given funding by the government. Using tax money on religious schools would create disputes between religious and public schools, which would be a scenario of religion influencing the government.
I believe that the Blaine Amendment should not be abolished. The Amendment prevents tax dollars from going into Catholic schools, which is a part of separating the church and state. If we were to abolish this amendment, we would also need to rethink the concept of separating church and state.
I believe that my parents should contribute tax dollars towards public school education. Education is a human right that should be granted to anyone that wants it. Giving tax dollars to public schools helps people receive better educations, and helps establish that human right.
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ReplyDeleteI agree with Rhys and basically everyone else at this time in which the justest thing to do is to prevent funding towards religious schools. If funding for religious schools came from the government, that would cause there to be less money for public schools, therefore, driving students out of public schools. This would cause more students to attend religious schools which would cause the quality of education in public schools to go down due to not having as much funding as before.
ReplyDeleteThe Blaine Amendment causes this to tie in with the separation of church and state due to the fact that this amendment made it so religious schools could not be funded for by the government. This made it so the government could not be influenced by the church and the church could not be influenced by the government. Also, funding religious schools is basically like funding the church.
I agree with Liam that the Blaine Amendment should not be touched. As Liam stated, abolishing it would cause public schools to not get funded the same amount as before. It also shouldn’t be abolished because it’s directly going against the separation of church and state.
I think my parents should contribute tax dollars toward public schools in my town if it’s needed. If the public schools in my town are struggling then yes, I do believe my parents should contribute tax dollars. If it’s not needed, then I believe it’s up to the government to provide the schools with their needs.
1. I agree with everyone else that the best decision in the trial is for the government not to fund religious schools. I say this because if the government does, first, public schools will lose money to help them and so many kids would just switch to private or religious schools because they would be the same thing now. Also this would change public school education drastically.
ReplyDelete2. This ties up to the separation of church and state because of the Blaine Amendment and that states are using taxes to fund the public schools but won't for religious schools. The amendment made it so the government could not be influenced by the church and god, but also the church couldn't be influenced by the church.
3. The Blaine Amendment should not be abolished. I say this because the public schools of the country would not get funded the same. If we abolish it, it will go against the separation of church and state.
4. I believe that my parents should contribute tax dollars to public schools, but I also think it depends on the amount of tax it is. If your child does not attend or is not needed, they should not need to pay. It all depends on the circumstances and environment.
ReplyDelete1. I think that the department of revenue has the higher ground on this case. Because of the separation of church and state, no money that would otherwise be directed to the government should be used for teaching or practicing religion. Also, if this school is built funding for public schools will be used for building and staffing new schools.
2. I agree with Rhys, this connects with the separation of church and state because of this law passes the government will provide a religious school which would mean that the church could be able to influence the government. Church and state were separated because of the problems that the government would face with how much money to direct to each religion and school, as well as more disputes over the people from what their money may be paying for.
3. No, I think that the Blaine amendment should not be abolished. Abolishing the Blaine amendment would take a serious amount of funding away from public schools and open the possibilities into free acceptance into private schools as well. This would take money away from other problems and most likely cause religion to have an impact on the government.
4. I think that we should continue to pay taxes for public schools because everyone should have the opportunities for education and if only people who went to public schools paid for it it would cost more for each person and become more of a financial burden on people for use public education.
1. I think the best decision is for the government to not fund religious schools. Like others said, private schools are funded by the student's tuition. Public schools rely on the government. If the government uses parts of their education budget on schools that already have money, it will take away from public schools.
ReplyDelete2. This connects to the separation of church and state because as this amendment states, there should be no government help or funding towards private or religious schools. If Espinoza wins this trial, this amendment would be completely disregarded and bring many more problems.
3. I think we should keep the Blaine amendment. Like I said, getting rid of this amendment would take a lot away from public schools. The little money these schools get would be unnecessarily and unfairly lowered in order to help religious schools who don't need help.
4. I think we should be taxed a small amount in order to help public schools. I feel that if everyone contributes a little it will make these schools a lot better and give them many new opportunities.