Tell Your Representative to Stand Up For Fact-Based Education

Lieberman's School Vouchers Defeated

In early March, Sen. Joe Lieberman proposed an amendment to the Senate jobs bill that would reauthorize the "D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program," an initiative that forced American taxpayers to subsidize religious institutions through school vouchers. A July 2009 report by Rutgers University on the D.C. voucher program concluded that the program's structure "essentially push[es] students into Christian Association and Catholic schools, pricing out independent (non-religious) schools and Hebrew schools." Those of us who do not wish to subsidize religion with our tax dollars would continue to be forced to do so if the amendment passed.

After being alerted to the coming vote by the Secular Coalition for America, thousands took action, writing to their senators, and the amendment never made it to the jobs bill--though Senator Lieberman promised he would bring it back as soon as he could.

On March 16, 2010, Senator Lieberman managed to bring the amendment to the floor, attaching it this time to a bill funding the Federal Aviation Administration. Debate was heard, votes were cast, and the amendment was defeated, with 42 voting for the amendment to 55 against. It was a fantastic example of Secular Americans working together, helping to stop the unconstitutional public financing of religious education.

Ashamed to Live in Texas

The Texas Board of Education has been meeting this week to revise its social studies curriculum. During the past three days, “the board’s far-right faction wielded their power to shape lessons on the civil rights movement, the U.S. free enterprise system and hundreds of other topics”:

– To avoid exposing students to “transvestites, transsexuals and who knows what else,” the Board struck the curriculum’s reference to “sex and gender as social constructs.”

– The Board removed Thomas Jefferson from the Texas curriculum, “replacing him with religious right icon John Calvin.”

– The Board refused to require that “students learn that the Constitution prevents the U.S. government from promoting one religion over all others.”

– The Board struck the word “democratic” from the description of the U.S. government, instead terming it a “constitutional republic.”

As the nation’s second-largest textbook market, Texas has enormous leverage over publishers, who often “craft their standard textbooks based on the specs of the biggest buyers.” Indeed, as The Washington Monthly has reported, “when it comes to textbooks, what happens in Texas rarely stays in Texas.”