Denver Catholic

10 OCTOBER 14-27, 2017 | DENVER CATHOLIC Around the Archdiocese Evening of Hope GALA Saturday, November 18, 2017 The Brown Palace Hotel 321 17th Street, Denver, CO 80202 BENEFIT FOR HOPE SCHOLARSHIPS Beverly, Sts. Peter and Paul student Buy tickets at EOHGala.org Voucher programs, Blaine Amendment could hang in balance F ew issues worry parents more than the quality of education available to their children, which is why school choice is a hot-but- ton, emotional issue for many voters. This fall, the issue is about to reach a boiling point for the citizens of Doug- las County, and it will have national implications. On Nov. 7, four seats of the Douglas County School Board will be decided, and who fi lls them could determine the outcome of the school district's debate over their voucher program, an inno- vative program launched in 2011 that seeks to provide universal school choice.² The Colorado Supreme Court ruled the program unconstitutional in 2015, stating that by providing pub- licly funded scholarships to qualifying students attending private schools, including faith-based ones, the initia- tive violates the 150-year old Blaine Amendment that forbids aid to "sec- tarian" (read: Catholic) schools. The ruling was appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, and just this summer, as the school board election began to heat up, the case was sent back to the Colorado Supreme Court with instruc- tion from the U.S. Supreme Court to reconsider the constitutionality of the voucher program in light of its recent decision in another challenge to reli- gious discrimination,²Trinity Lutheran v Comer. Now that the Colorado Supreme Court's ruling on the voucher program has been vacated, the stakes are even higher when it comes to who sits on the Douglas County School Board. If Douglas County voters elect a board that favors the Choice Scholar- ship program, which could become a model for school districts across the country, that would put pressure on the State of Colorado to reconsider not only its ruling on the voucher program, but also the existence of the discriminatory Blaine Amendment (and by extension similar pressure could be placed on the 37 other states where similar amend- ments exist). If not, then universal school choice may never again see the light of day in Colorado, and it may hinder e• orts in other states. As a result, the 2018 school board election in Douglas County has been catapulted to the national political stage, placing one of the most polariz- ing topics in education in the spotlight. TURN OUT, TURN OUT, TURN OUT According to Jennifer Kraska, exec- utive director of the Colorado Catholic Conference, this election is a critical opportunity for supporters of school choice in Douglas County to make their voice heard. "The makeup of the board could determine the outcome of that voucher program," she said. "[If the wrong people are elected], it could completely start from scratch, and this could have reverberations through the entire state, potentially in the entire country." With the current ruling, "public monies" are prevented from being given "in aid of any church or sectar- ian society," she said. In other words, if tax-paying parents want fi nancial assis- tance to send their kids to a Catholic or other Christian school, the government blocks funding for it.² Voting for candidates that support school choice is crucial, she said, encour- aging all people in Douglas County to vote. Douglas County elections heat up over school choice BY KARNA SWANSON karna.swanson@archden.org @KarnaSwanson

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