State Laws Burden Catholic Schools
by
Christopher Dodson
Executive Director, North Dakota Catholic Conference
January 2010
With Catholic schools few and far between in North Dakota,
too many Catholics overlook the schools’ successes
and challenges. As an integral part of the Church’s
ministry, however, we are all invested in, and should care
about, Catholic schools.
Catholic schools in North Dakota overcome significant
challenges placed by state law and policies. Unlike most
states, North Dakota law makes few distinctions between
nonpublic and public schools. Nonpublic schools must comply
with the same government approval criteria, teacher
certification requirements, graduation requirements, and
other laws that apply to public schools.
These requirements place additional, and arguable
unnecessary, financial and administrative burdens on
Catholic schools. For example, when hiring teachers,
Catholic schools must find someone who furthers the
Catholic mission of the school and meets the state’s
requirements. These laws also create an environment that
favors an uniformity among schools, public and nonpublic,
that makes it harder for schools to stand-out, embrace
creative solutions, and be wholly mission driven.
From the state’s perspective, these laws guarantee
that the state’s children are educated. However, it
is questionable whether such regulation necessarily
corresponds to better outcomes for students. Most states do
not impose so many regulations on nonpublic schools and
Catholic schools in those states have students that perform
as well as or better than public school students.
North Dakota also ranks at the bottom in the amount of
assistance it gives to the families of children in
nonpublic schools. Many states offer taxpaying parents
services that help offset the cost of nonpublic education
in the form of tax credits, tax deductions, transportation,
books, and other programs. An increasingly popular form of
legislation in other states provides corporations with tax
incentives to contribute to scholarship funds for nonpublic
schools students. North Dakota provides practically no
assistance. The small amount of government assistance that
the state’s nonpublic schools do receive usually
comes through special federal programs.
Some people may argue that since both the public and
nonpublic schools in North Dakota are mostly adequate, this
system works and it should not be changed. That argument
fails on several levels.
First, our goal should be the best education for every
student, not just an adequate education. There is no
evidence that giving nonpublic schools more flexibility and
providing parents with assistance will hinder that goal. In
fact, studies show that such actions would lead to better
performing students.
Second, focusing solely on performance ignores the justice
issues involved. Nonpublic schools, including religious
schools, have a right to function and prosper without undue
interference by the state. Certainly, the state has a role
in ensuring that basic health, safety, and basic education
requirements are met. However, there comes a point when too
much interference infringes upon the school’s
autonomy and hinders education. The fact that other states
have found that nonpublic schools perform well without the
level of regulation imposed by North Dakota raises the
question of whether North Dakota’s nonpublic schools
are over-regulated.
The second justice issue concerns assisting parents.
Every parent has a fundamental right to choose the means of
education for their children. This principle is established
in Catholic teaching and is recognized by the United States
Supreme Court. At the same time, every child has a right to
an education and that the state has an obligation to assist
in financially supporting that education. This principle is
also taught by the Catholic Church and is generally
accepted by society.
State law, however, treats the two rights as mutually
exclusive. It says to parents: “You can choose the
school for your children” and “The government
will pay for your child’s education.” But then
it adds, “But if you choose a nonpublic school, you
can’t have both.” There is no legal reason why
the two rights cannot co-exist and the insistence that
parents can have one or the other, but not both, is a legal
and social injustice.
