Rand Paul: “I am pleased to join the sponsors of the H. Res. 28 in honoring the success of Catholic Schools in providing a quality…”

“I am pleased to join the sponsors of the H. Res. 28 in honoring the success of Catholic Schools in providing a quality education to millions of children around the country. However, I am concerned that this resolution also contains language that violates the spirit, if not the letter, of the establishment clause of the first amendment, thus insulting the millions of religious Americans who are struggling to educate their children free from federal control and endangering religious liberty. The success of Catholic schools has been remarkable. Catholic schools operating in the inner-city have been able to provide an excellent education to students written off by the educational establishment as 'unteachable.' Contrary to the claims of its critics, Catholic schools do not turn away large numbers of children in order to limit their enrollment to the 'best and the brightest.' In fact, a few years ago the Archdiocese of New York offered to enroll all students who had been expelled from New York's public schools! Mr. Speaker, I have introduced legislation, the Family Education Freedom Act (H.R. 368) which would help more parents afford to send their children to Catholic, or other religious schools, by providing them with a $3,000 tax credit for K-12 education expenses. While I join with the sponsors of this legislation in praising Catholic schools, I am disturbed by the language explicitly endorsing the goals of the United States Catholic Conference.”