Bennett to Catholic Schools: Aid Troubled Youths and Bill U.S. : Proposal Raises Church-and-State Separation Issue

Education Secretary William J. Bennett today urged Roman Catholic schools to educate the most troubled urban youths and then demand payment from local and state governments.

His proposal raised questions about the separation of church and state and drew fire from public school administrators.

“Seek out the poor, the disadvantaged, the disruptive, the dropout, and take them in, educate them and then ask society for fair recompense for your efforts,” Bennett urged at a meeting of the National Catholic Education Assn.

“The challenge is simple,” said Bennett, a parochial school product himself. “Show educators around this country what works.”

Ask ‘Half the Price’

He said Catholic schools should ask state or local governments for “half the price, or two-thirds of the price, or something like that,” of whatever it would cost to teach the students in public school.

The governments “would, I believe, be receptive to constitutionally sound efforts to pay for the education of such students.”

But if government can’t or won’t, Bennett said, “business and others in the private sector would surely want to support such a worthwhile endeavor.”

“I think there’s a good deal of possibility for it,” said Father John Pollard, director of education for the Archdiocese of Chicago. “We do not subscribe to the absolute separation of church and state that others who oppose us do. The so-called wall of separation is not in the Constitution.”

Immediate Complaints

But the Bennett proposal drew immediate complaints from public school officials.

“It’s a welcome challenge to Catholic schools that they educate the kinds of people he is suggesting. I have no quarrel with that. But when you get into the financing, it won’t cut the constitutional cloth,” said Thomas Shannon, executive director of the National School Boards Assn.

“If the Catholic schools are going to do what they are supposed to do, that is, teach Catholic beliefs in an integrated way throughout the curriculum, it would be unconstitutional on its face” to support such schools with public funds, Shannon said.

“We’re appalled by (Bennett’s remarks),” said Gary Marx, associate executive director of the American Assn. of School Administrators. “Every thoughtful American should be appalled,” Marx said.

‘Hits ... Below the Belt’

“He constantly hits . . . the public schools below the belt,” said Marx, “and they are the ones who are working hardest to deal with the problems of at-risk youths.

“He ignores the fact that he and others in the Administration, through their lack of compassion for children and youth, have driven thousands of young people into difficult social and economic conditions.

“The secretary’s comments are a mask for his own role in causing the problem,” Marx said, adding: “Public schools need support, encouragement and lots of help--not the secretary’s bluster.”

Bennett’s proposal is the latest of several he has advanced, largely unsuccessfully, aimed at expanding educational options including the private school sector. Key among those have been tuition tax credits and tuition vouchers that would offer tax breaks or direct assistance to parents of children in private schools.