Vermont tax dollars may soon be going to faith-based elementary and secondary schools, if a case filed recently in federal district court succeeds. The case is styled Valente v. French. The lead plaintiffs are Mount Holly parents who send their son to the Roman Catholic Mount Saint Joseph Academy in Rutland. Dan French is the secretary of education. The case is the latest product of a decades-long legal debate over a sentence of the First Amendment that reads "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." In a 1947 case the Supreme Court incorporated these protections to bind the states as well. Montana has long had a "no aid" law prohibiting "direct or indirect" government aid to churches. Five years ago the Montana legislature approved an income tax credit of up to $150 for contributions to a nonprofit organization that provided scholarships to students attending independent schools. On June 30 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled (5-4, with seven opinions) in Esperanza v. Montana that the state could not allow the tax credits only for scholarships to non-sectarian schools. It must offer the scholarship benefit to students choosing sectarian schools as well. […]
