Most major Jewish organizations hailed this week's federal appeals court decision striking down the Cleveland school voucher program as unconstitutional. But some of their members are not cheering the court action as loudly as they once did. As states around the country debate and establish controversial voucher programs, the Ohio ruling may very likely become the test case reviewed by the U.S. Supreme Court. Orthodox Jews, who typically send their children to Jewish day schools, have long supported publicly financed tuition vouchers. But Conservative and Reform Jews, historic opponents of state aid to parochial schools, have begun enrolling their own children in Jewish day schools in growing numbers.
Vouchers is the issue where that change is most felt.
Clearly the consensus that existed in previous decades has broken down. No suburban and few non-religious schools accept the vouchers. The hostile, bitter language exchanged by the dissenting and majority judges in the decision astonished attorney Harry Brown, president of Agudath Israel of Cleveland and vice president of the national Orthodox organization, which filed an amicus curiae brief seeking to uphold the voucher program. While its members may no longer all agree, Jewish organizations reacted to the decision along historic lines, with Orthodox institutions deploring the ruling, the remainder applauding it. The way Jews view education has changed and that's reflected in the voucher and related church-state separation issues, said Joyce Garver Keller, a lobbyist for Ohio Jewish Communities.