Pacridge said:
What exactly is a "Magnet" school.
A magnet school is a semi-independent public school (falls under the jurisdiction of the local school district, but has latitude to make it's own administrative decisions) that typically is a model school. They usually exceed a normal public school performance.
As far as the separation issue. I'm part of the University of Dayton's speech and debate team, and this semester, we were debating separation of church and state, and we actually had an affirmative case based on the Cleveland school vouchers. It isn't a very strong case for violating the separation because the Supreme Court has ruled that, because it is neutral to religion, it meets the three prongs of the Lemon test. They are:
1. A government program must have a secular purpose (quality education in this case)
2. Must not have a purpose to advance or inhibit religion (because it is neutral to religion, it's purpose does not influence religion)
3. Must not demonstrate excessive government entanglement with religion (Again, because it does not look at religion as a factor, and does not seek to encourage or hinder religion, it does not entangle the government in religion)
Then, there is the tax issue. It doesn't matter if an individual does not agree with how tax money is spent. Our government is based on democracy, and whether they are right or not, the majority typically gets to decide how tax money is spent. Otherwise, nothing would receive government money, because someone will always oppose how the government spends our money.
For example, some people would prefer that social programs get money over military enlargement, yet there are others who think that having a strong military is more important than providing all sorts of government handouts.
We must look at, and weigh what is most beneficial, and if providing money to private schools will provide our children with the best possible education, which I believe is the case, then that is what should be done, religion aside.