Neal McCluskey
Late last Friday afternoon, the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit overturned an injunction against a Louisiana law requiring that public schools post copies of the Ten Commandments in all public school classrooms as long as the displays are privately funded. It is a reminder that while most people probably think of school choice as driven by conservatives who want education different from “woke” public schools, progressives need choice, too.
Everyone needs choice—funding following children to educational options that families select—for the same core, simple reason: people have diverse beliefs, needs, and desires, and it is impossible for one school to meet them all. In this case, families that want their children exposed to the Ten Commandments in school cannot be served equally with those who do not.
When it comes to religion, progressives might tend to see public schools as less of a threat than conservatives because public schools have been officially secular since the 1960s. But they largely were not secular for most of their history, and courts lately have been making more room for religion.
This ruling will not be the final word on posting the Commandments in public schools: there is still a Texas case pending with the Fifth Circuit, and in the Louisiana case, the court ruled only that it was not ripe for review because nothing had yet been posted. So the Commandments could still be blocked.
But from book “bans,” to athletics, to rulings like this, progressives lose many public schooling battles. They should not also lose their tax dollars in seeking education they think is right for their kids.
