A father in Colorado pays out of pocket for Catholic preschool while his taxes fund other children’s preschool educations.One of his children has spina bifida, and the family stays in Colorado because Medicaid covers her needs better than anywhere else.
An extra $6,000 would go a long way toward helping care for her.A mother who works at a lumber company, married to a house painter whose work slows every winter, has six children and a seventh on the way.She once assumed Catholic school was only "for rich people."Another mother started a florist business to help pay tuition.
Three of her children attend a Catholic school in Denver, but she could not afford preschool there for her youngest, who now attends a Lutheran preschool in the state program.STEVE MOORE, ED POZZUOLI: STOP FUNDING SCHOOL SYSTEMS.LET THE MONEY FOLLOW THE CHILD"I’m choosing just a faith," she says, "and here I’m being punished for that."St.
Mary School children in classroom in Colorado, where pre-K rules reportedly discriminate against Catholics.(Becket)A fourth parent took a lower-paying job at her children’s parish school for a tuition discount, and she has watched families leave because of the cost of pre-K.THE SUPREME COURT IS BACK.
THESE FIVE CASES COULD RESHAPE AMERICAN LIFEI filed an amicus brief with the Supreme Court on behalf of these Catholic families in St.Mary Catholic Parish v.
Roy, which the court will hear on Nov.3.
Dan and Lisa Sheley, parents who joined the Archdiocese of Denver and two parishes in challenging the state in court, tell a similar story.The Sheleys have seven children, five already at St.
Mary’s, and have spent thousands of dollars out of pocket on a faith-based preschool education the state will not help fund.Colorado’s "universal" preschool program was supposed to help families like them.It doesn’t, and the reason is a single clause.
To participate, a school must promise "equal opportunity," a provision that covers sexual orientation and gende...