Congress Using Katrina as Cover to Promote Vouchers

Dear Editor,
    Congress' provision of millions of dollars for vouchers for faith-based schools in Louisiana, Mississippi, and possibly Texas in the wake of Hurricane Katrina is a slap at the constitutions of all three states, which prohibit such aid.
    In 2004 the Baton Rouge Advocate found Louisianians opposed to vouchers 60% to 34%, and right after the Jan. 5 Florida Supreme Court ruling against vouchers in that state, the AOL poll registered opposition to vouchers nationwide at 57% to 37%. These figures are similar to the two-to-one average opposition to vouchers or their analogues in 25 statewide referendum elections from coast to coast from 1967 to 2004.
    It is wrong for government to tax citizens for the support of sectarian schools that commonly practice forms of discrimination and indoctrination that would be intolerable in public schools. Using Katrina to chip away at public education is reprehensible.
    Of course the young Katrina victims need all the help Congress can provide, but it should be only through the public schools of their home communities or wherever in the country the kids now attend school.