The ‘Blaine’ Debate: Must States Fund Religious Schools?

Authors

Laura S. Underkuffler, Duke Law SchoolFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2003

Abstract

It is my view that efforts to force states to fund religious schools through voucher plans or otherwise will and should fail. My reasons for this conclusion are two-fold. First, there is no viable federal constitutional argument that states are required to fund religious institutions, including religious schools. Second, there are excellent reasons why the funding of religious institutions is very bad and dangerous policy—reasons which states are free to use as the groundings for their own policies, and which the decision in Zelman has left untouched.

Citation

Laura S. Underkuffler, The ‘Blaine’ Debate: Must States Fund Religious Schools?, 2 First Amendment Law Review 179-197 (2003)