Here’s the super short version: The Supreme Court basically ruled that public school employees may lead or participate in prayer with students, presuming of course said prayer is of a Christian variety.
Peter Greene explains more, including noting this particular clause of the decision in the Kennedy case:
In place of Lemon and the endorsement test, this Court has instructed that the Establishment Clause must be interpreted by “‘reference to historical practices and understandings.“‘[T]he line’” that courts and governments “must draw between the permissible and the impermissible” has to “‘accor[d] with history and faithfully reflec[t] the understanding of the Founding Fathers.’”
Jesus, Mary, Mother of God. As with previous uses, this "test" can be used to roll everything back! Brown v. Board, here we come!
That’s how we know the Court has a preferred flavor of prayer - they want the kind that lines up with “historical practices.” You know, the kind of practices that favored one religion over others and allowed all sorts of other injustices.
Greene includes Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s dissent to explain the impact of the decision:
In addition, while the Court reaffirms that the Establishment Clause prohibits the government from coercing participation in religious exercise, it applies a nearly toothless version of the coercion analysis, failing to acknowledge the unique pressures faced by students when participating in school-sponsored activities. This decision does a disservice to schools and the young citizens they serve, as well as to our Nation’s longstanding commitment to the separation of church and state. I respectfully dissent.
As Greene notes, the decision in this case reflects jurisprudence based on an alternate reality.
The best test of this new reality would be having a teacher from a non-Christian religion lead students in prayer at a sporting event or other school activity. Does this “accord with history,” and has this been “historically permissible?”
The fact that this decision came down in the same Court session that rendered a decision allowing public money to support private, religious schools is also noteworthy.
The Supreme Court in its current iteration seems intent on blurring or eliminating the lines between church and state. A logical destination for this path would be expressly allowing states to preference one religion over another - by funneling voucher money to only Christian schools, for example.
These decisions - vouchers and school prayer - remind me that Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee is moving quickly to send Tennessee tax dollars to Hillsdale College - a far-right, Christian school.
WPLN reports that public education advocates are raising concerns about the transfer of Tennessee tax dollars to a private, religious institution:
Lee has made a deal with a conservative college to open about 50 charter schools in the state.
Lee has made a deal with Hillsdale College, a small Christian liberal arts school in Michigan, to bring their civic education and K-12 curriculum to Tennessee.
Of course, that was months ago - when a separation between church and state in the realm of public schools was still in existence. Now, Lee’s scheme has been at least tacitly endorsed - if not blessed - by the Supreme Court.
Another Big Surplus Story
Tennessee continues to have huge revenue surpluses and also continues to NOT use these dollars to pump up funding for public schools:
Tennessee continues to experience record revenue surpluses while also continuing a trend of badly underfunding public schools. Based on projections, it seems the state invested around one fourth of this year’s surplus toward public education as part of the TISA school funding overhaul.
That’s nice, sure. But TISA is deeply flawed AND the state is underfunding schools by around $2 billion a year. Gov. Lee’s plan barely makes up half of that shortfall.
The Sycamore Institute has an update today on the current state of Tennessee’s revenue picture. In an email, they note:
With two months left to count, Tennessee collected about $3.7 billion (28%) more tax revenue than lawmakers initially budgeted for this point in the fiscal year.
That’s remarkable. Perhaps even more remarkable is the lack of commitment to use these funds to dramatically improve school funding in a state that ranks among the lowest in the nation in school funding. In fact, even after TISA, projections suggest Tennessee will still be in the bottom 10 nationally when it comes to K-12 school funding.
I am trying to brace myself as a school principal for what's to come my way moving forward.