Good News Regarding Vouchers and School Choice :: Argumentative Persuasive Topics

Good News Regarding School Choice Good News v. Milford is very good news indeed for advocates of school vouchers and faith-based organizations (FBOs). The Supreme Court's 6-3 decision upholding the right of a Christian youth group to meet in public schools after class hours is a significant signal of the Court's willingness to treat religious organizations and viewpoints on an evenhanded basis. In 1992, Milford Central School in New York State enacted a community use policy outlining purposes for which its building could be used after school. Under the policy, district residents could use the school for "instruction in any branch of education, learning, or the arts." The school was also to be made available for "social, civic, and recreational meetings and entertainment events, and other uses pertaining to the welfare of the community, provided that such uses shall be nonexclusive and shall be opened to the general public." Several district residents who sponsored the local Good News Club-a private, voluntary Christian organization for children ages six to twelve-submitted a request to the interim superintendent of the district, seeking to hold the Club's weekly after-school meetings in the school cafeteria. They were excluded, however, because their proposed use-to have "a fun time of singing songs, hearing a Bible lesson, and memorizing Scripture"-was "the equivalent of r eligious worship." The school authorities claimed that such a meeting was prohibited by the rules that forbid the school from being used "by any individual or organization for religious purposes."(1) The Court, per Justice Clarence Thomas, found Milford to have created a limited public forum-in essence, a standing invitation to use public property for the designated purposes. When the state establishes a limited public forum, the state is not required to and does not allow persons to engage in every type of speech. However, said the Court, the state's power to restrict speech is not without limits. Such restriction must not discriminate against speech on the basis of viewpoint, and the restriction must be "reasonable in light of the purpose served by the forum."(2) Relying upon two earlier but more narrowly written opinions, the Court found the school district to have discriminated against the proposed religious speech in Good News. In Lamb's Chapel v. Center Moriches (1993), the Justices held that a school district violated the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment when it excluded a private group from presenting films at the school based solely on the films' discussions of family values from a religious perspective.