When I go to the polling location to vote in the Hampton town election on March 12, I will vote yes for $52,521 for non-religious costs (like a school nurse) for Sacred Heart School, as I do every year this question is posed to me. Which I think is every year I’ve been eligible to vote.
I am not Catholic. I have never attended a private school or religious one — unless Sunday School at the First Congregational Church counts. I am a product of the public schools in Hampton and feel I received a wonderful education and experience as a student. I’m still voting for that small amount of funding for Sacred Heart so students and parents who choose to attend can keep tuition reasonable and give them choice as to what is best for their child. I hope I am in the majority, but the opposition is getting louder.
I find the opposition, based on “separation of church and state” and “government shouldn’t be funding religious anything,” to be both constitutionally untrue and not in the best interest of our community and most importantly, our students.
First, on the constitutionality issue, quite simply the U.S. Constitution doesn’t protect us “from” religion, it protects the freedom “of” it. It has been interpreted that way for generations.
More and more frequently, this issue of “government” money going to religious schools is being raised as a constitutional dilemma. I don’t find it to be. As a matter of fact neither does the U.S. Supreme Court as recently as 2022, when it ruled that our neighbors next door, Maine, cannot exclude families who send kids to religious schools from its tuition reimbursement program.
In the opinion, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote, “A state need not subsidize private education. But once a state decides to do so, it cannot disqualify some private schools solely because they are religious.”
While this is a very different case regarding state “voucher” programs, what it demonstrates is there is no absolute ban of taxpayer dollars funneling through a government to a religious school. In that respect, it is no different than Hampton taxpayer dollars simply funneling through Hampton to Sacred Heart.
What is wonderful about our form of government in our small town, is that we actually vote directly on these funds. That is quite an empowerment and if “we the people” want our tax dollars to go to a religious organization, we do and should have the right to say so.
Besides, we already do it all the time. We approve funding to St. Vincent de Paul to support its amazing efforts to assist low income families with needed food, clothing and even home medical supplies. We support money to assist with the “Christmas Parade,” one of my favorite days of the year.
We give tens of thousands of dollars to maintain our cemetery, a place that hosts more religious services than anywhere but a church itself.
We’ve given, through our ballots, to Waypoint, who doesn’t seem as religious now but was founded “as the Manchester City Missionary Society, a collaborative of several Protestant churches in the areas, whose purpose was to ‘save the unclaimed souls of the city.’ Primarily, it tried to church the ‘unchurched.’”
Should we look at the founding of an organization to see if it meets the criteria of “no religious connection anywhere”? Of course not. That’s absurd. Let’s remember, these funds we’re talking about do not go to any religious activities, so a religious connection is simply irrelevent. The only questions that matter to me when I decide whether to vote on one of these “donation” articles is, 1. Does it do good work for the community? 2. Is the amount requested fair and reasonable? When it comes to Sacred Heart, it checks both boxes so I will check mine “yes” in a few weeks.
Some often say — not just regarding Sacred Heart but these types of issues in communities across the state and country — “if you want to donate, donate, but use your own money!” Whose money do you think we’re talking about? The magic money tree in Depot Square, or our money, in the form of taxpayer dollars, that go to where we vote it to go to, after it just passes through the town on the way to its intended target?
I also don’t understand the argument that is noted on this matter, as well as regarding our state Education Trust Fund Program, that money spent on a religious or private schools comes directly out of the coffers for public schools. How? If they don’t have to educate that kid, aren’t they saving money? And these voucher programs and the non-religious funding for Sacred Heart is far less than the allotted “per pupil spending” local schools get. They’re actually making out on this deal.
Across society and multiple topics, there’s a lot of “just because it’s always been done, doesn’t mean it still should be.” Well, it also doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be either. For four decades we’ve assisted this school, and more importantly our fellow community members who are students, families and neighbors, I see no constitutional, fiscal or political reason to stop now.
On March 12, this Protestant, public school product will be voting for funding Sacred Heart’s non-religious costs, and I hope the majority joins me.
Alicia Preston Xanthopoulos is a former political consultant and member of the media. She’s a native of Hampton Beach where she lives with her family and two poodles. Write to her at [email protected].
