By: Michael Achterling
Bishops from the Catholic dioceses of Bismarck and Fargo signed a joint letter Sunday urging parishioners across the state to contact their legislators and advocate for Education Savings Accounts.
Senate Bill 2400 and House Bill 1540 both passed their respective chambers during the first half of the legislative session and would allocate state tax dollars to student Education Savings Accounts that could be spent on a variety of services, including paying tuition for private schools.
The letter, signed by Bishop David Kagan of Bismarck and Bishop John Folda of Fargo, states the church teaches that parents are the primary educators for their children and they should have the freedom and resources to choose the best educational setting for their kids.
“They do not divert money from public schools, do not hurt rural schools and would be a great help to many families across the state of North Dakota,” the letter stated.
The letter was read from the pulpit at Catholic churches across the state, said David Tamisiea, executive director of the North Dakota Catholic Conference.
“It should’ve been read by everybody,” Tamisiea said.
He said it is the job of bishops as teachers of the faith to educate the faithful.
“People of faith have a voice to be heard in the public sphere,” Tamisiea said. “It’s OK for our faith leaders to encourage the people to exercise that voice and that’s what they are doing.”
He also said public-private partnerships are a staple of state government in North Dakota and the education system should not be any different.
“There are all kinds of public-private partnerships where we use public funds to pay private organizations to carry out important tasks,” Tamisiea said.
The Catholic dioceses of Fargo and Bismarck encompass about 220 churches across North Dakota, according to their websites. The state also has more than 35 private Catholic schools, including pre-K.
Nick Archuleta, president of North Dakota United, which represents public school educators and opposes the bills, said the call to action by the Catholic diocese was not unexpected.
“What we are preparing for is to defeat these bills in each of the two chambers,” Archuleta said. “We’ve never been a fan of using public dollars to support private school tuition and we’re not going to start now.”
He added North Dakota United conducted polling in December that showed 68% of respondents were somewhat or strongly opposed to using tax dollars to pay for private tuition.
Both bills are scheduled for committee work on Tuesday in the Senate and House Education Committees, which are expected to make recommendations in the coming days.
