IN THE CAPITAL.

Tax Breaks For Religious Schools Get Priority In House

House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) has outlined a legislative agenda for this session of Congress giving top priority to a measure that would help finance tuition at religious and other private schools.

Hastert announced that the House will consider a bill to create "education savings accounts" (ESA) allowing individuals to contribute up to $2,000 a year to an account earning tax-free interest to be used for education expenses, including tuition at religious schools and costs associated with home schooling. The bill is expected to come up for a vote in February.

This latest push for the accounts comes a year and a half after Congress passed an identical measure introduced by Sen. Paul Coverdell (R-Ga.). Both houses of Congress passed Coverdell's original ESA bill in spring 1998, but President Bill Clinton vetoed the plan in May.

Critics argue that the accounts amount to little more than a back-door voucher mechanism that would subsidize religious schools.

The measure has received support from Religious Right groups such as the Christian Coalition and Family Research Council. When Congress first considered the proposal, Gary Bauer, then-president of the FRC, explained that his group is responsible for creating the legislation.

Religious Right, Congress Cheer Football Prayer

Religious Right groups and their allies in Congress have filed briefs with the U.S. Supreme Court in support of school-sanctioned prayer at high school football games.

The high court announced in November that it would hear Santa Fe Independent School District v. Doe, a Texas case dealing with student-led invocations at athletic events. Court watchers regard the lawsuit as the most significant school prayer controversy to be considered by the high court in nearly a decade.

In light of the case's importance, school prayer proponents are inundating the Supreme Court with legal advice.

One brief, filed by Reps. Steve Largent (R-Okla.) and J.C. Watts (R-Okla.), argues that, "A public high school need not -- indeed, constitutionally cannot -- ban a student's religious speech from a school event." Several other members of Congress joined a brief filed by Wallbuilders, a Texas-based Religious Right group founded by David Barton. The 21 representatives include House Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-Texas), House Majority Whip Tom DeLay (R-Texas) and Reps. Bob Aderholt (R-Ala.), Helen Chenoweth-Hage (R-Idaho) and Bob Barr (R-Ga.).

Lawyers working on behalf of Texas Gov. George W. Bush have also filed a brief in support of football prayer. In addition, Religious Right legal groups such as John Whitehead's Rutherford Institute, Pat Robertson's American Center for Law and Justice and Jerry Falwell's Liberty Alliance urged the justices to uphold the invocations.

Americans United and other organizations that support church-state separation are scheduled to lodge their views with the high court this month. A decision in the case is expected by June or July.

Public School Performance Up, Says Report

Public school students are scoring better on their SATs, achieving more in math and science and going to college in record numbers, according to a new report by the Center on Education Policy and the American Youth Policy Forum.

The report, titled "Do You Know The Good News About American Education?," details improvements in public education that have been ongoing for the past two decades. Contrary to the rhetoric from public school critics in the Religious Right and elsewhere, more students are finishing school, taking more challenging coursework and Advanced Placement exams and completing four-year college degrees.

The report also notes that despite public perceptions about school safety, crimes against students have dropped in every category, including theft and violence.

"What is perhaps most remarkable is that our nation has made these improvements with a very diverse population, a strong tradition of local control of education, and enormous variation among states and school districts in their student population, policies and practices," the report concludes. (The text of the report is available at www.aypf.org.)