By Nick Stamatakis

Below, you can read a couple of very encouraging articles from today’s New York Times regarding the three cases before the US Supreme Court concerning religious education. In its first paragraph, the author, Adam Liptak, a reporter specializing in USCC, states: the side pressing religious-freedom claims seemed likely to prevail in all three. 

If this happens, it will be a tremendous opportunity for our community, as it will alleviate a significant burden for our schools and officially enable state funding for schools that teach religious courses. As you may recall, Helleniscope has been discussing this eventuality for some time.  Only that at this juncture, it is now a very real possibility.  We will find out for sure in the coming weeks.  Usually, the Supreme Court issues its decisions before going on vacation at the end of June.

In the meantime, it’s a very opportune time for all of us to revisit the issue and examine the changing environment, to establish Charter Schools throughout our community. 

• Many of the 500 GOA parishes operate or have operated schools and own buildings suitable for education.
• Republican States already assist many private or parochial schools – not only direct aid but also “student vouchers.”  The Trump administration, after closing the Department of Education, will likely examine the possibility of “Federal Student Vouchers.” It has already taken several steps in this direction.
• Hellenic Classical Education is experiencing a significant resurgence both internationally and in the United States. The people are tired of the useless leftist ideas and are demanding a return to the classics, and especially Math and Science.

Helleniscope has not only posted on this issue, but it has taken action.  Since last summer, we have been actively engaged with other interested members of our community who have a proven track record of involvement in education, exploring the establishment of Classical Charter Schools. This group aims to create a “blueprint for Hellenic Charters in the US” and to formalize the organization of a permanent advisory board. We are hoping to be able to announce some news soon.

PS. I must warn those who will open their mouths and accuse us of being against the establishment of a Charter School in Astoria a few years ago to focus on the real reasons their project failed. The principals behind the effort (and particularly E. Valiotis and A. Diamataris, who wanted to impose their – unrelated to education daughters – on the board of the new charter school) proposed that the new entity would lease the parish school buildings (valued at over $150 million!!) for $12,000 a month!! Helleniscope was never against Charter Schools. We were, and are, against corruption and conflicts of interest. Period.

May 1, 2025, n.stamatakis@aol.com   www.helleniscope.com

DISCLAIMER: The views and statements expressed in this article constitute constitutionally protected opinions of this author.

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source – nytimes.com

Faith in schools

By Adam Liptak

In just the last month, the Supreme Court has heard three important religion cases, culminating in yesterday’s argument over a Catholic charter school in Oklahoma. Judging from the justices’ questioning, the side pressing religious-freedom claims seemed likely to prevail in all three.

That would extend a remarkable winning streak for religion at the Supreme Court.

Since 2012, the pro-religion side has won all but one of 16 First Amendment cases about the government’s relationship with faith. (The exception: The court rejected a challenge to the first Trump administration’s ban on travel from several predominantly Muslim countries.)

The court has been especially active in cases involving religious education. It said if the government was helping private schools, it couldn’t exclude religious ones. It exempted religious schools from anti-discrimination laws. In one pending case, the justices seemed poised to let parents with religious objections withdraw their children during discussions of gay and transgender themes. Yesterday, they seemed likely to let a Catholic organization start a charter school in Oklahoma, which would make it the first religious school to get state charter funds.

A 2021 study of religion rulings since Chief Justice John Roberts joined the court in 2005 found that the Roberts court ruled in favor of religious people and groups over 83 percent of the time, compared with about 50 percent of the time for other courts since 1953. “In most of these cases, the winning religion was a mainstream Christian organization, whereas in the past pro-religion outcomes more frequently favored minority or marginal religious organizations,” the study’s authors — Lee Epstein, of Washington University in St. Louis, and Eric Posner, of the University of Chicago — wrote.

If the court rules in favor of religious claims in all three of the pending cases, that figure will rise to 88 percent.

A movement

By Sarah Mervosh

Regardless of what the justices decide about yesterday’s Oklahoma case, state money is already helping faith bloom in American education.

The main vehicle is via school vouchers, which have proliferated in Republican-led states.

Vouchers allow you to use taxpayer money — funds the government would have spent on a public school — to pay for your kid’s private school (or homeschool supplies). More than half of the states have such programs, and more than one million students use them, double the number in 2019.

The Supreme Court blessed vouchers for religious schools in a 2002 case, but their use took off after the pandemic as more states embraced them widely. In states like Florida, where vouchers have expanded to be available to all students, some religious schools now receive nearly all of their funding from state dollars, said Doug Tuthill, who helps manage Florida’s program.

States are looking for other ways to expand religion in public schools, too. Oklahoma wants to put Bibles in its classrooms. Louisiana is in a legal battle to get the Ten Commandments in every classroom. Texas is considering a similar move.

State lawmakers pushing to expand religion in public schools sometimes cite the Supreme Court rulings that my colleague Adam mentions above, such as a 2022 decision siding with a football coach who prayed at the 50-yard line after games. “There is no such thing as ‘separation of church and state’ in our Constitution, and recent Supreme Court decisions by President Trump’s appointees reaffirmed this,” said a lawmaker in Texas, who put forth a bill proposing prayer in schools.