Posted: 07 Jul 2012 06:00 PM PDT
It looks like someone's pocket Constitution was lost before she voted in the Louisiana legislature. That's Republican legislator Valarie Hodges, who wholeheartedly supported Bobby Jindal's school voucher program. Well, she supported it until she discovered that -- GASP! -- state money could go to Muslim schools.
Now she's just horrified.
Rep. Valarie Hodges, R-Watson, says she had no idea that Gov. Bobby Jindal's overhaul of the state's educational system might mean taxpayer support of Muslim schools.
"I actually support funding for teaching the fundamentals of America's Founding Fathers' religion, which is Christianity, in public schools or private schools," the District 64 Representative said Monday.
"I liked the idea of giving parents the option of sending their children to a public school or a Christian school," Hodges said.
Hodges mistakenly assumed that "religious" meant "Christian."
HB976, now signed into law as Act 2, proposed, among other things, a voucher program allowing state educational funds to be used to send students to schools run by religious groups.
[...]
The school funding mechanism, however, did not come up for a vote until the end of the session. By then, a Muslim-based school had applied for support through the new voucher system.
During debate over the MFP (Minimum Foundation Program) funding formula, Hodges learned more about the consequences of the educational changes. She voted against the new MFP funding formula; Schexnayder voted for it.
"Unfortunately it will not be limited to the Founders' religion," Hodges said. "We need to insure that it does not open the door to fund radical Islam schools. There are a thousand Muslim schools that have sprung up recently. I do not support using public funds for teaching Islam anywhere here in Louisiana."
Well, hey, Rep. Hodges. You don't get to pick and choose the "permissible religions" when you hand over public funds to private concerns, which is why those of us with half a brain think that public school money ought to be used to fund public institutions, especially when there is NO "founders' religion."
See, that way it's easy. My tax money doesn't go to fund stupid conservative, narrow-minded, intellectually dishonest education controlled by Catholic bishops and Southern Baptist wingnuts, and your tax money doesn't go to Muslims. Didn't you believe that whole "freedom of religion" thing in the Constitution?
The stupid just hurts. It hurts hard.
On a personal note I'm glad that Act 2 has been signed into law. Now when the Jews, Muslims, Hindis, Bhudists, Animists, Nativists and all the other religious types file the paper work to get public dollars for schools
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